TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Federal investigators say 1 of 2 Union Pacific
freight trains that collided in the Oklahoma Panhandle last summer and
killed three workers missed signals warning it to slow down or stop.
Investigators told the National Transportation
Safety Board at a Tuesday hearing in Washington about the June 24 wreck
that the eastbound train passed a siding at 68 mph just prior to
colliding head-on with a westbound train near Goodwell.
The collision sparked an inferno that nearly welded the locomotives together. One worker survived.
NTSB investigators say the eastbound train missed two signals to slow down and a final warning to stop.
The NTSB said Tuesday's hearing was for
fact-finding and not to assess blame. It heard testimony from officials
from Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific, government agencies and labor
unions.
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