Multiple Injuries, but No Deaths When Train Collides with Truck Crane in Nebraska
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Image Photo by Jason Frederick, Benkelman Post |
September 15,
2011
— Some 21 people were injured August 26 when an Amtrak passenger train collided
with a truck crane whose boom had been swung over the railroad tracks at a
worksite about four miles west of Benkelman in far southwestern Nebraska, near
the state’s border with Colorado. Two locomotives on the 10-car train derailed completely and rolled
onto their sides. A baggage car landed at a 45-degree angle, and dormer cars
were derailed but remained upright. The last three cars remained upright and on
the track. Local news reports say about a quarter mile of track was damaged in
the accident.
The train was carrying 175 passengers and 17 crew members at the
time of the crash. None of the 21 victims was injured critically. The injured
were taken to several hospitals in the area. Uninjured passengers were taken to
a hospitality center set up at the local high school before continuing their
trips in buses or vans.
The train-crane collision happened about 8:00 a.m. The train was
in route from
The crane working west of Benkelman was a Drott Cruze Crane 2510
telescopic-boom truck crane. A three-person crew from G&S Recycling was
using it to dismantle an old grain elevator near the railroad track. One crew
member was in the cab operating the crane while two others worked in a personnel
basket supported by the crane’s boom. Based on news reports, discussion with
local news agencies, and contact with crane industry trainers, Maximum Capacity
Media believes that a boom-supported platform was in use, but is not certain
whether the platform was attached to the boom top or suspended from the crane’s
hook.
The truck crane sat between the grain elevator and the train
track, and was supported on four outriggers. Because the crane was located close
to the building, the operator had to swing the boom in an arc away from it and
out over the railroad tracks to reposition the basket and workers from one side
of the building to another.
As the boom was being swung over the railroad track, two of the
crane’s outriggers sank into soft ground and the crane tilted toward the tracks.
The two workers fell out of the basket onto the ground. Neither was reported to
be injured seriously. Before the workers could call authorities about the crane
boom being across the railroad track, the onrushing train crashed into
it.
Although the train reportedly had slowed to about 65 mph by the
time it hit the boom, the impact cut the boom in two and tore the crane’s
upperworks off of the carrier chassis. The upper end of the boom landed on the
far side of the tracks. The lower section of boom, the cab, and the rest of the
crane’s upperworks lay as a heap of twisted metal on the same side of the track
where the carrier and grain elevator sat.
The Dundy County, Neb., sheriff, the railroad, and OSHA are
investigating.
The rules that govern hoisting personnel with a crane can be found
in OSHA 29 CFR Subpart CC §1926.1431. They detail the situations in which
hoisting people is allowed, the types of hoisting devices allowed, and how those
devices are to be used in specific situations.
To read OSHA 29 CFR Subpart CC §1926.1431, click on this link:
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=97
Background information for this report was gathered from several
news sources and from interviews with reporters who were on the
scene.
The Imperial Republican
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110826/NEWS01/110829736/1009%20S
