NTSB: Signal problems eyed day before derailment

Officials work the scene of derailed freight train tank cars in Paulsboro, N.J., on Nov. 30, 2012. People in three southern New Jersey towns were told Friday to stay inside after a freight train derailed and several tanker cars carrying hazardous materials toppled from a bridge and into a creek. At least one tanker car contained vinyl chloride, according to authorities. / AP Photo/Mel Evans

Updated 8:54 p.m. ET

PAULSBORO, N.J.Conrail crews had reports of signal problems at a New Jersey railroad bridge weeks before a train derailment Friday, and were studying the problem the day before the crash and resulting chemical leak, federal investigators said Sunday.

Seventy people went to a hospital following the derailment. More than 100 people are expected to remain out of their homes this week while crews try to remove the hazardous material, vinyl chloride, from a ruptured tanker.

The National Transportation Safety Board cannot examine the scene until the chemicals are removed. But the agency this weekend began reviewing records with a focus on both the signal problems reported recently and a 2009 train derailment on the same bridge.

• More than 70 sickened from poisonous fumes from N.J. train derailment

Conrail regularly moves tons of hazardous material over the low bridge, which was originally built in 1873. The bridge straddles Mantua Creek, a tributary near the Delaware River in the industrial town of Paulsboro. The bridge operates like a garden fence, with a section that swings sideways to open for boat traffic, then closes and locks into place to accommodate freight trains.

The NTSB will focus its probe on the locking mechanism and signal devices. The signals are triggered by sensors on the bridge, not by dispatchers.

"This is a very complex (bridge) operation," NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said at a news conference Sunday. "There is a lot of tonnage that goes over this bridge and a lot of hazardous materials."

Conrail crews in recent days and weeks had been reporting problems with the signal, and the rail company had been looking into the problem the day before, she said.

The veteran two-person crew operating the CSX train Friday was familiar with the route and had run it the three previous nights. They had started their shift at 3 a.m. in Camden and were surprised to get a yellow signal when they approached the bridge at about 7 a.m. They used a keypad device, similar to a garage door opener, to try to get a green light, to no avail. The pair then stopped the train for several minutes, examined the tracks, and got permission from a dispatcher to proceed, Hersman said.

The two locomotives and five tanker cars made it across before the crew looked back to see the bridge "collapse" and a pileup of cars in the creek. The one that ruptured had been struck by another tanker, she said.

Recordings of various data so far support the crew's account, investigators said. However, authorities are not yet sure whether the bridge deck actually collapsed or shifted.

Residents who went to a hospital Friday were treated for respiratory problems and eye irritation. None of the injuries was believed to be serious.

A team of NTSB investigators arrived in the region Saturday with scanners and other equipment to study the wreckage site, but they cannot get to the scene until the vinyl chloride is pumped out. The Coast Guard, Conrail and other agencies were coordinating that cleanup. But they were not sure how much of the gas in the ruptured tanker has liquefied, or how long it might take to remove.

"It could be a sludge, or even a solid. That will slow down any pumping operation," Coast Guard Capt. Todd Wiemers said Sunday.

There's a risk of another chemical leak until that work is done. So officials plan to keep the evacuation order in place through Saturday in a 12-block area that includes 48 homes, a private elementary school, a Head Start center and a few small businesses.

Three public schools in other parts of town will remain open.

"We'd rather have the kids in a controlled environment," Paulsboro Fire Chief Alfonso Giampola said. "Should something go awry, we know where they are."

As of Sunday, about 100 people were staying in motels, while an unknown number are with friends and family, said state Assemblyman John Burzichelli, a former mayor of Paulsboro.

Once that job is complete, the other wrecked tankers will be removed by crane.

The bridge usually supports at least three major trains each day serving refineries and other customers in the area.

The NTSB plans to review how the bridge was rebuilt after the coal train derailed there in 2009. That wreck was blamed on a bridge misalignment.

Investigators also want to learn if the tidal surge or debris from Superstorm Sandy may have caused problems at the bridge, although the area was not among those hardest hit by the storm.

[Old Timer 8080]

What makes me upset is that the news coverage UNDERSTATES the amount of tonnage that moves over the bridge. The cars in that picture are 80 TONS CAPACITY EACH fully loaded; I see regular 40, 80 and 100 TON tank cars roll through Denver every day. ( Buffet OWNS the RRs that are the MOVING PIPELINE and opposes the Keystone Pipeline because it would cut into his profits ).

Check the TARE and LOAD CAPACITY numbers on each car. Now why wouldn't these JOURNALISTS ( NOT REPORTERS ) do the proper job of the " 5Ws and an H " that was learned before they submit a story.

[sciline]

In case it hasn't been noticed, the days of "Self-Regulating" and "Self-Policing" on the Assumption that Safety Regulations and Ethical Behavior will be adhered to and maintained by any individual or Company, have been long gone! Gone, because it has long been replaced by GREED! When it comes to a choice between Ethical Behavior and "Profits", "Profits" will win every time! This is why STRICT ENFORCEMENT of any and all Regulations through REGULAR and FULLY DOCUMENTED, and C0-SIGNED, INSPECTIONS are, not only essential, but Imperative for the sake of the Health, Physical and Mental welfare of our Society. Any one or any Agency that "Assumes " otherwise, or "Assumes" anything, is either too lazy or too incompetent to verify! "None so blind as those Inspectors who are paid not to see"!

[rwsmith29456]

I guess that's not much a picture with the article, but it doesn't look at all like the bridge described and I can't picture what kind of 'boat traffic' would be on that creek.

[ammo17]

there is nothing wrong with our railroads and highways.how can there be this administration is giving every country in the world money who has it`s handout.GOD HELP US!

[Mathion]

You really do need to check your pulse. Rail infrastructure has been ignored by every administration since Kennedy. And here's why: Morons want something for nothing.

It costs 200 billion dollars. And FYI, that money was allocated for rail repairs and maintenance (through 2035) in 2009 - DURING THIS ADMINISTRATION! The U.S. has over 100,000 miles of railroad track to maintain. It takes time to repair and upgrade all of the places that need to be repaired and upgraded.

And just a little FYI... Sh*t happens. If a structure is damaged by storm, earthquake, flood, fire, etc., it's going to be structurally unsound. Had the crew heeded the signal (a yellow when they crossed it), this would not have happened.

So your little alarmist, utterly over-the-top reaction is both ridiculous and unfounded. But if you want to look like an idiot, that's your constitutional right. It's my constitutional right to point and laugh at idiots who make public fools of themselves like you did.

Consider this a point and laugh at you.