Train Crew, Dispatcher Commended for Quick Actions
[From CSXT Midweek Report, August 24, 2000].... An alert freight train crew and dispatcher combined to help avert a potential conflict between an Amtrak passenger train and a Virginia Railway Express commuter train earlier this month. Al Crown, senior vice president-transportation, says Engineer John Stone and Conductor Carl Shrewsbury quickly notified the Operations Center in Jacksonville when they suspected a faulty signal may have put the Amtrak train on the same section of track with the VRE train, which was stopped at the Fredericksburg, Virginia, station.
Upon hearing the train crew's concern, Dispatcher Larry Quinton ordered the Amtrak train to stop and placed the signal in the red stop aspect. "These three employees are to be commended," Crown says. "Their actions were quick, decisive and possibly prevented an incident."
The signal failure was traced to a type of wiring called TC Green. The insulation on this type of wiring is suspected of deteriorating when exposed to moisture. Signals are designed to "fail safe" or go to red if they malfunction.
This is the first time in the rail industry that a false proceed signal indication has been attributed to TC Green wiring. CSXT immediately set up a three-step approach to address the issue: daily inspections and testing of signal devices on passenger/commuter routes that contain TC Green wiring; installing ground fault interruption devices in all signal devices that contain TC Green wiring to provide an automatic shut-off system; and accelerating the ongoing upgrade of all TC Green-wired signal locations. In addition, CSXT is installing dehumidifiers where practical in affected signal cases to minimize moisture buildup....
On August 8, Stone and Shrewsbury were operating L174, an intermodal train that operates from Richmond to Philadelphia. They had departed Acca Yard at 5:35 a.m. and joined the northbound flow, following VRE Train 308. About six miles south of Fredericksburg, Stone and Shrewsbury were directed to stop their train in a siding. As Amtrak's Auto Train northbound for Lorton, Virginia, neared, Stone and Shrewsbury were surprised to see the signal displaying a yellow "approach," because they knew from radio conversations that the VRE train was stopped in the Fredericksburg station. "We were in the right place at the right time," Stone says. "It was a strange set of circumstances."
There was a good possibility that the VRE train would have cleared the station by the time Amtrak got there, but it all worked out well." Stone praised Quinton as "an excellent dispatcher and very attentive." For his part, Quinton says the train crew deserves the bulk of the praise. "The crew on 174 was very alert," Quinton says. "I just did what was required of me." Stone, a 23-year veteran engineer, says it's the first time he's ever seen a false approach signal. "This is a very safe work environment," he says.
.