A current SMART Transportation Division conductor and a former member were killed when Amtrak Train 91 traveling from New York to Miami collided early Feb. 4 with a stationary CSX freight train east of Columbia, S.C.
Brother Michael Cella, 36, of Orange Park, Fla., was a conductor out of Local 30 in Jacksonville, Fla. He, along with the train’s engineer, Michael Kempf, a former SMART TD member out of Georgia, died in the accident, which injured more than 100 passengers, in Cayce, S.C.
Cella hired on with Amtrak as an assistant conductor in July 2008 and became a full member of SMART TD in September of that year.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the collision that happened about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 4 when the Amtrak locomotive hit the locomotive of the parked CSX train head-on.
Train 91 was carrying eight crew members and 139 passengers, Amtrak said on a posting on its website.
“We are cooperating fully with the NTSB, which is leading the investigation, as well as working with FRA and CSX. CSX owns and controls the Columbia Subdivision where the accident occurred,” Amtrak said in a statement on Twitter. “CSX maintains all of the tracks and signal systems. CSX controls the dispatching of all trains, including directing the signal systems which control the access to sidings and yards.”
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt also said during a news conference that CSX owns and operates the tracks that the Amtrak train was traveling. A switch that was “lined and locked” in the position to divert traffic onto the track where the CSX train was parked is being considered a cause of the accident.
“Key to this investigation is learning why the switch was lined that way,” Sumwalt said.
“We were able to see that it was actually literally locked with a padlock,” he said when asked by a reporter if there was any physical indication that the switch was faulty.
A statement issued by CSX offered condolences to the families of Cella and Kempf and said that the carrier was focused on providing assistance and support to those affected by the accident.
Sumwalt said that the forward-facing video recorder from the Amtrak locomotive had been recovered and was already transported to the NTSB offices in Washington D.C. for investigation.
The event recorders from both trains were still being sought, he said.
“Fully operational positive train control could have avoided this accident,” Sumwalt said.
In a tweet, NTSB said it expected to release additional information at 4 p.m. Eastern Feb. 5.
The Cayce accident is the third fatal incident in three months involving Amtrak trains. A derailment off an overpass in Washington state in December killed three passengers, and an occupant of a garbage truck that was struck by an Amtrak train Jan. 31 near Charlottesville, Va., also died.
Follow this link for video of the NTSB investigation.
Tag: Amtrak
SMART Transportation Division General Chairpersons Dirk Sampson (GO 769), Robert Keeley (GO 342) and Fran Ariola (GO 663) announced today that they have reached a tentative agreement with Amtrak on behalf of their members employed by the passenger railroad.
The chairpersons convened Jan. 10 and 11 at SMART TD headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, to continue negotiations over a new contract for Amtrak employees represented by the union. Assisted by SMART TD President John Previsich and Vice Presidents John Lesniewski and John England, union officials and Amtrak representatives reached tentative agreements for each bargaining group.
A synopsis of the tentative agreements can be read here.
Each proposed agreement will be submitted for a ratification vote of the affected members.
Copies of the proposed agreement and information on ratification will be communicated by the General Chairpersons to their respective memberships with balloting materials to be prepared and distributed beginning Jan. 15.
Amtrak has named Ken Hylander their new executive vice president and chief safety officer. Hylander previously served as chairman of the Flight Safety Foundation and as the chief safety officer at Delta Air Lines.
Hylander’s first order of business will be to install a Safety Management System (SMS) at Amtrak.
“Ken is a recognized leader in the implementation and operation of SMS, and his experience will be instrumental in helping build our safety culture,” Amtrak CEO and President Richard Anderson said.
SMS is a proactive risk management system, which builds on predictive safety management methods. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently recommended that Amtrak implement a SMS Program in light of multiple derailments that occurred recently.
NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (Dec. 19) — SMART Transportation Division is assisting as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducts its investigation and offers its sincere condolences to the victims and families of those affected by the Dec. 18 Amtrak Cascades derailment outside of DuPont, Wash.
Members of SMART TD’s national Safety Task Force have responded to the accident scene and will work along with the NTSB and other rail investigators to help determine probable cause of the accident and to make appropriate safety recommendations at the conclusion of the investigation.
SMART TD has a Party Status agreement with the NTSB that makes the federal agency the chief source of information for this and other accident probes involving trains. Because of this, neither the union nor its representatives will make any official comments as to the status of the accident investigation or the events leading up to the accident. All media inquiries should be directed to the NTSB, which will provide details about the accident and the investigation. Any comment on the investigation from current or former members does not speak for the union or its membership.
“We will await the facts of the investigation and will not speculate in any way about the circumstances leading up to this accident,” SMART TD President John Previsich said. “We offer our sincere condolences to the victims and families of the victims of the Cascades derailment, and our personnel will help investigators as they look for answers as to the cause of this tragedy.”
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The SMART Transportation Division is comprised of approximately 125,000 active and retired members of the former United Transportation Union, who work in a variety of crafts in the transportation industry.
The Amtrak Cascades train 501 that derailed over Interstate 5 near DuPont, Wash., Monday, Dec. 18 was speeding, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said. The train was traveling at around 80 mph in a 30 mph zone, the agency said.
The train was carrying 80 passengers and five crew members. Three passengers have been reported dead and roughly 100 passengers and motorists were injured. The train had two engines, one at the front and one at the rear, and 12 passenger cars. Thirteen of the 14 cars derailed, with only the rear locomotive staying on the tracks. The derailed cars struck five motor vehicles and two semi-trucks on the highway below.
Click here to read more from Seattlepi.
WASHINGTON (Nov. 14, 2017) — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the April 3, 2016, derailment of Amtrak train 89 near Chester, Pennsylvania, was caused by deficient safety management across many levels of Amtrak and the resultant lack of a clear, consistent and accepted vision for safety.
A backhoe operator and a track supervisor were killed, and 39 people were injured when Amtrak train 89, traveling on the Northeast Corridor from Philadelphia to Washington on track three, struck a backhoe at about 7:50 a.m. The train engineer saw equipment and people working on and near track three and initiated emergency braking that slowed the train from 106 mph to approximately 99 mph at the time of impact.
The NTSB also determined allowing a passenger train to travel at maximum authorized speed on unprotected track where workers were present, the absence of shunting devices, the foreman’s failure to conduct a job briefing at the start of the shift, all coupled with the numerous inconsistent views of safety and safety management throughout Amtrak, led to the accident.
“Amtrak’s safety culture is failing, and is primed to fail again, until and unless Amtrak changes the way it practices safety management,” said NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt. “Investigators found a labor-management relationship so adversarial that safety programs became contentious at the bargaining table, with the unions ultimately refusing to participate.”
The NTSB also noted the Federal Railroad Administration’s failure to require redundant signal protection, such as shunting, for maintenance-of-way work crews contributed to this accident.
Post-accident toxicology determined that the backhoe operator tested positive for cocaine, and the track supervisor had tested positive for codeine and morphine. The locomotive engineer tested positive for marijuana. The NTSB determined that while drug use was not a factor in this accident, it was symptomatic of a weak safety culture at Amtrak.
As a result of this investigation, the NTSB issued 14 safety recommendations including nine to Amtrak.
The NTSB also made two safety recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration, and three safety recommendations were issued to the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division, American Railway and Airway Supervisors Association, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.
The abstract of the NTSB’s final report, that includes the findings, probable cause and safety recommendations is available online here. The final report will be publicly released in the next several days.
The webcast of the board meeting for this investigation is available for 90 days here.
Amtrak conductor and Local 1933 member Amanda “Mandie” Brillhart has been in the hospital more than a month and continues to undergo surgeries after Florence, S.C., sheriff’s deputies said her husband, Charles Durell Nethercutt, poured gasoline on her and set her on fire in their home in September.
As a result of the attack, Brillhart received severe burns to her torso, arms, legs and feet and has had extensive surgeries.
Online fundraisers at GoFundMe.com are ongoing to help her family with medical costs.
In an update on GoFundMe posted Oct. 19, Brillhart’s mother, Annette Brillhart, said that Mandie, 27, the mother of a one-year-old son, was going to undergo her 12th surgery and was being kept in a sterile environment in intensive care.
“I cannot tell you how grateful that we as a family are for the support that you all have shown for her and us as well. I am reading all the wonderful thoughts and prayers for her and I am overwhelmed,” Annette posted on GoFundMe. “Please continue to pray for her and leave your well wishes on this site or you may send a card or letter of encouragement to our home.
“When she finally gets out of ICU, I can bring them to her and she can read them and get a better understanding of how much she means to people, even the ones she does not know.”
To contribute online, visit https://www.gofundme.com/yasvcw-support-for-mandie.
To send cards or letters, address them to:
Annette Brillhart
102 Red Coat Lane,
Columbia, SC 29223
Police tracked Nethercutt down in Yonkers, N.Y., and took him into custody in mid-November. He faces charges of attempted murder and others.
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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Taylor M. Wilson, 25, of St. Charles, Mo., was detained by Amtrak staff after he pulled the emergency brake while aboard an Amtrak train traveling southwest through Nebraska.
It was discovered that Wilson was armed with a loaded Smith and Wesson .38-caliber revolver and a speed loader. Two bags were seized containing three more speed loaders, a box of ammo, a knife, tin snips, scissors and a ventilation mask.
Wilson is charged with felony criminal mischief and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and is being held on $25,000 bond.
The Amtrak train was carrying 175 passengers at the time of the incident.
Click here to read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
SMART TD opposes the recent nomination of former U.S. Rep. Lynn A. Westmoreland of Georgia by the Trump administration to serve on the Board of Directors of Amtrak.
As a longtime member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, Westmoreland has a hostile voting record against Amtrak, which includes efforts to eliminate federal funding for Amtrak entirely. In addition. Westmoreland has been an original cosponsor of the “National Right-to-Work Act” on multiple occasions, which would significantly weaken our ability to collectively bargain. For these reasons, we oppose his nomination as it would undermine the core mission of Amtrak and its employees.
Please see below former Representative Lynn Westmoreland’s extreme voting record on Amtrak in the 114th Congress (2015-2016):
- RCV#110: Voted YES on McClintock Amendment to H.R. 749 — Eliminate ALL Amtrak Funding (3/4/15)
- RCV#303: Voted YES on Brooks Amendment to H.R. 2577 — Eliminate Amtrak Operating Grants (6/4/15)
- RCV#304: Voted YES on Brooks Amendment to H.R. 2577 — Eliminate Amtrak Capital/Debt Service Grants (6/4/15)
- RCV#314: Voted YES on Sessions Amendment to H.R. 2577 — Prohibit Funds for Sunset Limited Line (6/9/15)
- RCV#315: Voted YES on Sessions Amendment to H.R. 2577 — Prohibit Funds for Amtrak Routes 2x Cost/Revenue (6/9/15)
Earlier this year, Trump’s budget proposal to Congress for fiscal year 2018 called for eliminating federal support for Amtrak’s long distance train services, which would result in the immediate loss of 10,000 non-Northeast Corridor Amtrak jobs and the destabilization of the Railroad Retirement trust fund.
Amtrak Conductor and Local 1933 member Amanda Brillhart is in critical condition after her husband, Charles Nethercutt, poured gasoline on her and set her on fire Sept. 19.
Brillhart, 27, has a one-year-old son. As a result of the attack, she has undergone extensive surgeries and is expected to be out of work for quite a while. Police are still searching for her husband.
A GoFundMe account has been set up by her co-workers to help with the financial burden that medical bills and being off work is causing.
Click here to donate.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help at 1-800-799-7233 or for the hearing impaired TTY 1-800-787-3224.
Visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline website at www.thehotline.org.
Click here to learn more about domestic violence.