Crew Saw Fatal Train-Bus Crash Develop

Two crew members on a freight train say they watched in helpless horror as a school bus sped toward a crossing in the seconds before it was struck by the train’s locomotive, investigators said Saturday.

The accident Tuesday just north of the Georgia state line killed three children. Five others, including the bus driver, were injured, and two children remained in critical condition Saturday.

The engineer and conductor on the CSX train said they watched helplessly as the bus sped toward the railroad crossing, said Ken Suydam, investigator in charge for the National Transportation Safety Board.

“Both saw the bus approaching at a rapid rate of speed and expressed concern to each other as to whether the bus would stop,” he said at a news conference.

However, investigators do not yet know how fast the bus was traveling or if driver Rhonda Cloer tried to stop, Suydam said. The manufacturer examined the bus’ anti-lock braking system and reported it was working properly, Suydam said.

Cloer, released from a hospital Wednesday, refuses to be interviewed by authorities, Suydam said. Her 5-year-old daughter was on the bus and was one of the two children in critical condition.

The train was traveling about 50 mph and first blew its whistle about 1,000 feet from the crossing and again continuously at 620 feet away, said NTSB investigator David Rayburn. The emergency brake was applied at 160 feet away.

The impact ripped the body of the bus from its chassis.

School buses are required by law to stop between 15 and 50 feet from railroad crossings.