Hotline #917-A - February 19, 1996

During a heavy snowstorm the evening of February 16, eight passengers and three CSX crew members died on a MARC commuter train near Silver Spring, Md. The Washington-bound MARC train apparently ran twice the normal speed in a block where the last signal was yellow, braked too late for a subsequent red signal, and struck Amtrak's westbound Capitol Limited. The Capitol was crossing from one track to another at 30 mph, whereas the MARC train's speed had slowed from 63 mph to 40 mph at the time of impact. The MARC train was running cab-car forward, and the impact ruptured an Amtrak locomotive fuel tank, causing the cab-car to burn.

All of the fatalities were in the MARC cab-car. The Amtrak locomotives and mail cars all derailed, but all of the passenger cars remained on the track.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigation is focusing on the following points:

• Why was the MARC train going so fast in a signal block that was yellow? Investigators think the engineer met a yellow signal before Kensington, which on CSX means to slow to 30 mph. The train stopped at the MARC platform in Kensington, then sped up to 63 mph going toward the red signal, which is around a blind curve.
• Why did it appear that passengers in the cab-car had trouble leaving the car? Eyewitnesses said they saw victims pounding on the windows, as the car burned.
• Did the fact that CSX removed a signal between Kensington and the accident site in 1993 have any bearing on the accident? It was removed when CSX spent $13 million in federal funds on signal upgrades, but state and federal officials were later disappointed that the upgrades did not produce desired capacity improvements.
• What does this accident say about the safety of cab-cars? NARP Executive Director Ross Capon said in a TV interview today that CSX crews regularly tell passengers to ride in the lead coach, even when the rest of the train is empty.
• Would the accident have been prevented by a proposed technology called Positive Train Separation? The FRA has been promoting this technology, and an NTSB official said they have recommended it before, too. This would use satellite technology to bring the benefits of an Automatic Train Stop system -- like that used on the Northeast Corridor -- to railroads that don't have it now.