Opening Statement at the Pubic Hearing on the February 16, 1996 Collision Between an Amtrak Train and a MARC Commuter Train in Silver Spring, Maryland June 26, 1996
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you
to this hearing into the circumstances surrounding the tragic
Silver Spring accident on February 16, 1996, when 11 persons lost
their lives in the collision of an Amtrak train with a commuter
train.
My name is Jim Hall, Chairman of the National Transportation Safety
Board and Chairman of this public hearing. The Safety Board is
convening this hearing as part of its Congressional mandate to
investigate transportation accidents, determine probable cause,
and issue safety recommendations to prevent similar accidents
from recurring in the future.
Since 1974, the primary responsibility for investigating railroad
and rail transit accidents has been assigned by Congress to the
Safety Board. In our investigations, there is no attempt to determine
legal liability or regulatory violations. We do, however, investigate
the adequacy of existing regulations and of the performances of
state and federal agencies charged with enforcing those regulations
and with oversight of the railroad operations. Company policies
and procedures are also closely analyzed in order to determine
not just what happened, but why it happened.
Briefly, the circumstances of the accident are these:
On February 16, 1996, at about 5:38 pm, eastbound Maryland Regional
Commuter train 286 consisting of three passenger cars and a locomotive,
collided nearly head-on with westbound Amtrak train 29, the Capital
Limited. There were 164 passengers and 18 crew aboard the Amtrak
train; the engineer and assistant engineer were injured in the
accident. There were three crewmembers and 20 passengers on board
the MARC train. All three crew members and eight passengers were
killed in the accident and resulting fire.
The Safety Board's 17 railroad accident investigators have been
extremely busy this year. Since January 1, 1996, the Railroad
Division has launched on 35 railroad accidents resulting in:
Included in these investigations are 6 runaway trains, 6 collisions,
11 derailments, and 12 grade crossing accidents.
Railroad transportation is safe and has been getting safer over
the last decade or so. But the many accidents early this year
served to awaken the interest of the American people regarding
rail safety in general, and have raised specific issues in particular;
issues such as positive train separation, two-way end-of-train
devices, and passenger car safety standards that have been on
the Board's agenda for many years. Two of those issues are directly
tied to this accident.
The issue of positive train separation - an advanced control systems
that will act as a safety net for human performance failures in
the operation of trains - has been highlighted over and over in
Safety Board investigations since 1969. Train accidents that took
place in
could have all been prevented if a fully developed positive train
separation system had been in place. And now we must add other
accidents to this list.
Positive train separation is also on the NTSB's list of Most Wanted
Transportation Safety Improvements. About 70 to 80 percent of
the railroad accidents investigated by the Safety Board can be
attributed to human error. The Safety Board believes that new
technology in the form of an advanced electronic system can reduce
the severity of human performance train operations accidents by
overriding the train operator's actions to prevent train collisions
and overspeed derailments.
The Safety Board has advocated passenger car safety standards
in dozens of accident investigations. The list of accidents where
the Safety Board made recommendations in this area goes back over
27 years. The 1996 accidents on Washington METRO at Gaithersburg,
Maryland, on New Jersey Transit in Secaucus, New Jersey, and on
the MARC Train in Silver Spring, Maryland again tragically point
out the need for passenger car safety standards.
Our past recommendations included some familiar issues:
As part of this hearing we will be looking closely at different
elements of rail safety. As I've said, the railroads and the rail
transit operators have an enviable safety record, but there is
room for improvement. This investigation can be an opportunity
to establish changes in the way railroads operate to make them
safer than ever before.
Government certainly has a role in reaching this objective. The
public servants represented in this room -- whether they are employees
of the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Transit Administration,
or the Safety Board -- have an opportunity, an obligation, and
a public mandate to improve rail safety. The American taxpayer
has the right to a safe rail system.
In fiscal year 1996, the Federal Railroad Administration received
about $850 million to carry on their regulatory rail safety program.
Likewise, the Federal Transit Administration received $4 billion
to fund rail transportation infrastructure and equipment purchases.
The NTSB itself received almost $39 million dollars - 15 cents
per citizen - to safeguard all forms of transportation in this
country, including providing oversight of the Federal Railroad
Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, and other
Department of Transportation regulators. The public has a substantial
investment in rail transportation safety and deserves results
from that investment.
I believe that that Safety Board is the eyes and ears of the American
people at accident sites. We continue that role at hearings like
this. It is our responsibility to make sure that the investigations
are thorough and comprehensive.
During the next three days we will be addressing the circumstances
of the Silver Spring Accident. The specific issues that we will
cover are:
1. Details of the Silver Spring Accident and the Emergency Response,
2. The Brunswick line Signal System, Signal Reliability, and Advanced
Signal Systems,
3. Train Operations and Crew Performance,
4. Passenger Car Safety Standards, and,
5. Oversight of Commuter Rail Operations.
Our plate this week will be full, but I can promise you that we
will address policies and oversight of the companies and government
agencies that operate, finance, and regulate our rail transportation
system to determine their respective roles in the safety equation.
As I said in another context earlier this week, I fear that when
this investigation is concluded, we might find that the Silver
Spring accident was caused by lessons previously learned and either
forgotten or ignored. That would make this a double tragedy.
I hope what we learn through this hearing, and through this investigation,
will mobilize the rail industry and government regulators to finally
effect the changes necessary to prevent a recurrence of this tragedy.
