Investigation material in Joplin derailment release

The National Transportation Safety Board opened to the public this week its investigation docket on the Sept. 25, 2021 Empire Builder derailment near Joplin, which killed three and injured 44 others.

The docket includes 3,100 pages of documents on operations, track and engineering, signal and train control, and crashworthiness and survival factors, as well as interview transcripts and photographs.

A press release from NTSB said the docket is not complete and is restricted to reporting factual information so it does not include an analysis or list of probable causes, something that will be included in a more comprehensive report issued at a later date as the investigation progresses.

While nothing in the docket names possible causes, it does include information about the stability of the rail, including that the area of track the train was traveling on showed possible signs of instability nearly 80 feet west and 200 feet east from where the derailment happened.

It says ballast in the cribs of the crossties appeared to have been disturbed and the ballast surrounding the crossties showed signs of movement.

The Associated Press reports that investigators identified the problem with the track based on video footage, including from two BNSF freight trains that went around the accident curve within 90 minutes before the derailment.

After each of the freight trains had passed, the bend in the track appeared to get worse, the AP reports, but train crews did not see the problem.

"The Amtrak engineer also did not see the track misalignment before traveling over that portion of track. Investigators, who watched the videos and were focused primarily on detecting the track deviation, were able to first see the misalignment only a couple seconds before the trains had traveled over it," the AP reports.

NTSB did not determine the final cause of the accident.

Investigators examined the track, documents say, and the problem apparently got worse as freight trains traveled over the area before the crash.

Documents also mention a culvert under the tracks that was not clear, having been filled with dirt and debris.

The full docket can be accessed at https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/?NTSBNumber=RRD21MR017, and the press release announcing the opening of the docket says more information may be added to the docket as the investigation continues.

The derailment remains a vivid memory for many in the area, including those who responded to the derailment from five surrounding counties, whether as first responders or as residents looking to lend a hand.

The derailment took place around 4 p.m. Sept. 25 of 2021, killing Margie and Don Vardahoe of Georgia, who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, and Zach Schneider of Illinois, 28.

The westbound train, carrying more than 140 people including 16 Amtrak employees, consisted of two engines and 10 cars, eight of which derailed with some tipping over.

The AP reports that the Vardahoes were in the vestibule - the space between the

observation car and a coach car behind it - and were thrown from the train during the derailment, with Don Vardahoe ending up under the observation car while Margie Vardahoe, suffered a fatal head injury when she struck equipment along the track. Schneider was dragged or rolled on the ground.

Many other passengers sustained serious injuries, and those who didn't recall seeing and hearing those who did.

Among those passengers who survived was Aubrey Green of Portland who was in Havre tracking down a train-related mystery from his childhood before getting on the train.

In an interview a few days after the crash he said he was in the middle of the first car when he felt it tilt north slightly and before long he was looking out the window at dirt.

"I thought, 'Oh no,'" Green said. "... It was real quick. I heard a noise and all of a sudden I'm on my side."

He said he stepped over three people on his way out of the car, one said they couldn't get up, one was laying on the ground clearly in a lot of pain, and another wasn't moving at all.

"I don't think he was dead," Green said, "just unconscious."

However, he said, the worst he saw was the last car, with one man clearly dead.

Green said he was taken to a local school gymnasium before being put on a small white school bus to Shelby, and was on his way home by the morning of Sept. 27.

People and businesses around the area pitched in to help provide food, housing, medicine and general care.

The preliminary report on the derailment the National Transportation Safety Board released in late October laid out the series of events leading up to and immediately following the derailment which happened at a curve at mile post 1014.57 on the BNSF Railway near Joplin.

Damage was estimated by Amtrak to be more than $22 million.

The report said the area the train was traveling on had a speed limit of 79 mph and the train was going between 75 and 78 mph when emergency brakes were activated.

It said the weather was clear with no precipitation at the time of the accident.

NTSB had by the time the priliminary report was released, inspected the track and equipment, reviewed signal and train control data logs, obtained data from the lead locomotive's forward-facing image and event recorders, and conducted interviews with relevant parties.

In the wake of an increase in train accidents proportional to the amount of miles traveled, as well as the disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which spilled dangerous chemicals, railway unions have said rail transportation has become riskier in recent years following widespread job cuts.