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Train kills MARTA track worker

Federal safety agency will try to re-create accident conditions today as it probes tragedy at Avondale station.

John McCosh - Staff Saturday  February 26

The National Transportation Safety Board expects to start an investigation today into a train accident Friday at MARTA's Avondale station that killed one man and critically injured another.

John Powers, 51, of Lithonia was killed by an eastbound train about 8:14 a.m. while he was working on the automatic train control system along the tracks. Raymond Taylor, 53, of Rex was critically injured and underwent surgery for leg injuries at DeKalb Medical Center.

The train's operator was required to take a blood test, according to MARTA's assistant communications officer, Dee Baker, although she showed no signs of impairment. Baker said as a member of the Amalgamated Transit Union, the operator immediately requested union representation and MARTA cannot release her name.

This morning NTSB investigators plan to duplicate the conditions that led to the fatal accident. That will include making sure safety procedures were followed and even factoring in glare from the morning sun.

"We'll take some dimensions, take measurements, including sight distance and the position of the sun," said Ron Hynes, NTSB's investigator in charge. "We'll look at everything from toxicology, standard operating procedure, maintenance and employee records."

According to Baker, Powers and Taylor alerted the transit system's control center by radio Friday morning before starting a maintenance job on the the 8-inch by 10-inch automatic control system box, one of thousands that allow trains to run automatically. The box is located between tracks about 100 yards east of the Avondale station.

"When they go on the track, they're supposed to radio that they're going to be on the track, and they did that this time," Baker said. "And then the operator is supposed to look for them."

But the operator wasn't able to stop in time, hitting both men and shutting down the rail system in the immediate area for about five hours.

"She's distraught and said she didn't even see them," Baker said of the train's driver. "She said she didn't know what was happening until it was too late."

Baker said that it took about 45 minutes from the time of the accident to the time the passengers were walked off the train. She said there were about 50 people on the train. MARTA police and rail supervisors walked the passengers to the Avondale platform, a distance of about 225 feet. Investigators talked to the passengers at Avondale. Baker said 13 buses were available to take passengers to the Indian Creek or Decatur stations.

The use of shuttle buses suggests about 11,200 people were affected by the time the station was fully operational at 1:20 p.m., Baker said.

The NTSB investigation will try to determine whether procedures were followed and whether any MARTA employees were at fault.

"In general terms, rail workers that are working on a track that they know to be in service are responsible to watch for trains," Hynes said. "There are safety procedures in place to prevent this kind of accident."

Powers and Taylor were exceptional employees, Baker said.

"They had excellent work histories," she said. "They were both very good employees and well-liked, nice guys."

It was MARTA's first fatal rail accident involving a worker, she said.

"This has been a very big blow for us," she said. "This is not reflective of our procedures or safety practices."

The American Public Transportation Association said MARTA is a regular winner of its annual national safety awards.

"They're clearly one of the top systems in terms of safety," said the association's Rosemary Sheridan.

NTSB's Hynes said the toxicology test should take about a week, but that he can't say how long the rest of the investigation will take.

"It takes time to do a quality investigation," he said. "In this case, we're going to look at everything. We'll review what MARTA does."

He said cloud cover could delay the start of today's investigation if the sun isn't glaring as brightly as it did Friday morning.

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-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 26, 2000