Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: MMEEETTUUUU finally derails on fracture found on July 16, then derailed on Aug 5.


Upgraded Condition?

Status: Offline
Posts: 9206
Date:
MMEEETTUUUU finally derails on fracture found on July 16, then derailed on Aug 5.
Permalink  
 


Inspection showed broken track three weeks before Norfolk Southern derailment at Station Square

A broken rail that caused a Norfolk Southern Railway train to derail last year at Pittsburghs Station Square was identified weeks before seven cars jumped the tracks, a Federal Railroad Administration report released Thursday concluded.
The 11-page report said Sperry Rail Service committed serious oversights when it failed to follow up on an ultrasound inspection July 16, 2018, that indicated a defect in the track above Station Square. A visual inspection by the railroad Aug. 3 found no defects, but part of the train derailed two days later, splitting open cars and dumping freight onto the Port Authoritys light-rail tracks below.
The derailment closed the railroad tracks for four days, causing $80,000 in damage to Norfolk Southern track and $773,275 in equipment damage. The Port Authoritys light rail system was unable to use the Station Square area for three weeks, and the agency is seeking more than $3 million in track and equipment damages and costs for rerouting service.
The federal report reached the same conclusion as a railroad report in November concerning what caused the derailment: a detail fracture, which is described as a progressive break beginning at or near the rail surface. But the railroad didnt mention the problem had been identified by an outside contractor and could have been corrected three weeks earlier.
The railroad, in a statement Friday, said, The FRA report is factually accurate. Norfolk Southern has been working with Sperry on improved human procedures and oversight to ensure that this type of error does not happen again.
Sperry, whose website says it is the largest train inspection contractor in the world and whose founder invented the non-destructive testing method still in use, said it does not take calls from reporters.
The company was involved in a similar incident in 2015, when 27 of 109 CSX train cars derailed in Mount Carbon, W. Va, spilling 362,300 gallons of crude oil and requiring more than 1,000 residents to evacuate.
A Sperry operator had inspected the flawed portion of the track twice in the months leading up to the failure. Both times, the images indicated a flaw, the second time bigger than the first. But the operator did not get out of the car to inspect the area closer because, he told the FRA, he assumed the test image was a result of the rough track rather than a defect. Both CSX and Sperry
were fined $25,000 for the event.
According to Nortfolk Southerns corporate responsibility report, the company had an average of 217 accidents between 2015 and 2017, the latest dates available.
The federal report said Sperry inspects Norfolk Southern track twice a year and, during the July 16 inspection, two ultrasound images showed the broken rail.
The operators decision to disregard induction channel responses from the initial test and not utilize camera images were serious oversights, the report said. It was evident that the Sperry chief operator had multiple opportunities to recognize a potential defect at the [point of derailment] and follow up with a ground inspection.
The report said rail testing experts agreed that the operator should have performed other tests, based on multiple sources of rail inspection information available to the operator during the Sperry car test.
The report said it was unusual for trains to run on broken track for three weeks without a derailment. It speculated that a rail anchor may have reduced the movement of the broken rail and allowed trains to pass over it until the day of the derailment, when a 16-inch piece broke.
It appears the anchor may have spanned the break from the time of the Sperry test to the derailment, serving as a clamp to minimize relative rail-end movement and, more importantly, as an electrical connection between the rail ends, the report said. The anchor provided continuity for the track circuit and allowed trains to run on signal indication.
According to railsystem.net, track circuits work by running an electrical circuit using the rails to connect a power source at one end of a block of track with a relay at the far end. If the circuit is broken, the system fails, notifying the railroad that the tracks are
not safe.
The Port Authority expressed significant concerns about the safety of Norfolk Southern operating trains with double-stacked cars when it filed its reimbursement claim with the railroad in January. The agency called for more frequent track inspections and other safety assurances from the railroad.
Spokesman Adam Brandolph said the new accident report reinforced the authoritys concerns.
I would think those concerns are only more founded today than they were, he said, and we continue to have significant reservations about the operation of double-stacked cars.
Mr. Brandolph said the agency and railroad had agreed in principle about the cost of damages from the derailment but were still working out details.



__________________

 This is the official end of my post.  



Force Majeure

Status: Offline
Posts: 23396
Date:
Permalink  
 

Funny thing is that I stayed right there for several trips.

Rented a bike every time and enjoyed the hell out of cycling in Pittsburgh. Clocked some miles and got around the city. You can look around Carnegie-Mellon. I'll bet your DNA blacklight can still find pieces of "Snippy's" lungs on those hells. Got lost and had tu climb a couple of them extra times. Up the Duquesne Incline, a little tour around Mt ¿Washington? and down the Monongahela.

The Kona Dr. Dew bike in the Sheraton elevator didn't even get a stuffy raised eyebrow. HEFRAIL cruises right by there and thrills people every train. LAMCO on the high line so they can derail and terrorize the innocents.

__________________

Tinhorn Dictator

Uke


Cured

Status: Offline
Posts: 26926
Date:
Permalink  
 

Best avatard ever!

__________________

Hmm. That address doesnt look right.
It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.

Gah. Your tab just crashed.



Force Majeure

Status: Offline
Posts: 23396
Date:
Permalink  
 

Uke wrote:

Best avatard ever!


 Cred tu Phred.



__________________

Tinhorn Dictator

Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Chatbox
Please log in to join the chat!