I thought I wrote about this accident. But I guess I'm remembering a TV show on Science Channel.
A tugboat pilot, Willie Odom got lost because of a thick fog and the tow allided with the bridge soon before Amtrak's e/b Sunset Limited crossed the bridge. The tow displaced a span 3' and kinked the tracks causing a derailment that plunged four cars (baggage, dormitory and two passenger) into the water on Sept 22, 1993. The tracks were severely kinked, but they did not break. Since they did not break, they did not trip any stop signals for the train. It was Amtrak's deadliest accident with 47 deaths, 42 of whom were passengers. There were also 103 injuries. The train had 220 passengers. In addition to the obvious hazards of impact and drowning, the diesel fuel from the three wrecked locomotives leaked and caught fire. The three locomotives and the baggage and dormitory cars caught fire. Two of the deaths were because of fire. And the waters were infested with alligators and snakes.
The swing span was a steel girder span to the right of the remaining truss span.
As is typical with major disasters, several things went wrong to cause the accident.
Looking at a map, it is easy to see how the pilot entered the Bayou. He needed to turn starboard in order to stay in the river channel.
The swing span was a steel girder span to the right of the remaining truss span.
 |
| NTSB via Bridge Hunter |
 |
| Jose Vicente Sendin posted |
 |
| David Copeland, Feb 2019, cropped |
- The train was delayed in New Orleans for a half hour to fix a toilet and air conditioner in one of the passenger cars. (If it was on time, it would have crossed the bridge before it was wrecked.)
- There was a very dense fog.
- The boat had no compass nor nautical charts so the pilot, without realizing it, went into Big Bayou Canot rather than staying in the Mobile River.
- The pilot was not properly trained as to how to use the radar. He not only missed the channel of the Mobile River, he interpreted the image of the bridge as a tow and decided to nudge up to it to tie up with it.
- The ends of the swing span in the bridge were not bolted to the piers after it was decided that the span would no longer ever swing open. This caused the span to be pushed further than a properly secured span would have moved.
- The rails were modern continuous welded track so they bent rather than broke. So the signals remained clear and the train hit the broken span at 70mph.
- During the investigation, the company claimed the pilot deliberately went into the bayou to tie down the tow and wait for the fog to lift. This was a lie that added confusion to the investigation. [ChicagoTribune]
- The accident happened at 2:45am, but the Coast Guard did not arrive until 4:25. The crew of the towboat was able to pull seven survivors out of the swamp. It was another hour until the first helicopter arrived to help. [History]
According to the [NTSB] report, the towboat pilot, Willie Odom, told investigators "he felt a thud" and then "heard a `swoosh' sound from left to right, and saw fire seconds later." [ChicagoTribune]The following photo shows how the rails bend rather than break when a bridge span is pushed sideways.
 |
| Chuck Kulesa posted |
 |
| Satellite |
 |
| SFgate, search for "Bayou" AP Photo/Mark Foley, File [This is the sixth bridge in an article about the six deadliest bridge collapses in US History. YourConroeNews has the same article.] [2020: is this the same article? (source)] Ted Gregory posted On the 30th anniversary, a sad remembrance: "On September 22, 1993, an Amtrak train derailed on the CSX Transportation Big Bayou Canot Bridge near Mobile, Alabama. It was caused by displacement of a span and deformation of the rails when a tow of heavy barges collided with the rail bridge eight minutes earlier. Forty-seven people were killed and 103 more were injured. To date, it is the deadliest train wreck in both Amtrak's history and Alabama's railway history. “ From Wikipedia Just a few years after this happened, I actually worked at CSX Siebert Yard in Mobile. I was a yardmaster and conductor. So I worked in the Tower with the Trainmaster and Yardmaster that were on duty that night, and along with train and yard crews that were also on duty that night. To hear them talk about what happened that night was unreal. The story goes the first responders that got the first call was Saraland. They had the BNSF and NS mains right behind their station and when they searched those mains they of course found nothing. CSX was back further in the woods. It took multiple calls to get them dispatched to the correct location. Thanks for the reminder post Dan Gurley. Ted Gregory posted again David Coldren: I understood there was never a red signal as the rails across Big Bayou Canot were welded and did not break after the barge collision (8 minutes before the wreck). There were many interesting and tragic factors in the wreck: + The Sunset was 30 minutes late out of New Orleans due to bathroom and A/C Issues. + If it was on time, it would have crossed the bridge 20 mins before the bridge was struck. + The bridge was designed to be used as a swing bridge - if a mechanism was added later. It never was. However, it was also never correctly secured. So it moved 3’ when struck. + The lead locomotive struck the movable span and knocked it completely into the bayou before imbedding itself over 40’ into the muddy bank. + The barge towboat, Mauvilla, did not have a compass or a chart onboard. It did have radar which the captain was not qualified to read. + The Mobile River visibility was near zero when the barges took a wrong turn into the almost unnavigable bayou. + CSX replaced the damaged bridge in little more than a week. + The new Gulf Coast extension of the Sunset will end in Mobile - 10 miles short of Big Bayou Canot. Bobby Benton: David Coldren from what I understood......the captain was asleep and a mate named Willie odem was at the helm........and didn't trust radar..........the bridge was a gerter bridge that orginally was the sister to an opening bridge that was also in that area.....but the rr changed the design which made the bridge stationary........this design change would be a big factor in the accident......because when the motor and locks were removed.......the gerter was basicly just laid on the pilings to support it.......and nothing was installed to stop it from moving side to side.......the mauvilla moved the gerter roughly just enough to put the upright part of the gerter I line with the center of the locomotive......and the later installed ribbon rail(being flexible by nature .....didn't break.....but just moved with the gerter.......the engineer never got a red single.........and hit the bridge at 2 am on a very foggy morning......doing 71 mph and gaining!......my dad was an engineer for csx at the time .......he said they either never saw it coming .......or it was the last thing they saw !!!!!!......it was very sad thing indeed.......46 people lost there lives ......and several would never be the same........including Willie odem! David Coldren: Bobby Benton Sounds right to me. Except I believe the NTSB determined Odom could not decipher radar correctly - erroneously believing the bridge was a boat he had passed earlier. |
NTSB recommendations include:
There are so many YouTube videos, I couldn't decide which one to include.
Update:
Ted Gregory posted his experience of this wreck as a railroad employee in Mobile, AL:
- Teach pilots how to use the radar as a low-visibility navigation aid and as an obstruction recognition tool.
- The Coast Guard should include radar expertise as part of the testing to obtain a license.
- Movable spans that no longer will be opened should be securely fastened to their piers.
- Companies should provide proper navigation aids such as a compass and charts in each of their towboats. I assume that today the towboats should also have a GPS unit.
- The DOTs in each state should evaluate their transportation bridges (highway and railroad) as to vulnerability to marine accidents.
There are so many YouTube videos, I couldn't decide which one to include.
Update:
Ted Gregory posted his experience of this wreck as a railroad employee in Mobile, AL:
This was a horrific event.The pics still send chills up my spine. I wasn't in Mobile for the incident, but have coworkers that were.My first railroad job was working out of Mobile, after this accident.I worked with the Trainmaster and Yardmaster that were on duty at Siebert Yard the night this happened.Years later, they were still shook up. Having to hear the communications on the radio was unreal. To hear them talk about this was heart wrenching.I also heard from some of the train crews that were on duty that fateful night.One account I have heard was the lead unit sunk into the mud, the crew survived the initial incident but could not be extracted.I also heard that the First Responders had trouble finding the right rail line and thus finding the accident site. The BNSF and NS mains ran behind the FD but CSX runs back further- in the woods so to speak- parallel to the Mobile River.This wiki article was an eye opening account.Really surprised that the barge captain was acquitted on this.Apparently RC Sproul was onboard and survived and had talked about this event.Ted Gregory picked the Discovery Channel (source) and National Geographic (source) documentaries of this accident. I watched the Discovery Channel video first. I quit watching the National Geographic video at 2:25 because I didn't need to know about how great the train was. (Update: a 15:05 video showing the aftermath)
 |
| David Little posted I remember this moment in history working as a CSXT Signal Maintainer in Birmingham Alabama was a very sad day after hearing the bad news the morning after. An Amtrak train headed to Miami derails near Mobile, Alabama, killing 47 people on September 22, 1993. The accident, the deadliest in Amtrak's history, was caused by a negligent towboat operator... The Big Bayou Canot rail accident was the derailing of an Amtrak train on the CSX Transportation Big Bayou Canot Bridge near Mobile, Alabama, United States, on September 22, 1993. It was caused by displacement of a span and deformation of the rails when a tow of heavy barges collided with the rail bridge eight minutes earlier. 47 people were killed and 103 more were injured.[1] To date, it is both the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak's history and the worst rail disaster in the United States since the 1958 Newark Bay rail accident in which 48 lives were lost. David Little sharedBobby Deren: Studied the accident in radar school. This accident made radar training for crews mandatory. Raymond Shields: I was there for four day. I was manager of passenger train operations out of Chicago. In the photo, the large Crain in the back round is getting ready to lift the lead engine out of the mud. the engine went 58 feet underground. the very sad thing was the crew was still in the cab at this time. [I added some period.] Brion Pollon: Raymond Shields Yes this was a terrible accident, I recall from the accident report they had to remove the mud from the lead unit with fire hoses. Raymond Shields: Brion Pollon yes we did we put the engine on it’s side on a barge it took 4 hours to get them out. Alex Boniface: I’ve brought boats through that area radar ain’t much use unless they’ve got radar reflectors set up, and all sonar in the sense of what’s fitted to the rugs will do is tell you water depth. Not saying it wasn’t his fault but the corps of engineers dropped the ball by not installing certain standard safety tools. Jon Roberts: There was very heavy fog and the barge pilot had no business moving at all. The Sunset Limited could have been saved even after the bridge was hit if the barge pilot had contacted RR and police quickly. This one could and should have been avoided. Jon Roberts: I have a cousin who was a Tugboat Pilot and Captain 40 years. He said every Captain who was called testified they should have been tied up to the bank long before the accident. |
 |
| Randall Parks commented on David's share We will never forget that night & long days after. |
Dennis, I was surfing on 45cat one night and found this record released about another bridge collapse. Have you explored it?
ReplyDeleteI have a map which you could use, but I can't seem to get through to you via e-mail. Please contact me.