1.6.1 Postaccident Testing
Passenger Cars
The damaged passenger cars were transported to an Amtrak facility and reassembled with their recovered air brake components. The first car was too damaged to be reassembled, but most of the air brake components from the car were recovered and sent to an AAR-certified air brake shop for testing. All components passed the tests.
Most of the air brake components on the remaining cars were tested. Because the second car was deemed unsafe to enter due to structural damage, the conductor's emergency brake valves were not tested. Finally, the five rear cars were connected sequentially, and the brake system was tested.
Investigators determined that the individual braking components that were recovered functioned as designed. When the five cars were tested configured as a train, the braking system functioned as designed.
Locomotive
The friction brakes, propulsion system, event recorder, alerter, ATC, and ACSES were tested on locomotive 601. Other than the event recorder, discussed below, all the systems functioned as intended.
During a preliminary review of the accident event recorder data from the locomotive, investigators noted that some throttle data were not recorded.[1] Investigators determined a disconnected feedback wire caused the failure. Engineers at Siemens USA, the locomotive's manufacturer, demonstrated to investigators that the signals on the train lines were generated, processed, and communicated correctly, meaning the actual train lines were functional, just not reporting to the event recorder. Amtrak reviewed event recorder data from its Siemens locomotive fleet, and locomotive 601 was the only locomotive with this problem. The event recorder has no effect on the operation or control of the locomotive.
Investigators reconnected the loose wire and validated the proper functionality of the event recorder.
1.7 Personnel Information
The locomotive engineer, 31, was hired by Amtrak on June 26, 2006. He had been an engineer since 2010. He was experienced, certified, and qualified to perform his duties. As mentioned earlier, he had maintained a regular work and rest schedule for several days leading up to the accident, and there was no evidence that he suffered from fatigue. He had no identified medical conditions, and postaccident toxicology tests showed no evidence that he was impaired by alcohol, other drugs, or any substance. The engineer had no previous disciplinary action.
- ↑ For more information see the Mechanical Group Chairman Factual Report and the Locomotive Event Recorder Factual Report in the public docket for this accident.
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