Chase, Maryland rail wreck
Encyclopedia
The Chase, Maryland train collision occurred at 1:04 pm on January 4, 1987, on Amtrak
's Northeast Corridor
main line in the Chase
community in eastern Baltimore County, Maryland
, United States
, at Gunpow Interlocking
, about 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Baltimore
. Amtrak train 94, the Colonial (now part of the Northeast Regional, from Washington, D.C.
, to Boston
), crashed into a set of Conrail locomotives
running light, and which had fouled the mainline. Train 94's speed at the time of the collision was estimated at about 108 miles per hour (48.3 m/s). Fourteen passengers on the Amtrak train were killed, as well as the Amtrak engineer and lounge car attendant.
The Conrail locomotive crew failed to slow down at the signals
before Gunpow Interlocking, and it was determined that the accident would have been avoided had they done so. Additionally, they tested positive for marijuana. The engineer served four years in a Maryland prison for his role in the crash. In the aftermath, drug and alcohol procedures for train crews were overhauled by the Federal Railroad Administration
(FRA), which is charged with rail safety. In 1991, prompted in large part by the Chase Maryland crash, the United States Congress
took even broader action and authorized mandatory random drug-testing for all employees in "safety-sensitive" jobs in all industries regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) including trucking, bus carriers and rail systems. Additionally, all trains operating on the high-speed Northeast Corridor are now equipped with automatic cab signalling
with an automatic train stop
feature. Several safety issues were identified with Amfleet
cars as well.
At the time, the Baltimore County train wreck was Amtrak's deadliest crash in the company's history. In 1993, however, the wreck at Big Bayou Canot
in Alabama
resulted in a much larger death toll.
) for Boston South Station. The train had 16 cars and was filled with travelers returning from the holiday season to their homes and schools for the second semester of the year. Two AEM-7
locomotives, numbered 900 and 903, led the train; #903 was the lead locomotive. The engineer was 35-year-old Jerome Evans.
After leaving the Baltimore, Maryland Amtrak station
, the train's next stop was Wilmington, Delaware
. Just north of Baltimore, while still in Baltimore County, the four-track Northeast Corridor
narrows to two tracks at Gunpow Interlocking just before crossing over the Gunpowder River
. The train accelerated north toward that location.
models) light (without freight cars) from Conrail's Bayview Yard just east of Baltimore bound for Enola Yard
near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
. Gates was later determined to have violated several signal and operating rules, including a failure to properly test his cab signals as required before departure from Bayview. It was later discovered that someone had disabled the cab signal alerter whistle on lead unit #5044 with duct tape, muting it almost completely. Also, one of the light bulbs in the PRR-style cab signal display had been removed. Investigators believed these conditions probably existed prior to departure from Bayview and that they would have been revealed by a properly performed departure test.
Gates and his brakeman
, Edward "Butch" Cromwell, were also smoking a marijuana cigarette. Marijuana can alter one's sense of time and impair the ability to perform tasks that require concentration. Cromwell was responsible for calling out the signals if Gates missed them, but failed to do so.
While the tracks and interlocking plant at this location are signalized
to alert locomotive engineers when the interlocking switches are set for through track train movement, the switches are not designed to de-rail a locomotive or train that runs through them when they are aligned for through track train movement.
In the case of the accident, the interlocking plant was properly set for through track movement only, so as to allow the Amtrak train to pass the freight locomotives (which should have been stopped on the side tracks) on the through tracks onto and over the bridge. The freight locomotive engineers ignored the stop signals in their locomotive cab, and at trackside, visible to them from the cab of their locomotive.
Speed/event recording devices indicated that the Conrail locomotives were moving at approximately 60 miles per hour (26.8 m/s) when their brakes were applied for an emergency stop, after they had passed the trackside signals. This was, Gates later claimed, when he realized that he did not have a wayside signal to proceed north at Gunpow. He was, however, moving too fast to stop before passing the signal indicating he should stop clear of the main track on which #94 was approaching.
The Conrail locomotives came to a stop on the track directly in front of #94, which approached the interlocking at 120 mph (53.6 m/s), an authorized track speed. With little time to react, Amtrak engineer Evans apparently saw the diesels on the line in front of him and applied the brakes for an emergency stop. However, the collision was unavoidable.
On impact, the rearmost Conrail diesel, GE B36-7
#5045 exploded and burned. It was completely destroyed down to frame and was never rebuilt. The middle unit, #5052, sustained significant damage but was later rebuilt and returned to service. Lead unit #5044 had little damage.
One of Amtrak's AEM-7s, #900, was buried under the wreckage, while the lead locomotive, #903, ended up among some trees on the west side of the right of way. Several Budd Company
Amfleet
cars were piled up, with some crushed under the pile.
Cromwell, who was on the lead locomotive with Gates, suffered a broken leg in the collision. Gates was uninjured. The Amtrak engineer, lounge car LSA (lead service attendant) and 14 passengers were killed.
The front cars on the Amtrak #94 train suffered the greatest extent of damage and were almost completely crushed. However they were nearly empty awaiting additional holiday passengers en route who would have boarded the train at stations further north. According to the NTSB, had these cars been fully occupied at the time, the death toll would have been at least 100. There were relatively few passengers on those cars, however, and so the death toll was much less. Most of the dead were on Amtrak car #21236.
While many of the injured passengers were aided by nearby residents, some of the uninjured passengers wandered away, making it difficult for Amtrak to know the complete story.
Emergency personnel worked for many hours in the frigid cold, impeded as they were by the stainless-steel Amfleet cars' skin's resistance to the ordinary hydraulic rescue tools
at their command, to extricate trapped passengers from the wreckage as helicopters and ambulances transported injured people to hospitals and trauma center
s. It was over 10 hours after the collision before the final trapped persons were freed from the wreckage.
It was several days before the wrecked equipment was removed and the track and electrical propulsion system were returned to service.
investigation revealed that had Gates slowed down at the signals as required, he would have stopped in time. It also determined that Gates and Cromwell's marijuana use was the "probable cause" of the accident. Gates and Cromwell were immediately suspended by Conrail pending an internal investigation, but resigned rather than face certain termination.
Gates was eventually charged with manslaughter by locomotive; under Maryland law a locomotive is a motor vehicle. Prosecutors cut a deal with Cromwell in which he agreed to testify against Gates in return for immunity. Gates was sentenced to five years in state prison and one year's probation, and was later sentenced to an additional three years on federal charges of lying to the NTSB. Gates' history of DWI (driving while intoxicated) convictions as well as his admission that the crew had been using marijuana while on duty led for a call to certify locomotive engineers as to their qualifications and history.
Toxicology tests on the Amtrak engineer's body returned negative and, in fact, his actions served only to reduce the severity of the wreck by slowing his train from 125 mile per hour.
Gates was released from prison in 1992 after serving four years, and now works as an abuse counselor. In a 1993 interview with the Baltimore Sun, Gates said the accident would have never happened if not for the marijuana. He also revealed he'd smoked marijuana on the job several times.
with an automatic train stop
feature. Although common on passenger trains up until that time, cab signals combined with train stop and speed control had never been installed on freight locomotives due to potential train handling issues at high speed. Conrail subsequently developed a device called a locomotive speed limiter (LSL), a computerized device that is designed to monitor and control the rate of deceleration for restrictive signals in conjunction with cab signals. All freight locomotives operated on the Northeast Corridor must now be equipped with an operating LSL which also limits top speed to 50 mph (22.4 m/s). Previously, freight locomotives were only required to have automatic cab signals without an automatic train stop feature.
Also as a direct result of this collision, federal legislation was enacted that required the FRA to develop a system of federal certification for locomotive engineers. These regulations went into effect in January 1990. Since then, railroads are required by law to certify that their engineers are properly trained and qualified, and that they have no drug or alcohol impairment motor vehicle convictions for the five year period prior to certification. Another effect was that age-old Rule G (The use of intoxicants or narcotics by employees subject to duty, or their possession or use while in duty, is prohibited. — UCOR, 1962) was revamped to:
Actually, a form of Rule G has existed in many railroad operating manuals for decades. However, the federal codification of this rule was deemed necessary to assure that any violator would be dealt with in a consistent and harsh manner. Also, anyone who passes a stop signal loses his or her FRA certification for a period not to exceed 30 days for a first offense. This is per the 49 CFR part 249.
In 1991—prompted in large part by the Chase crash—Congress authorized mandatory random drug-testing for all employees in "safety-sensitive" jobs in industries regulated by DOT.
of Owings Mills, Maryland
decided to build a 448-seat theater in memory of one of the crash's victims and alumna, 16-year-old Ceres Millicent Horn. Ceres Horn graduated from the school at age 15 and enrolled and was accepted at Princeton University
at age 16 where she majored in astrophysics. Her family has never ridden a train since.
On January 4, 2007, the 20th anniversary of the crash, her family visited the theatre for the first time and attended a ceremony at the McDonogh School held in honor of their daughter.
Also at the time of the 20th anniversary, the Baltimore Sun interviewed some of the volunteers and professionals who responded or treated injured passengers after the collision. An Amtrak signal foreman who had responded from home told the reporter: "Once you got here, your stomach just turned. It was the most devastating thing I've seen in my 30 years down here," he said. "It was a horrific scene." The man added that he didn't leave the crash site for three or four days, sometimes catching some sleep while propped against the trees lining the track. "You didn't worry about pay, you didn't worry about nothing, you just tried to help these people out," he said.
Some of the "Good Samaritans" who lived close by and helped pull passengers out immediately after the collision were later invited to the White House
and their efforts acknowledged by President Ronald W. Reagan.
The Baltimore County Fire Department's medical commander at the scene 20 years earlier told the newspaper that the Amtrak crash is still being used as a case study in effective disaster response. "The reason is how the members of the professional and volunteer fire departments and the community people got together." It was, he said, "a very sad but a very proud moment" in his career.
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
's Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...
main line in the Chase
Chase, Maryland
Chase is an unincorporated community in eastern Baltimore County, Maryland, United States.-Geography:Chase is located at . Chase is located on the waterfront of the Gunpowder River, Middle River, Dundee Creek, Saltpeter Creek, and Chesapeake Bay...
community in eastern Baltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County is a county located in the northern part of the US state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 805,029. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Towson. The name of the county was derived from the barony of the Proprietor of the Maryland...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, at Gunpow Interlocking
Interlocking
In railway signalling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings. The signalling appliances and tracks are sometimes collectively referred to as an interlocking plant...
, about 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
. Amtrak train 94, the Colonial (now part of the Northeast Regional, from Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
), crashed into a set of Conrail locomotives
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
running light, and which had fouled the mainline. Train 94's speed at the time of the collision was estimated at about 108 miles per hour (48.3 m/s). Fourteen passengers on the Amtrak train were killed, as well as the Amtrak engineer and lounge car attendant.
The Conrail locomotive crew failed to slow down at the signals
Railway signal
A signal is a mechanical or electrical device erected beside a railway line to pass information relating to the state of the line ahead to train/engine drivers. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly...
before Gunpow Interlocking, and it was determined that the accident would have been avoided had they done so. Additionally, they tested positive for marijuana. The engineer served four years in a Maryland prison for his role in the crash. In the aftermath, drug and alcohol procedures for train crews were overhauled by the Federal Railroad Administration
Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation. The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966...
(FRA), which is charged with rail safety. In 1991, prompted in large part by the Chase Maryland crash, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
took even broader action and authorized mandatory random drug-testing for all employees in "safety-sensitive" jobs in all industries regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) including trucking, bus carriers and rail systems. Additionally, all trains operating on the high-speed Northeast Corridor are now equipped with automatic cab signalling
Cab signalling
Cab signalling is a railway safety system that communicates track status information to the cab, crew compartment or driver's compartment of a locomotive, railcar or multiple unit, where the train driver or engine driver can see the information....
with an automatic train stop
Automatic Train Stop
An automatic train stop is a system on a train that will automatically stop a train if certain situations happened to prevent accidents from happening....
feature. Several safety issues were identified with Amfleet
Amfleet
Amfleet is a series of intercity railroad passenger cars built for the operator Amtrak by the manufacturer Budd Company in two series during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, Amfleet cars are used extensively throughout the Amtrak system outside the western United States...
cars as well.
At the time, the Baltimore County train wreck was Amtrak's deadliest crash in the company's history. In 1993, however, the wreck at Big Bayou Canot
Big Bayou Canot train disaster
The 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck was the derailing of an Amtrak train on the CSXT Big Bayou Canot bridge in northeast Mobile, Alabama, USA, killing 47 and injuring 103, on September 22, 1993. It is the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak's history...
in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
resulted in a much larger death toll.
Amtrak Train 94
Amtrak Train 94 (the Colonial) left Washington Union Station at 12:30 pm (Eastern timeNorth American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
) for Boston South Station. The train had 16 cars and was filled with travelers returning from the holiday season to their homes and schools for the second semester of the year. Two AEM-7
EMD AEM-7
The AEM-7 is a B-B electric locomotive that is used in the United States on the Northeast Corridor between Washington DC and Boston and the Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania. They were built by Electro-Motive Division from 1978 to 1988...
locomotives, numbered 900 and 903, led the train; #903 was the lead locomotive. The engineer was 35-year-old Jerome Evans.
After leaving the Baltimore, Maryland Amtrak station
Pennsylvania Station (Baltimore)
Pennsylvania Station is the main train station in Baltimore, Maryland. Designed by New York architect Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison , it was constructed in 1911 in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is located at 1515 N...
, the train's next stop was Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. Just north of Baltimore, while still in Baltimore County, the four-track Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...
narrows to two tracks at Gunpow Interlocking just before crossing over the Gunpowder River
Gunpowder River
The Gunpowder River is a tidal inlet on the western side of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of two freshwater rivers, Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls.-Gunpowder Falls:The Big Gunpowder, long, begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's...
. The train accelerated north toward that location.
Conrail light engine move
Ricky Lynn Gates, a Penn Central and Conrail engineer since 1973, was operating a trio of Conrail (CR) freight locomotives (all GE B36-7GE B36-7
The GE B36-7 is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems between 1980 and 1985. 222 examples of this locomotive were built for North American railroads and eight units were built for a Columbian coal mining operation. The units were designed as successors to GE's U36B's...
models) light (without freight cars) from Conrail's Bayview Yard just east of Baltimore bound for Enola Yard
Enola Yard
Enola Yard is a large rail yard located in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, along the western shore of the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was the world's largest freight yard through 1956. The yard continues to operate today at lower traffic levels.-History:The yard was...
near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
. Gates was later determined to have violated several signal and operating rules, including a failure to properly test his cab signals as required before departure from Bayview. It was later discovered that someone had disabled the cab signal alerter whistle on lead unit #5044 with duct tape, muting it almost completely. Also, one of the light bulbs in the PRR-style cab signal display had been removed. Investigators believed these conditions probably existed prior to departure from Bayview and that they would have been revealed by a properly performed departure test.
Gates and his brakeman
Brakeman
A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job it was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The advent of through brakes on trains made this role redundant, although the name lives on in the United States where brakemen carry out a variety of functions...
, Edward "Butch" Cromwell, were also smoking a marijuana cigarette. Marijuana can alter one's sense of time and impair the ability to perform tasks that require concentration. Cromwell was responsible for calling out the signals if Gates missed them, but failed to do so.
The collision
As Amtrak Train 94 approached the Gunpow Interlocking near the Chase community on the electrified main line, the three Conrail freight locomotives were moving north on one of the adjacent freight tracks. Before the adjacent tracks reached the bridge at the river, they merged into the two (2) through tracks that cross the bridge.While the tracks and interlocking plant at this location are signalized
Railway signalling
Railway signalling is a system used to control railway traffic safely, essentially to prevent trains from colliding. Being guided by fixed rails, trains are uniquely susceptible to collision; furthermore, trains cannot stop quickly, and frequently operate at speeds that do not enable them to stop...
to alert locomotive engineers when the interlocking switches are set for through track train movement, the switches are not designed to de-rail a locomotive or train that runs through them when they are aligned for through track train movement.
In the case of the accident, the interlocking plant was properly set for through track movement only, so as to allow the Amtrak train to pass the freight locomotives (which should have been stopped on the side tracks) on the through tracks onto and over the bridge. The freight locomotive engineers ignored the stop signals in their locomotive cab, and at trackside, visible to them from the cab of their locomotive.
Speed/event recording devices indicated that the Conrail locomotives were moving at approximately 60 miles per hour (26.8 m/s) when their brakes were applied for an emergency stop, after they had passed the trackside signals. This was, Gates later claimed, when he realized that he did not have a wayside signal to proceed north at Gunpow. He was, however, moving too fast to stop before passing the signal indicating he should stop clear of the main track on which #94 was approaching.
The Conrail locomotives came to a stop on the track directly in front of #94, which approached the interlocking at 120 mph (53.6 m/s), an authorized track speed. With little time to react, Amtrak engineer Evans apparently saw the diesels on the line in front of him and applied the brakes for an emergency stop. However, the collision was unavoidable.
On impact, the rearmost Conrail diesel, GE B36-7
GE B36-7
The GE B36-7 is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems between 1980 and 1985. 222 examples of this locomotive were built for North American railroads and eight units were built for a Columbian coal mining operation. The units were designed as successors to GE's U36B's...
#5045 exploded and burned. It was completely destroyed down to frame and was never rebuilt. The middle unit, #5052, sustained significant damage but was later rebuilt and returned to service. Lead unit #5044 had little damage.
One of Amtrak's AEM-7s, #900, was buried under the wreckage, while the lead locomotive, #903, ended up among some trees on the west side of the right of way. Several Budd Company
Budd Company
The Budd Company is a metal fabricator and major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and was formerly a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars during the 20th century....
Amfleet
Amfleet
Amfleet is a series of intercity railroad passenger cars built for the operator Amtrak by the manufacturer Budd Company in two series during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, Amfleet cars are used extensively throughout the Amtrak system outside the western United States...
cars were piled up, with some crushed under the pile.
Cromwell, who was on the lead locomotive with Gates, suffered a broken leg in the collision. Gates was uninjured. The Amtrak engineer, lounge car LSA (lead service attendant) and 14 passengers were killed.
The front cars on the Amtrak #94 train suffered the greatest extent of damage and were almost completely crushed. However they were nearly empty awaiting additional holiday passengers en route who would have boarded the train at stations further north. According to the NTSB, had these cars been fully occupied at the time, the death toll would have been at least 100. There were relatively few passengers on those cars, however, and so the death toll was much less. Most of the dead were on Amtrak car #21236.
Post-collision response and cleanup
With a total passenger load of about 600 people, there was a great deal of confusion after the collision. Witnesses and neighbors ran to the smoking train and helped remove injured and dazed passengers, even before the first emergency vehicles could arrive at the rural location.While many of the injured passengers were aided by nearby residents, some of the uninjured passengers wandered away, making it difficult for Amtrak to know the complete story.
Emergency personnel worked for many hours in the frigid cold, impeded as they were by the stainless-steel Amfleet cars' skin's resistance to the ordinary hydraulic rescue tools
Hydraulic Rescue Tools
Hydraulic rescue tools are used by emergency rescue personnel to assist vehicle extrication of crash victims, as well as other rescues from small spaces. These tools include cutters, spreaders, door busters and rams...
at their command, to extricate trapped passengers from the wreckage as helicopters and ambulances transported injured people to hospitals and trauma center
Trauma center
A trauma center is a hospital equipped to provide comprehensive emergency medical services to patients suffering traumatic injuries. Trauma centers grew into existence out of the realization that traumatic injury is a disease process unto itself requiring specialized and experienced...
s. It was over 10 hours after the collision before the final trapped persons were freed from the wreckage.
It was several days before the wrecked equipment was removed and the track and electrical propulsion system were returned to service.
Investigation, charges and conviction
At first, Gates and Cromwell denied smoking marijuana. However, they later tested positive for the substance. A National Transportation Safety BoardNational Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
investigation revealed that had Gates slowed down at the signals as required, he would have stopped in time. It also determined that Gates and Cromwell's marijuana use was the "probable cause" of the accident. Gates and Cromwell were immediately suspended by Conrail pending an internal investigation, but resigned rather than face certain termination.
Gates was eventually charged with manslaughter by locomotive; under Maryland law a locomotive is a motor vehicle. Prosecutors cut a deal with Cromwell in which he agreed to testify against Gates in return for immunity. Gates was sentenced to five years in state prison and one year's probation, and was later sentenced to an additional three years on federal charges of lying to the NTSB. Gates' history of DWI (driving while intoxicated) convictions as well as his admission that the crew had been using marijuana while on duty led for a call to certify locomotive engineers as to their qualifications and history.
Toxicology tests on the Amtrak engineer's body returned negative and, in fact, his actions served only to reduce the severity of the wreck by slowing his train from 125 mile per hour.
Gates was released from prison in 1992 after serving four years, and now works as an abuse counselor. In a 1993 interview with the Baltimore Sun, Gates said the accident would have never happened if not for the marijuana. He also revealed he'd smoked marijuana on the job several times.
Changes for future prevention
As a result of the wreck, all locomotives operating on the Northeast Corridor are now required to have automatic cab signallingCab signalling
Cab signalling is a railway safety system that communicates track status information to the cab, crew compartment or driver's compartment of a locomotive, railcar or multiple unit, where the train driver or engine driver can see the information....
with an automatic train stop
Automatic Train Stop
An automatic train stop is a system on a train that will automatically stop a train if certain situations happened to prevent accidents from happening....
feature. Although common on passenger trains up until that time, cab signals combined with train stop and speed control had never been installed on freight locomotives due to potential train handling issues at high speed. Conrail subsequently developed a device called a locomotive speed limiter (LSL), a computerized device that is designed to monitor and control the rate of deceleration for restrictive signals in conjunction with cab signals. All freight locomotives operated on the Northeast Corridor must now be equipped with an operating LSL which also limits top speed to 50 mph (22.4 m/s). Previously, freight locomotives were only required to have automatic cab signals without an automatic train stop feature.
Also as a direct result of this collision, federal legislation was enacted that required the FRA to develop a system of federal certification for locomotive engineers. These regulations went into effect in January 1990. Since then, railroads are required by law to certify that their engineers are properly trained and qualified, and that they have no drug or alcohol impairment motor vehicle convictions for the five year period prior to certification. Another effect was that age-old Rule G (The use of intoxicants or narcotics by employees subject to duty, or their possession or use while in duty, is prohibited. — UCOR, 1962) was revamped to:
An employee who reports for duty under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicant, cannabis in any form, an amphetamine, a narcotic, a hallucinogenic drug, any controlled substance (as defined by federal law), or a derivative or combination of any of these, or who uses any of the foregoing while on duty, will be dismissed. Possession of any of the foregoing while on duty, or possession, use, or being under the influence of any of the foregoing while on Company or occupying facilities provided by the Company is prohibited.
Source: Tennessee Valley RailroadTennessee Valley Railroad MuseumThe Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a railroad museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was founded as a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1960 by Paul H. Merriman and Robert M. Soule, Jr...
Operating Rules book, effective March 15, 1995
Actually, a form of Rule G has existed in many railroad operating manuals for decades. However, the federal codification of this rule was deemed necessary to assure that any violator would be dealt with in a consistent and harsh manner. Also, anyone who passes a stop signal loses his or her FRA certification for a period not to exceed 30 days for a first offense. This is per the 49 CFR part 249.
In 1991—prompted in large part by the Chase crash—Congress authorized mandatory random drug-testing for all employees in "safety-sensitive" jobs in industries regulated by DOT.
Memorial to a victim, reflection after 20 years
Ten years after the collision, the McDonogh SchoolMcDonogh School
McDonogh School is a private, coeducational, K-12, college-preparatory school founded in Owings Mills, Maryland, USA in 1873.- History :The school was established near Baltimore, Maryland in 1873 and funded by the estate of John McDonogh, a former Baltimore resident, who died in 1850...
of Owings Mills, Maryland
Owings Mills, Maryland
Owings Mills is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. The population was 20,193 at the 2000 census. Owings Mills is home to the northern terminus for the Baltimore Metro Subway and to Owings Mills Mall....
decided to build a 448-seat theater in memory of one of the crash's victims and alumna, 16-year-old Ceres Millicent Horn. Ceres Horn graduated from the school at age 15 and enrolled and was accepted at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
at age 16 where she majored in astrophysics. Her family has never ridden a train since.
On January 4, 2007, the 20th anniversary of the crash, her family visited the theatre for the first time and attended a ceremony at the McDonogh School held in honor of their daughter.
Also at the time of the 20th anniversary, the Baltimore Sun interviewed some of the volunteers and professionals who responded or treated injured passengers after the collision. An Amtrak signal foreman who had responded from home told the reporter: "Once you got here, your stomach just turned. It was the most devastating thing I've seen in my 30 years down here," he said. "It was a horrific scene." The man added that he didn't leave the crash site for three or four days, sometimes catching some sleep while propped against the trees lining the track. "You didn't worry about pay, you didn't worry about nothing, you just tried to help these people out," he said.
Some of the "Good Samaritans" who lived close by and helped pull passengers out immediately after the collision were later invited to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and their efforts acknowledged by President Ronald W. Reagan.
The Baltimore County Fire Department's medical commander at the scene 20 years earlier told the newspaper that the Amtrak crash is still being used as a case study in effective disaster response. "The reason is how the members of the professional and volunteer fire departments and the community people got together." It was, he said, "a very sad but a very proud moment" in his career.