Event Summary

​

The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day investigative hearing on recent Amtrak accidents on July 10 and 11.

The public hearing, to be held in Washington, D.C., will explore issues involved in the December 18, 2017, derailment in DuPont, Washington, and the February 4, 2018, collision with a CSX Transportation (CSX) freight train near Cayce, South Carolina.

Parties to the hearing include the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA); the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers; the Brotherhood of Locomotives Engineers and Trainmen; the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; CSX; Sound Transit; Amtrak; Washington State DOTepartment of Transportation (DOT); and the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission.

WHAT: NTSB investigative hearing

WHEN: July 10 and 11, 2018. From 8:30 a.m. ET to 4:30 p.m. ET (both days)

WHERE: NTSB Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, D.C.

Live Webcast: A link to the webcast will be available on the following page shortly before the start of the hearing: http://ntsb.capitolconnection.org/

The docket is DCA18HR001.
The Investigative Hearing presentations can be found in the docket.

Agenda:

Download the agenda

Day 1 (8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.)

8:30 am - 9:00 am: Opening Remarks and Housekeeping

Opening Statement: Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt

9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.: Panel 1 - Cayce, South Carolina

Theme: “Amtrak Operations on Host Railroads”
Overview of Accident: Richard Hipskind

• Amtrak - Amtrak Legislative Mandates for Operations and Amtrak Host Railroad Agreements
• CSX Signal Project
• Risk Assessment
• Operations Planning for Outages
• Interaction with Amtrak and other operators

11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Lunch

• FRA
• Applicable Regulations
• Requirements for Safe Operations during Signal Suspensions
• Amtrak, Operations on Host Railroads
• Joint Coordination Activities for Safety and Operational Efficiency
• Hazard Identification and Risk Management
• 217 Operational Testing (Amtrak/CSX/FRA)

1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Panel 2 - DuPont, Washington

Theme: “Addressing Safety in Preparation for the Point Defiance Bypass”
Overview of Accident: Ted Turpin

• Washington DOT’s Point Defiance Bypass Project
• Grant Relationship with Sound Transit
• State Supported Services Contract with Amtrak
• Sound Transit’s Process for Pre-revenue Safety Certification
• Safety and Security Management Plan
• Preliminary Hazard Analysis
• Operational Hazard Analysis
• Safety Certification Verification Report
• Pre-revenue Testing and Verification
• FRA, Project Safety Support
• Safety Requirements for FRA-funded Major Capital Projects
• The Role of FRA during Design
• The Role of FRA during Pre-revenue phase (FRA Passenger Safety Division)
• Grandfathered Approval of Rail Passenger Equipment
• Amtrak, Operational Readiness for Revenue Service
• Training
• Familiarization and Qualifications
• Evaluation of Operational Readiness

Closing Statement: Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt

11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.: Lunch

1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Panel 3 (afternoon)

Theme: “International Approach to Passenger Train Operations and Shared Use and Safety Management Principles from Another Industry”
Panel Introduction: Ryan Frigo

• Presentation on Safety Management Systems Implementation, Operations and Pre-revenue (Office Road and Rail, United Kingdom)
• Lessons Learned from Test Train Overspeed Derailment. Subsequent Safety Improvements (SNCF National Railway of France)
• Presentation from Another High Reliable Organization on Safety Management - Pipeline Industry

Closing Statement: Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt

Webcast

NTSB public events are also streamed live via webcast. Webcasts are archived for a period of three months from the time of the meeting. Webcast archives are generally available by the end of the event day for public Meetings, and by the end of the next day for Technical conferences.

If you wish to obtain a copy of NTSB meetings, please contact the NTSB Records Management Division at (202) 314-6551 or 800-877-6799. You may also request this information from the NTSB web site or write the following: National Transportation Safety Board, Records Management Division (CIO-40), 490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW,Washington, DC 20594. View archived video of meetings (Webcasts are archived for a period of three months from the time of the meeting.)