Derailment of Amtrak Passenger Train No' 27

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Derailment of Amtrak Passenger Train No. 27

• Home Valley, Washington
• April 3, 2005

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Accident Site
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Consequences

• 30 people sustained minor injuries
• 14 taken to local hospitals
• 2 admitted overnight
• 854,000 property damage

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NTSB Team

• Cy Gura
• Russ Quimby
• Dr. Kathleen Curry
• Alice Park
• Christy Spangler

• IIC, Track and Engineering, and Signals
• Mechanical and Operations
• Editor
• Animation
• Graphics

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Parties

• Federal Railroad Administration
• Amtrak
• BNSF Railway Company
• Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees

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Home Valley Investigation

• Focused on rail seat abrasion of concrete
• crossties
• Limited Federal regulations for concrete
  crossties in Classes of Track 1 through 5
• The amount of time available for track
  inspections

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Previous Reports of Rough Riding Track Conditions

• March 23, 2005, by a FRA inspector riding in an
  Amtrak locomotive
• March 28, 2005, by an Amtrak train crew
• March 30, 2005, by another Amtrak train crew
• April 1, 2005, by a BNSF train crew

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Abrasion and Rail Rollover
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Rail Seat Abrasion

• What is it?
• What does it look like?
• What is the problem with it?

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Abraded Area
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What does Rail seat Abrasion look like
Abraded Area
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Abrasion Depth
Clip
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Clip
Rail Seat
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Problems Associated with Rail Seat Abrasion

• Loss of toeload pressure by the fasteners
• Rail cant is lost
• Derailments

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Rail Head
Rail Clip
Insulator
Tie Pad
Concrete Crosstie
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Concrete Crosstie Inspection Requirements

• Classes of Track 6 and higher
• Operating speeds of 110 mph to 200 mph
• Specific concrete crosstie inspection
  requirements
• Classes of Track 1 through 5
• Operating speeds of 10 mph to 90 mph
• No specific concrete crosstie inspection
  requirements

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Post Accident Developments

• Multiple reports of track problems flagged
• Concrete Crosstie Handbook

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Track Inspection Requirements

• Federal regulations require twice weekly
  inspections for Class 4 track
• BNSF inspected three times weekly
• High traffic volume reduced the amount of
  on-track inspection time
• Approximately 57 train per day, equates to an
  average of 1 train every 25 minutes

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