New Mexico a Multiple Vehicle Collision and Fire

National Transportation Safety Board, May 10, 2007

New Mexico: A Union Pacific Railroad work crew was replacing rail near the town of Cuervo, New Mexico. Open-flame track-mounted torches were being used to heat the new rail before attaching it to crossties. As the work crew proceeded eastbound on the track, a smoldering railroad crosstie ignited a large, fast-moving brush fire. High winds drove the fire and smoke in a southeasterly direction toward I-40. The smoke eventually blew across the highway, reducing visibility in all four lanes. Twelve vehicles on the roadway collided, resulting in 7 fatalities, 3 serious injuries, and 13 minor injuries.

I-40 is a four-lane rural principal arterial highway, which runs parallel to the rail track and is located 7/10 mile to the south. An 80-foot-wide grassy median separates the two eastbound and two westbound lanes of I-40; the posted speed limit is 75 mph. According to witnesses and drivers on I-40, the density of the smoke varied along the highway. An eastbound 1999 Jeep sport utility vehicle and a 1989 U-haul straight truck towing a passenger car drove into the smoke near milepost (MP) 290.7, where— according to one driver— both vehicles slowed because of reduced visibility. A 1999 Kenworth truck tractor-semitrailer, owned by Kurtz Trucking Ltd. (Kurtz), and traveling behind the slower moving U-haul truck and Jeep, entered the area of thickened smoke and collided with both vehicles. The Kurtz truck then stopped in the right lane, partially blocking the left lane. The ensuing fire engulfed all three vehicles.

Subsequent collisions occurred as other eastbound vehicles entered the smoke and struck the wreckage. The additional vehicles included a 1992 GMC pickup truck; a 2001 GMC van; a 1999 Buick sedan; a 1999 International straight truck, owned by Atlanta Peach Movers; a 2001 Freightliner truck tractor-semitrailer, owned by U.S. Express; a 1988 Plymouth van; a 1994 motor home and a 1990 Suzuki (towed); a 1999 International truck tractor-semitrailer, owned by Zimmerman Truck Lines; and a 1989 Blue Bird Corporation school bus, operated by the Logan Municipal School District, New Mexico.

The UP work crew, consisting of 108 workers, was replacing the rails over several miles of track, an operation that was scheduled to take more than a week. The process involved using 63 rail relay-type machines to remove old rail and replace it with new continuous-welded rail. Additionally, several support trucks, water trucks, and fire extinguishers equipped with both foam retardant and water were present. The rail replacement operation involved removing the track and rail; buffing the old tie for a smoother tie plate placement; placing the new rail; heating the rail, cutting excess rail, and welding; grinding the welded area; anchoring and spiking the rail; tamping the track; and establishing the correct rail geometry.

The UP foreman said that the crew took the routine precaution of having fire extinguishers at the ready when performing the grinding and welding operations, which normally produce sparks. The work crew members reported that during the morning hours, they extingushed several small fires that consumed brush and rail ties.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the work crew foreman's failure to consider the effects of high winds on the open-flame rail replacement activity. Contributing to the accident was the lack of specific guidance for the work crew on the fire hazards of welding, grinding, or cutting operations. The failure of the motorists to slow their vehicles sufficiently as they entered the area of reduced visibility contributed to the severity of the accident.