Inadequate risk assessments led to fatal SC train crash
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined Tuesday that Amtrak’s and CSX Transportation’s failure to properly assess and mitigate the risk of conducting switching operations during a signal suspension, coupled with a CSX conductor’s error, led to the collision of an Amtrak train with a CSX train near Cayce, South Carolina.
In a public meeting held Tuesday, the NTSB said the Feb. 4, 2018 accident occurred when a southbound Amtrak train diverted from the main track through a hand-thrown switch into a storage track and collided head-on with a stationary CSX train. The engineer and conductor of the Amtrak train died as a result of the collision. At least 92 passengers and crewmembers on the Amtrak train were transported to medical facilities.