Man Killed in Fifth Train Derailment in San Antonio Since May

Details regarding the cause of the below tragic accident are not fully developed. Irregardless of the outcome of the investigation, both FRA and UP are going to be cracking down on radio communications and stopping your train within half the distance given if you loose communication. The rule is quoted below and it is imperative that we get the information out to our members as soon as possible. They are in control of the move and they must protect themselves and others with strict compliance with the rule. The NTSB has been dispatched to the scene. Brother GY Bailey a member of the BLET Safety Task Force will be assisting in the investigation. We will provide more information as it is received.

5.3.6 Radio and Voice Communication
Employees may use radio and other means of voice communication to give information when using hand signals is not practical.Employees must make sure crew members:Know which moves will be made by radio communication. Understand that while using the radio, the engineer will not accept any hand signals, unless they are Stop signals.
5.3.7 Radio Response
When radio communication is used to make movements, crew members must respond to specific instructions given for each movement. In addition:Radio communications for backing and shoving movement must specify the direction and distance and must be acknowledged when distance specified is more than four cars. Movement must stop within half of the distance specified unless additional instructions are received.

Man Killed in Fifth Train Derailment in San Antonio Since May
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 11, 2004

AN ANTONIO, Nov. 10 (AP) - One man was killed and another injured Wednesday when a train car smashed into a cold-storage warehouse where they were working, city officials said.
The derailment was the fifth in San Antonio since May, all involving Union Pacific Railroad trains. It was the second with fatalities.
Roger Bruening, 39, was killed in an office at Crystal Cold Storage when the train car crashed into the corrugated metal building. Another employee was taken to a hospital with injuries that the authorities said were not life-threatening.
Sgt. Gabe Trevino, a police department spokesman, said, "It appears that the train was backing up to hook onto cars, but it pushed them too far back and they went over the rail stop and into the wall."
About 200 gallons of diesel fuel spilled, but was contained.
Judge Nelson Wolff of Bexar County was visibly angry at the crash scene, calling it more evidence that a too-close relationship existed between railroads and their federal regulators that compromised safety.
Judge Wolff said he and others were going to Washington next week to meet with the Federal Railroad Administration, as well as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Representative Charlie Gonzalez of San Antonio.
Asked the message he would deliver, Judge Wolff replied, "Get more inspectors out here, and stop being so damn cozy" with the railroads.
Steve Kulm, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said that since 2000 his agency had expanded its nationwide staff of inspectors, and that they had carried out far more inspections and more than doubled the amount of fines assessed.
"And Union Pacific has been inspected more times, has received more violations and has paid more fines than any other railroad," Mr. Kulm said.
Last month, Ms. Hutchison asked for a federal investigation into the Union Pacific crashes.
"Today's accident highlights why it is important to have a top-to-bottom review of San Antonio's railroad corridor," she said.
John Bromley, chief spokesman for Union Pacific, based in Omaha, said an investigation team had been dispatched to the accident scene. The investigators will interview crew members, review their actions and examine the train for any signs of mechanical failure, he said.
Mr. Bromley said a Union Pacific crew member was supervising the operation on the short spur track leading to Crystal Cold Storage. He said the supervisor was in radio contact with the train's engineer.
The other four Union Pacific crashes in San Antonio occurred on mainline tracks. In one, on June 28, a Union Pacific train traveling at 40 miles an hour struck a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train that was trying to pull over onto a siding. The collision split a tanker car carrying chlorine gas, creating a huge toxic cloud that killed a Union Pacific conductor and two women who lived near the crash site. Two other people suffered badly burned lungs.
Several more people were injured in the crashes.