Amtrak Union Sees Push-Pull Trains as Derailment Risk in Southland

Amtrak engineers, fearful of what they see as an increased risk of derailments, are fighting the use of push-pull trains along the Southern California corridor.

Local 55 of the engineers union has already filed a formal protest with its national union, citing “substantial safety questions,” and will send a detailed complaint to the National Transportation Safety Board, Local 55 chairman Greg Luiz said.

“These trains eliminate the need to turn the train around, which saves a lot of time and money, but the $64,000 question is what happens when they hit something,” Luiz said.

Push-pull trains, which can operate with the engine either pulling in front or pushing from behind, are now running on two of eight daily round trips between San Diego and Los Angeles.

Eventually, Amtrak says, all rail trips between the two cities will be push-pull, with the same trains being pushed out of Los Angeles then pulled out of San Diego.

The lightweight, maneuverable trains have been used around Chicago and in the Northeast for nearly 30 years and are popular there, says Clifford Black of Amtrak, “because they permit us to provide more service at lower cost with the same number of passenger cars.”

But Luiz argues that push-pull trains are especially vulnerable in the event of a high-speed collision.

At 65 tons, the lead control car, which seats both the engineer and passengers, is half the weight of a 135-ton locomotive. When the locomotive is pushing the train, Luiz said, the control car receives the initial impact in a collision.

But these cars probably are not heavy enough to withstand hitting a stalled car or other debris, he said. And such obstacles are a common problem along the corridor because of its many “grade crossings” or street-rail intersections.

“Chicago and the Northeast have limited grade crossings,” Luiz said. “We have 89 crossings along 128 miles of track and we average three major incidents a year--cars, rocks, things kids throw on the tracks or cargo falling off trucks.

“In other parts of the country, cab cars aren’t running over a lot of grade crossings at 90 m.p.h. When you strike something at that speed and the engine’s pushing you from behind, you’re opening up a whole new set of physics.”

Those physics, said Luiz, were the likely reason that a train jackknifed outside Chicago in June, one of several push-pull accidents his union will include in its report to the NTSB.

“After Amtrak converted Chicago’s inner-city trains to push-pull, a train with a locomotive pushing from the rear hit a garbage truck at a grade crossing in Joliet,” he said.

“The train turned over and ended up in a ditch. The engineer, who happened to be the only person in the control car, was seriously hurt and 29 passengers were injured.”

Black denies that push-pull train service is a dangerous venture in Southern California. “If we felt there was a safety risk in implementing these cars,” he said, “we would not place them in service.”

As for push-pull accidents like the one in Joliet, “The same thing can and has happened when a train with two locomotives in the lead strikes a motor vehicle and derails.”

But engineers at the helm say a 135-ton locomotive feels a lot safer up front than a 65-ton cab car.

And regular commuters along the corridor are also wary.

Many passengers have complained about the cars’ split seating arrangements. Because a push-pull train must roll along in either direction, half the seats are always facing the rear, giving riders the uncomfortable sensation of traveling backward.

“This is a change and it’s natural to resist it,” Black said. “We feel that once they get used to (the reverse seating), they’ll like it fine.”

Other riders share the engineers’ concerns about safety. Jack Brown, a magazine editor who commutes daily between Oceanside and Santa Ana, wrote a letter to the NTSB in August expressing his fears about derailments. He said he still hasn’t gotten a response.

“The potential for accidents is there,” said Brown. “There haven’t been any problems yet because the trains have been able to stop in time.

Brown and Luiz both want Amtrak to carry out crash tests on the push-pull cars.