Lessons From Tragedies Pay Off

There are many differences between Sunday’s 90-mph derailment of the Southwest Chief in the Arizona desert and two of the worst accidents in Amtrak history. The most important differences were intentional and may well have saved dozens of lives. Consider the history.

The crash of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited near Mobile, Ala., in September 1993 killed 44 people. A bridge had collapsed, sending part of the train into a bayou. One locomotive erupted in flames, burning the train crew. Passengers scrambled through wreckage in the dark, and some could not find the emergency exits.

The second disaster occurred last year in February. Amtrak’s Capitol Limited and a Maryland rail commuter train collided near Washington and 12 people were killed. The crash poked a hole in a fuel tank, the spray ignited and the lead car of the commuter train was incinerated.

The Mobile accident especially led the National Transportation Safety Board to recommend several changes, all of which were subsequently implemented by Amtrak and were in evidence when the Southwest Chief came upon another collapsing bridge. This time there were no fatalities among the 291 passengers and 18 crew members. About 116 people were taken to hospitals, and all but 16 had been released by the next day.

The Southwest Chief was pulled by strengthened locomotives, which stand up better in wrecks, and there were only minor fuel leaks. Seat pockets contained instruction sheets informing passengers of emergency exits and their locations, plus chemical sticks that provided illumination. Passengers said both helped them exit the cars swiftly after some emergency lights failed.

Less comforting was the report from an NTSB spokesman that many commuter train systems have not taken such safety steps.

The lessons of Mobile and Maryland were that the safety of train passengers deserves every bit of the meticulous attention directed toward the safety of airline passengers. The measures taken by Amtrak helped avert tragedy in Arizona last Sunday, and that’s proof of their value.