The engineer of a runaway train told his conductor moments before the 69-car juggernaut hurtled off a bend in the tracks at 90 mph that "we're going to die on that curve," it was reported Saturday.
Engineer Frank Holland survived the crash last week with moderate injuries, although a conductor and brakeman were killed. Two children also died when their trackside home in San Bernardino was crushed by several rail cars.Toxicological tests show neither drugs nor alcohol was involved in the wreck of the Southern Pacific freight train that derailed and slammed into a row of homes, the Los Angeles Times said.
Federal investigators, who wrapped up their on-site investigation Friday, are virtually certain that the 69-car freight train was more than 2,800 tons heavier than the figure supplied to the crew by three clerks.
National Transporation Safety Board officials said the freight train's six locomotives had only half the dynamic braking power needed to stop the heavier train.
"We are now confident that the total weight of that train was 8,970 tons, rather than the 6,151-ton figure provided to the crew," William Pugh, the NTSB's investigator in charge.
"It looks to me like those clerks just used their best guesstimates to arrive at the 6,151 figure."
Pugh also revealed that Holland had been authorized to drive trains through the Cajon Pass since September, but had never brought a load of sal soda, the sand-like material carried by the freight train.
"He wasn't familiar with the material, but he didn't have reason to question the numbers," Pugh said.
Pugh said that seconds before the runaway train, which reaches speeds of at least 90 mph, leaped the tracks at a bend, Holland turned to his conductor and said, "We're going to die on that curve."
Test results released Friday in Washington showed that blood and urine samples taken from the three surviving crew members and the two trainmen who died in the derailment contained no trace of alcohol or illegal substances.
"They were completely clean," Federal Railroad Administration spokeswoman Claire Austin said.
After a week's worth of work in San Bernardino, NTSB officials returned to Washington Friday to start poring over documents expected to reveal whether poor training, shoddy maintenance or other factors not immediately obvious contributed to the wreck. They will decide by July whether the issues involved merit a public hearing.
A final investigative report will take about nine months to prepare.