On April 3, 2016, an Amtrak passenger train struck a backhoe on the tracks, resulting in the death of two maintenance workers and injuries for 39 passengers outside of Chester, Pennsylvania.
How that train came to travel on tracks designated for ongoing maintenance triggered an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
On Tuesday, the NTSB highlighted more two dozen “unsafe conditions” that led to the accident — from insufficient safety equipment to “safety rule violations and risky behaviors by workers.” The board also cited poor communication between the night foremen and day foremen, leading engineers to believe the track was clear, and the train dispatcher taking personal calls immediately before the collision.
Supplemental shunting devices, a kind of safety equipment that flags tracks as “occupied” to approaching trains, were not in use.
The two track workers, one of whom was a Wilmington resident, were found to have traces of drugs. However, the presence of the drugs was not believed to have been a factor in the accident.
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