Railroad Special Investigation Report
Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Railroad Safety Assessment

NTSB Number SIR-99/03
NTIS Number PB99-917004
PDF Document (449K)

Synopsis: About 4:31 a.m. central daylight time on June 18, 1998, a westbound Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) two-car passenger train struck the second semitrailer of a long combination vehicle (LCV) that consisted of a tractor pulling two flatbed semitrailers loaded with steel coils at a grade crossing near Portage, Indiana. When the vehicles collided, the second semitrailer broke away from the first semitrailer and was dragged by the front of the NICTD train while the chain securing a steel coil to the second semitrailer broke. The released steel coil entered the first train car through the front bulkhead and moved into the passenger compartment. Three fatalities and five minor injuries resulted from the accident.

In a June 18, 1998, letter to National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall, U.S. Senator Richard Lugar and U.S. Congressman Peter J. Visclosky cited three previous accidents that had involved the NICTD system and expressed concern about NICTD’s long-term safe operation. (See appendix A.) The Safety Board reviewed the accident history of the NICTD system and determined that, given the series of incidents experienced on the NICTD line, an evaluation of NICTD’s overall safety should be conducted.

The Safety Board conducted a special investigation that examined the following safety issues:

The intent of this special investigation was not to determine whether NICTD is a “safe” or “unsafe” railroad but to examine those elements of its overall operation known to affect safety and to indicate where improvements could be made in these areas. The Safety Board recognizes that factors not examined in this investigation may also affect NICTD safety, either positively or negatively.

As a result of its special investigation, the Safety Board makes safety recommendations to NICTD, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), and the Boards of Commissioners of Indiana’s Lake, LaPorte, Porter, and St. Joseph Counties.