Dispatching Errors Led to UP  08/30 06:28

   

   OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Dispatching errors combined with the failure of two 
backup systems allowed a Union Pacific train to slam into 75 railcars that had 
been parked on a side track for nine months in Southern California two years 
ago, killing an engineer and a conductor, according to a report issued Thursday.

   The National Transportation Safety Board's final report detailed what caused 
the crash in the desert near the Salton Sea in September 2022.

   Investigators determined that mistakes made by dispatchers at the railroad's 
headquarters in Omaha led to the train being routed directly into the parked 
railcars. One dispatcher even overruled the train crew who said they had been 
told by a colleague that cars were still parked on that siding, because his 
computer screen didn't show anything on that track.

   The NTSB said a dispatcher inappropriately removed a note in the computer 
indicating the track was occupied two weeks earlier without verifying the 
tracks were empty. Another dispatcher that night ignored a separate warning 
about the siding and sent the train into it also without checking to be sure 
the tracks were empty. Both actions violated Union Pacific's rules.

   "Following this incident, Union Pacific took significant steps to ensure 
adherence to our safety rules," company spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said, 
including changing the way different departments notify each other about stored 
cars and updating the computer-aided dispatch system.

   "Union Pacific is committed to the health and safety of our employees," 
Tysver added.

   Railroad safety has been a under scrutiny nationwide ever since a Norfolk 
Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and spilled a collection of 
hazardous chemicals that caught fire. Half the town was evacuated three days 
later when officials decided to blow open five tank cars and burn the vinyl 
chloride inside, creating a massive black plume of smoke.

   At the time of the California crash, the 7,368-foot (2,250-meter) train had 
two locomotives on the front and two on the back. It was the crew in the rear 
locomotives that were killed because the train backed into the cars.

   Normally, a system installed on the tracks would electronically detect the 
parked railcars and reinforce the note in the dispatchers' computers. But that 
system failed because rust built up on the track and wheels of the cars during 
the months they sat idle and prevented the track circuit from conducting 
electricity.

   Investigators checked the computer logs for the weeks before the crash and 
found that sometimes cars parked on the tracks would show up in the system and 
at other times they would disappear because of the rust causing intermittent 
problems.

   In addition, Union Pacific rules called for the switches leading into tracks 
where railcars are being stored long-term to be mechanically locked out. But 
the NTSB "found no spikes or clamps applied to the switches leading into 
Bertram siding, indicating that UP personnel had not followed its own rules for 
protection of railcars in long-term storage."

   After the crash, Union Pacific changed its rules to make it harder for that 
to happen. Dispatchers are now required to work with field managers to verify 
how long railcars are going to be stored and make sure maintenance workers 
remove tracks from service if the cars will be there more than 10 days.

   Railroad managers also stressed with dispatchers that they must confirm a 
track is clear before removing a note in the computer saying they are occupied.