COLUMBIA, S.C. — The National Transportation Safety Board will meet 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 23, to determine the probable cause of the Feb. 4, 2018, collision of an Amtrak passenger train and a CSX train near Cayce.
The collision occurred when a southbound Amtrak train was diverted from the main track through a hand-thrown switch into a siding and collided head-on with stationary CSX train. The engineer and conductor of the Amtrak train died as a result of the collision. At least 92 passengers and crew members on the Amtrak train were transported to medical facilities.
The engineer of the stopped CSX train had exited the lead locomotive before the Amtrak train entered the siding, ran to safety, and was not injured. The conductor of the CSX lead locomotive saw the Amtrak train approaching in the siding and ran to the back of locomotive. The conductor was thrown off the locomotive and sustained minor injuries.
As a result of the NTSB investigation, an emergency order was issued directing railroads to require that when signal suspensions are in effect and a switch has been reported relined for a main track, the next train or locomotive to pass the location must approach the switch location at restricted speed. After the switch position is verified, the train crew must report to the dispatcher that the switch is correctly lined for the main track before trains are permitted to operate at maximum-authorized speed.
The meeting will be open to the public and held at the NTSB Boardroom and Conference Center in Washington, DC. The meeting will be streamed live at http://ntsb.windrosemedia.com/.
