Derailed Train’s Load Said Above Crew’s Figures

A mining company superintendent has told federal investigators that the load carried by a Southern Pacific train that derailed last week was 2,800 tons heavier than its crew members thought, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Tuesday.

The difference in weight is significant because the train didn’t have enough braking power to slow the heavier load as it descended from Cajon Pass, according to a computer simulation conducted as part of the investigation.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Southern Pacific offered to buy 11 homes damaged by the runaway freight train, which killed two trainmen and two children when it leaped the tracks Friday. San Bernardino Mayor Evlyn Wilcox also announced Tuesday that the crash site will be converted into a permanent greenbelt to create a buffer from the tracks.

At an evening press briefing Tuesday, Acting NTSB Chairman Jim Kolstad said interviews have revealed that officials with Lake Minerals Co. did not provide Southern Pacific with a weight for its cargo of sand-like sal soda and the railroad did not request one.

Instead, Kolstad said, a figure of 6,151 tons given to the crew was a “composite number from three clerks, each using his own method.”

But the superintendent of Lake Minerals Co., a Kern County firm, told NTSB investigators that he is all but certain the train was carrying 100 tons per hopper car--or a total weight of 8,970 tons, including the weight of the cars themselves--on its ill-fated trip from Mojave to Long Beach Friday.

That figure, which is consistent with accounts provided by other witnesses, conflicts with a list of goods provided to the crew by the clerks.

The discrepancy is critical, NTSB officials said, because an engineer makes calculations for handling the train based in part on how much weight he is pulling.

Asked whether a scientific process was used by the clerks to gauge the weight, Kolstad said: “We’re looking into that.”

Also Tuesday, computer simulations revealed that if the runaway was carrying 100 tons in each of its 69 cars, it would have required the dynamic braking power of 6 locomotives to stop. Evidence collected so far shows the train had only half that much braking capability, Kolstad said.

Moreover, the 69-car freight was traveling at 30 m.p.h. when it was cresting Cajon pass--a speed suitable for the lighter weight of 6,151 tons but too fast for the heavier train. At the heaver weight, the train should have been going at 20 m.p.h.

Under an agreement between the city and railroad officials reached Tuesday, Southern Pacific will provide 90 days of free lodging to displaced residents and pay moving costs within a 50-mile radius of Duffy Street.

Moreover, Southern Pacific will cover the total cost of rescue efforts and cleanup of the wreckage and will defend the city from any lawsuits spawned by the derailment or any future accidents at the site, the eight-page agreement says.

“We sympathize with those who have suffered and lost so dearly in this tragedy and we know monetary compensation cannot repair the damage,” Mayor Wilcox said at a press conference. “But we’ve tried to start the healing with this agreement.”

Although the City Council had authorized its lawyers to seek a court injunction blocking the reopening of the rail line, City Atty. James F. Penman said concessions won through the agreement were far better than any remedy available through the courts.

“It’s extremely difficult to get an injunction against a nationwide transportation entity, and even if we had obtained one, another judge might have set it aside,” said Penman, who noted that there were “a lot of fights” between the city and the railroad during two days of negotiations over the accord.

City officials said they believe preserving the crash site as landscaped open space and prohibiting future development there offers the best protection possible from train accidents.

Meanwhile, the last of the mangled steel locomotives strewn about the site was removed Tuesday, easing concerns that a buried gas line might be punctured by the heavy machinery. Residents evacuated from about 40 houses on Duffy and Donald streets were allowed to return home Tuesday morning.

A Southern Pacific spokesman said trains resumed traveling the busy stretch of elevated railroad tracks late Tuesday. Traffic had been rerouted through the San Fernando Valley after Friday’s crash.

The Long Beach-bound train was traveling an estimated 90 m.p.h.--more than three times normal speed--when it plunged off a 30-foot flood levee and struck a row of homes in the mostly minority neighborhood. Seven of the houses already have been demolished.

Under Tuesday’s agreement, the railroad will offer to pay each owner of the 11 damaged homes the fair market value of the property before the derailment. In addition, Southern Pacific has agreed to enter binding arbitration to settle claims residents are expected to file for loss of furniture, automobiles and other belongings.

The agreement does not preclude residents from filing lawsuits against the railroad to collect damages for emotional distress or other harm not related to property. Several homeowners already have hired attorneys.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s on-site investigation is expected to wrap up by the weekend. Board members will then determine whether to conduct a public hearing on the derailment.

Southern Pacific spokesman Robert Taggart declined to comment on the NTSB’s initial findings but said, “We operate a safe railroad. Obviously, the NTSB will make recommendations during the course of and at the conclusion of its investigation, and we will follow them.”

Taggart said no “specific” reforms had yet been made in response to Friday’s disaster.