NTSB: Fatal derailment could have been prevented

ROCKFORD, Ill. — A deadly train derailment could have been prevented if a warning had reached the train crew about a washout ahead that was discovered about an hour earlier, federal transportation safety officials said Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued its final report on a 2009 derailment in the northern Illinois village of Cherry Valley. A Rockford woman died as she tried to flee the derailment and the explosion of tank cars carrying flammable ethanol.

The NTSB's report faulted Canadian National Railway Co. for an inadequate emergency communications system and failure to alert the train crew about potential heavy rains and flash flooding. A weather warning would have required the train to slow down, and a warning about the washout could have stopped the train.

“There were missteps and miscommunications, procedures not followed and poor decisions,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “There were multiple points where this catastrophe could have been averted, but it was not.”

Canadian National spokesman Patrick Waldron said the railroad changed the way it handles weather warnings and emergency calls following the derailment. CN is reviewing other recommendations in the report, Waldron said.

“Following this incident, CN instituted a number of changes at our dispatch centers to improve procedures involving weather warnings and emergency calls,” Waldron said. “Those policy changes include steps where certain mandatory orders would be part of that process, which may include orders to stop a train.”

The NTSB said the derailment's probable cause was a washout of the track structure discovered about an hour before the train's arrival and CN's failure to notify the train crew. The report also said CN's failure to work with Winnebago County to develop a comprehensive stormwater management design to address previous washouts in 2006 and 2007 contributed to the derailment.

CN's failure to warn the train crew about possible flash flooding contributed the severity of the accident, the report said. Inadequately designed tank cars were another factor.

Nineteen train cars of the 114-car train derailed in the accident. All the derailed cars were tank cars carrying ethanol, a flammable liquid. Thirteen of the derailed tank cars ruptured or caught fire, the NTSB said.

In October, Canadian National agreed to pay $36.2 million to the family of 41-year-old Zoila Tellez, the Rockford woman who died.