Following the derailment of a coal train in the Southwest rail corridor this month, the Regional Transportation District is considering placing a warning barrier between freight and passenger-rail tracks.
The “intrusion barrier,” a type of electric fence, would not prevent derailment wreckage from spilling onto RTD tracks, but it could provide an instant alert that would stop trains in the area, said Henry Stopplecamp, RTD’s engineering technical services manager.
The electronic barrier does have a drawback — by cutting the fence vandals can stop trains on a lark, Stopplecamp said.
On Dec. 11, cars on a Union Pacific Railroad coal train derailed south of Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, sending mangled wreckage and coal onto RTD’s nearby track as a northbound light-rail train approached.
The lead light-rail car of the two-car train hit the debris and came off its track, but the passenger cars remained upright and no one was injured.
“I saw cars go over; the second I saw them, I hit the train,” said Robert Vialpando, 43, driver of the RTD train. “It happened right in front of my eyes.”
If the light-rail train had been just slightly north of where it was, it might have caught the direct impact from the wrecked coal cars, said Vialpando, who was honored by RTD last week for his effort at helping avert a tragedy.
The accident underscored a safety vulnerability on the Southwest line: the close proximity of heavy freight trains and light-rail cars that do not meet the Federal Railroad Administration’s highest crashworthiness standards.
Lots of traffic, tight spaces
The distance from the center of RTD’s track to the center of the nearest freight track is only 16 feet near the community college.
At the location of the derailment, a little farther south, the track distance is about 18.5 feet.
A loaded 120-car coal train weighs as much 17,000 tons. Each full coal car weighs about 140 tons compared with about 55 tons for a light-rail car packed with passengers.
This month’s derailment was the first time since Southwest Corridor light rail started seven years ago that a freight train breached RTD’s track, Stopplecamp said.
As many as 33 freight trains use the Southwest Corridor each day.
Following a January 2005 accident in the Los Angeles area involving freight and passenger cars on adjacent tracks, the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads told RTD they would not allow light-rail trains to operate on FasTracks rail corridors next to freight trains.
RTD now will use heavier commuter-rail cars for the train from Union Station to Denver International Airport and all other FasTracks rail corridors where right of way will be shared with freight trains.
Commuter-rail cars weigh about 100 tons apiece, nearly double that of a light-rail car, said John Shonsey, RTD’s senior engineering manager.
Commuter-rail cars also meet federal crashworthiness standards — making them better able to withstand impact from heavy freight cars if there is a derailment, said Warren Flatau, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration in Washington.
If a freight train derails and strikes the side of a light-rail car, “the passengers and crew members on light rail are much more likely to sustain life-threatening injuries or be killed,” Flatau said.
Under investigation
The recent derailment still is under investigation.Union Pacific sent pieces of rail and wheel to be analyzed by technicians, and the railroad is awaiting test results, UP spokesman Mark Davis said.
In searching for clues to the cause of the accident, UP officials have examined the train’s “event recorder,” much like an airplane’s flight data recorder, or “black box,” which records speed, throttle position, air pressure and other measurements.
In the area of the derailment freight trains have a speed limit of 45 mph.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
