WASHINGTON — The Rail Passenger Association is asking for an expedited federal review of the disastrous 19-hour trip of an Amtrak Wolverine train earlier this month — a 304-mile trip that should take less than six hours — and is asking to be allowed to observe that review when it takes place.
That Oct. 7 incident began to unfold with a locomotive failure of westbound train No. 351, and included prolonged periods when passengers had no heat, ventilation, lights, food, or working toilets [see “Amtrak Wolverine to Chicago delayed more than 13 hours,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 10, 2022].
Eventually, as described by the RPA in a press release announcing its request, “passengers took matters into their own hands” during a stop in Gary, Ind., “opening the doors themselves, letting themselves off the train, crossing three sets of active Class I freight tracks, wading across a small gully in waist-high grass in the dark alongside the disabled train to reach a busy highway where passengers hoped to catch ride-hailing cars.”
In a letter to Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose, RPA CEO Jim Mathews notes that while the Wolverine incident “did not result in a collision, a derailment, or loss of life, the Association still believes the risk of serious harm to passengers as the incident unfolded was quite real. We assess that this risk grew substantially once passengers elected to self-evacuate from the train.”
And so the organization is calling for the FRA to hold a debriefing and critique session as required under federal regulations “after each passenger train emergency situation … to determine the effectiveness of its emergency preparedness plan” and to improve or amend that plan. The review, under Title 49 of the Code of Regulations, Subtitle B, Chapter II, Part 239, must be held within 60 days. In his letter, Mathews also asks that the Association be granted formal observer status, and that the FRA ensures that the train crews involved “be held harmless … so as to ensure the fullest exploration and candid dialogue about what went wrong and how future disruptions could be better managed.”
Mathews says he has met with Amtrak management about the incident.
“They clearly recognize the seriousness of what occurred,” he says. “But with so many open questions remaining about how the incident was handled, how alternate arrangements were considered, and how poorly passengers understood what was happening, we feel an obligation in representing our members and the traveling public to elevate our request for a formal debriefing and review whose results, with appropriate redaction of personally identifiable information, can be shared with the public.”
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