Bridge Identification
Emergency responders were delayed in identifying the location of the accident site because Big Bayou Canot bridge had no waterway mile marker or nameplate, thereby crcating confusion and hindering marine response activities. When the captain of the MAUVILLA notified the Coast Guard Group Mobile that an accident had occurred, he was unable to identify the bridge; train 2's crew was unable to do so as well. Marine responders were uncertain which bridge was involved until about an hour after the accident.
The MAUVILLA's captain and pilot thought they were near either the Bayou Sara railroad bridge (mile 8 2) or the Fourteen Mile railroad bridge (mile 13 3) At 3 20 a m, the captain reported to the Group that he was north of Twelve Mile Island and, at 3 25 a m., that the train had run off the Fourteen Mile bridge Coast Guard radio traffic shows that the captain and pilot did not know until 3 55 a.m that they were in the Big Bayou Canot (mile 9 7) Coast Guard, City of Mobile, and other vessels responded to the accident by heading up the Mobile River to the Bayou Sara railroad bridge. Upon arrival there, they realized the accident was at another location, and they continued upriver until they sighted the glow of flames on the Big Bayou Canot. This confusion about the accident location would have been eliminated had the bridge borne a marking that response centers could recognize Not long after the accident at Mobile, another bridgc striking occurred that posed a similar identification problem At 9 55 a.m. on December 1, 1993, the towboat JENNIE DEHMER and its two-barge tow struck the Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge at mile 647.3, Tennessee River, in Knoxville, Tennessee, displacing the bridge pier 12 to 18 inches and the track 9 inches. The towboat operator on watch reported the accident at 10 a m. to the Coast Guard Group Ohio Valley radio operator, giving the location as the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) Railroad bridge "just above the 647 point something or other [646 6], here in downtown Knoxville"
About 11:10 a.m., CSXT, which owns the L&N bridge, informed the Coast Guard that the bridge involved was in fact the Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge at mile 647 3 The dispatcher in Knoxville called about 11:45 a m. to advise the Coast Guard that someone looking out his office window had seen the accident and immediately called Norfolk Southern Railroad, which was able to prevent a train about 4 miles from the damaged bridge from crossing it
If bridges over waterways had some form of marking visible from both water and land, making identification simple and quick, confusion could be eliminated. Marking a bridge would help mariners and others readily identify it and advise emergency response personnel of the location, thereby facilitating notification of the bridge owner and proper authorities, who could control or stop bridge traffic. As the Mobile and Knoxville accidents demonstrate, prompt bridge identification is critical to ensure efficient movement of response forces to the accident scene and to halt land traffic about to transit damaged structures.
The Safety Board concludes that all bridges vulnerable to impact by commercial marine traffic should be required to have appropriate markings so that they can be identified promptly
