Trial Graphics: Accident Recreation: Amtrak Sunset Limited
Trial Graphics: Accident Recreation: Amtrak Sunset Limited
Sunset Limited
Amtrak/NTSB Investigation
On September 22, 1993, Amtraks eastbound Sunset Limited en route from Los Angeles to Miami, carrying 220 persons on board, roared across the Big Bayou Canot Bridge near Mobile, Alabama and derailed.
Three locomotive units, the baggage and dormitory cars, and two of the six passenger cars were catapulted into the water. It was the worst train disaster in U.S. history. The National Transportation Safety Board was called in to investigate and used forensic engineering and metallurgy to discover the cause of this accident.
TMBA was asked to recreate several animations of the accident scene based on the findings of the NTSB.
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This wreck occurred after a CSX Transportation swing bridge over the Big Bayou Canot in southwestern Alabama (about 10 miles northeast of Mobile) was struck at approximately 2:45 AM by a barge being pushed by the towboat Mauvilla (owned and operated by Warrior and Gulf Navigation of Chickasaw, Alabama), whose pilot had become disoriented in heavy fog.
The collision forced the bridge approximately three feet out of alignment and severely kinked the track.
At approximately 2:53 AM,[1] Amtrak's Sunset Limited train, powered by three locomotives (one GE Genesis P40DC number 819 and two EMD F40PHs, numbers 262 and 312) en route from Los Angeles, California to Orlando, Florida with 220 passengers and crew aboard, crossed the bridge at high speed and derailed at the kink.
The locomotives slammed into the bridge superstructure, causing its destruction. The lead locomotive embedded itself nose-first into the canal bank and the other locomotives, as well as the baggage car, dormitory car and two of the six passenger cars, plunged into the water.
The locomotives' fuel tanks, each of which held several thousand gallons of diesel fuel, ruptured upon impact, resulting in a massive fuel spill and a fire. Forty-seven people, 42 of whom were passengers, were killed, many by drowning, others by fire/smoke inhalation. Another 103 were injured. The towboat's four crewmembers were not injured.
Immediately prior to the accident, the Mauvilla had made a wrong turn and entered an un-navigable channel of water. The towboat's pilot was not properly trained on how to read his radar and thus, owing to the very poor visibility in the fog and his lack of experience, did not realize that he was off-course.
Although he was aware that he had struck something when his tow collided with the bridge, his initial supposition was that one of the barges had merely run aground. Such an assumption would have been unwarranted due to the relatively abrupt nature of a collision with a stationary object.
The bridge span had actually been designed to rotate so it could be converted to a swing bridge by adding suitable equipment. No such conversion had ever been performed, but the span had not been adequately secured against unintended movement.
Despite the displacement of the bridge, the continuously welded rails did not break. As a result, the track circuit controlling the bridge approach block signals remained closed (intact) and the nearest signal continued to display a clear (green) aspect.
Had one of the rails been severed by the bridge's displacement, the track circuit would have opened, causing the approach signal to display a stop (red) aspect and the preceding signal an amber approach indication.
This might well have given the Amtrak engineer sufficient time to stop his train or at least reduce speed in an effort to minimize the severity of the accident.
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Our firsthand experience includes creating animations for scenarios that include: personal injury, wrongful death, disaster, mechanical and engineering failures. The TMBA team has extensive experience in building the most challenging 3D elements such as water, floods, fires, storms etc.
TMBA can provide 3D animation for any area of law: Environmental, Aviation. Commercial litigation, Antitrust, Pharmaceutical, Product liability, Accident reconstruction, Construction law, Intellectual property, and Wrongful Death. Whether you choose to use our animations as settlement tools or demonstrative aids, TMBA is the leading producer of high quality 3D animation for use in the courtroom and beyond.
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