Last Amtrak Cars Pulled Out of Bayou After Fatal Crash

A recovery crew hauled the last cars of the wrecked Sunset Limited from dark bayou waters Sunday, as other workers repaired the bridge from which it plunged. The crash Wednesday killed 47 people.

The baggage car and the third locomotive from the California-to-Florida train were pulled from Bayou Canot. The engine contained a recording device similar to the one found on the lead engine Saturday. The device was turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board for analysis.

The three wrecked engines and four mangled cars were laid on a huge floating platform of barges.

CSX Transportation Inc. crews also were busy Sunday repairing track and preparing to put down new pilings to reopen the span to traffic by Oct. 4.

The train plunged off a wood-and-steel bridge into the dark water early Wednesday. The accident, the worst in Amtrak’s history, was survived by 163 people.

The NTSB on Sunday released the impounded tow of barges that investigators believe struck the railroad bridge before the train careened into the water. A tugboat had lost the barges in heavy fog.

The agency sought to interview the tugboat crew from Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co. of Houston to piece together events aboard the vessel in the minutes leading up to the train crash, but officials were referred to the crewmen’s lawyers, who declined interviews.

Meanwhile, Warrior & Gulf spokesman Andy Harris announced that the four crew members had passed breath and urine tests for alcohol and drugs. The tests, requested by the Coast Guard, were given by a security company about nine hours after the wreck.

Eleven miles north of the crash site, in Mobile, Ala., victims were remembered Sunday at various church services.