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Track Misalignment May Have Played Part in Amtrak Train Derailment

Aired April 19, 2002 - 14:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Federal investigators say, on another investigation, a track misalignment may have played a part in yesterday's deadly Amtrak train derailment in central Florida. Four passengers died, more than 150 were injured, when 21 cars jumped the tracks an hour after departing the Orlando area.

For the latest, we turn to CNN's Mark Potter. He's in Putnam County with the latest. Hi there, Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, officials of the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, are on the scene now. They've taken over this investigation. And they're trying to figure out why the train behind me derailed yesterday, an event that killed four people and injured 150.

Investigators, as you say, said that 21 cars derailed, 14 of them passenger cars filled with travelers, many of them elderly tourists. Already officials have developed what they would believe to be a tantalizing lead after talking informally with the train's engineer.

He reportedly said that as the train was moving at 56 miles an hour just before the derailment he threw on the emergency brake, because of a problem he saw on the track ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSS QUIMBY, INVESTIGATOR IN CHARGE: Formally he hasn't said anything yet. Informally he's indicated that he saw a track anomaly and put the train in emergency.

POTTER (on camera): Did he say what the track anomaly was? Any specificity there, sir?

QUIMBY: I believe his words were a sun kink, which is not the proper term. He indicated it might have been a track buckle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Now, George Black, another member of the NTSB -- he's the member in charge of the investigation -- said that a track misalignment could be enough to cause a derailment. But again, we are cautioned here that this is all very preliminary. This is not to be seen as a conclusion. The investigation is just in its first day. There's a lot more to go. So this is an important lead but should be seen as nothing more at this time. Investigators say they'll also be looking into a coal train that passed by here before the Amtrak train. It had no problems. But there are questions about whether it may have damaged the track, or whether the wheels on the coal train may reflect now problems on the track that were there earlier.

They're also going to be looking at the configuration of the train behind me, the Amtrak train. It has all the heavy cars in the back. The cars carrying automobiles, the lighter cars carrying passengers in the front. And the question is, when the engineer threw on the brakes, did that configuration contribute to the train's jumping the track?

Lots of questions. Not many answers right now but certainly an important lead involving that engineer -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Mark, my knowledge of rail safety is very limited. But just as you touched on the point, if indeed the emergency brake were pulled immediately like that, would that be enough force to actually derail a train, that in and of itself? Or would there have to be other contributing factors?

POTTER: Well, that's what they're looking into. And that business about the configuration that I was talking about is an important thing. If you have all this heavy weight in the back, pushing something in the middle could that's light, it could buckle push off the track. That's what they're talking about. That may be an explanation here. Who knows?

And again, the track configuration business could also be part of it. We just don't know. But those are some things that they're looking at in this investigation that is just now getting under way.

WHITFIELD: Still lots of questions and the investigators are trying hard to find all the answers. Thanks a lot. Mark Potter from Putnam County, Florida.

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