I promised to keep abreast of the wreck of The City of New Orleans, and I've now got an update to pass along:
Cause of the wreck of the City of New Orleans, Train 58(06APR) is believed to be a 2 1/2 inch piece of rail that was added to the east rail (engineer's side) during January 2004 to replace a section with a crushed rail head. Under changes in temperature, compressive forces in that rail combined with poor condition of ties caused that rail to roll outward under train.Engine 82: $50,000
Baggage 1223: $55,000
Sleeping Car 32036: $2,000,000
Dining Car 38009: $2,000,000
Lounge Car 33013: $700,000
Coach/Smoking 31592: $700,000
Coach 34069: $650,000
Coach 34087: $350,000
Sleeping Car 32005: $215,000
Coach 34135: $176,000It is unlikely that the first five Superliners will ever return to
service.
I do not know the truth of this information, but it seems consistent with initial reports. Additional analysis from the same source:
Sometime before January of this year, a piece of rail was crushed (the railhead) and then in January it was repaired. The repair was just a patch job, they probably cut about a 2 inch section out and either welded a new piece in or bolted it in as a joint. Unsure if they used a cutting torch to do this, as that would destroy the tensile strength of the rail and cause a derailment (which is exactly what happened on the [Missouri Pacific] about 20 years ago....derailed the Texas Eagle in Woodlawn, TX...five minutes from my house). Regardless, the fact that it was just a patch job mixed with either rotted or just old wooden ties was not good for the City of New Orleans. What they suspect happened is that once the train it that section (doing somewhere around 70MPH) either the patch came loose or the spikes gave out, causing the rail to "roll" outward under the train. The rail in question was on the engineer's side, explaining why the Superliners fell in that direction.
Oh, bother. This places the blame solely upon Canadian National, because their people either didn't repair the rails properly, or they didn't come back to implement a permanent fix. Given Amtrak's poor financial state, I'm curious as to what will be done about the five wrecked Superliners. Those cars will need to be replaced; simply going on without them is probably not an option. After all, you can't carry passengers---I know Amtrak's a little short on ridership from time to time---if you haven't the coaches. David Gunn has repeatedly harped on the fact that one of his priorities is getting equipment back into service, and he's spent scarce capital to do so. This accident sets their program back a fair amount, and it's distinctly unwelcome news.
I am, of course, irritated with the CN maintenance of way and financial managers who didn't have the rails in a good state of repair. Further information will be reported when available.
UPDATE: Photographs purportedly taken at the wreck site are located here. The third and fifth pictures demonstrate most clearly damage to the rail, and would perhaps suggest that the failure of the actual rail itself was the cause for the derailment.
Posted by Country Pundit at April 13, 2004 11:28 AM