On July 14, 2009, about 2:08 a.m., central daylight time, Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad (DME) freight train B61-13, consisting of two locomotives (DME 4003 and 4001) and 83 railcars, was operating southbound under track warrant authority in non-signaled territory on the main track when it went into Bettendorf Yard via the misaligned north yard hand-operated switch. Event recorder data showed that the train was operating at 25 mph before the DME train’s engineer activated the emergency brakes as the train entered the yard. However, the braking action was only able to slow the train to about 21 mph before it struck 19 loaded railcars on yard track No. 3, derailing 4 of those railcars, in addition to derailing 9 railcars and the 2 locomotives on the DME train. The engineer and the conductor on DME train B61-13 sustained fatal injuries. The north yard hand-operated switch had been left incorrectly lined from the main track onto the yard track by the crew of BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) local train RCHI4274-13I (BNSF local).
We determined that the probable cause of the accident was the BNSF Railway local train RCHI4274-13I crew releasing track warrant authority before returning the north yard hand-operated switch to the correct position. Contributing to the accident was the dispatcher for the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern (DME) Railroad granting track warrant authority to DME train B61-13 without holding a job briefing which would confirm the accurate positions of all applicable main track switches. Also contributing to the accident was a hand-operated switch position reflector target that could not be observed by the crew of train B61-13 at a sufficient distance to stop the train and avoid the accident.
We made recommendations to theFederal Railroad Administration and Canadian Pacific Railway.
