Railroad Accident Report: Derailment of Amtrak Passenger Train No. 21 on the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, Springfield, Illinois, October 31, 1980

摘要

About 8:37 p.m., c.s.t., on October 30, 1980, two locomotive units and seven of eight cars of southbound Amtrak passenger train No. 21, the Inter-American, derailed while moving through a No. 10 main track turnout on the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (ICG), at Springfield, Illinois. Of the 96 passengers and 12 train crewmembers on board, 4 passengers and 2 train crewmembers were injured. Both locomotive units and a sleeping car were overturned and incurred extensive damages. Total damage was estimated at $593,000. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the operation of Amtrak No. 21 into the No. 10 turnout at a speed significantly higher than the turnout's design speed, due to the failure of the train's engineer and fireman to perceive and comprehend that the color-light signal aspects displayed for their train indicated that it was to be routed through the 10-mph (No. 10) turnout.