At approximately 8:05 a.m. CDT, October 20, 2007, on the BNSFs Springfield Division, Thayer South Subdivision, at Imboden, Arkansas in Lawrence County, Arkansas, southbound C-NAMPAM-3-06, derailed at Mile Post 378.1 account of a broken rail. The rail was Tennessee USA, manufactured in 1981. The rail section was 132 standard carbon with a 40% detail fracture from head check. The derailment occurred 2.6 miles north of Imboden, Arkansas. This train consisted of 125 cars and 5 locomotives, with 3 of the locomotives being used as distributive power on the rear end of the train. The rear DP of C-NAMPAM-3-06, the BNSF 9378, derailed but stayed upright. The initial derailment occurred 40 feet south of the dragging equipment detector located at milepost 378.075. This has the derailed locomotive on the ground on concrete ties until the train was stopped by another detector, coming to a stop at Mile Post 383.5. This has the derailed locomotive traveling approximately 5.4 miles. It was dragged through the north siding switch at Imboden, Arkansas where it is believed all six axles may have derailed. The C-NAMPAM-3-06 sideswiped the front two locomotives of the E-MHSNAM-2-07, the BNSF 5817 and the BNSF 8903, which were stopped with no crew on board in the siding at Imboden, AR. The measurements of the track centers at this location were 15 feet center to center. The southbound derailed locomotive struck the E-MHSNAM-2-07 again as it went into a right hand curve, sideswiping lines 1-11, including the engines, derailing lines 12 thru 18, and sideswiping lines 19 thru 47. The E-MHSNAM-2-07 consisted of 120 empty coal cars, was not crewed and was to travel northward. It consisted of 2 locomotives on the head end and one distributive power locomotive on the rear end. The C-NAMPAM-3-06 was stopped just south of the north Sloan Switch by another dragging equipment detector, located at milepost 383.4. Both the north and south power switches at Imboden were straight railed toward the siding to get traffic moving by approximately 4:30 a.m. CDT on 10-21-2007. The track was opened at 7:30 p.m. CDT on 10/23/2007. The derailed cars of the E-MHSNAM-2-07 received damages of $167,100 dollars and the two locomotives, the BNSF 5817 and the BNSF 8903, received $11,305.00 worth of damage. Approximately 80 track panels and three switches were used along with an unknown number of concrete ties to repair the main line. There was no track damage to the siding. Early estimates of damages are approximately 1.2 million dollars. There were no injuries to railroad personnel, citizens, and no hazmat release. This is not an Amtrak route. At the time of the derailment the weather was daylight, clear and dry with a temperature of 60 degrees. The derailment was caused by a broken rail (Detail fracture from shelling or head check).


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    Title :

    Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Safety Headquarters Assigned Accident Investigation Report HQ-2007-63, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), Imboden, Arkansas, October 20, 2007


    Publication date :

    2007


    Size :

    8 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English