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After one of a string of barges hit a support of a bridge in Big Bayou Canot near Mobile, Alabama, the Sunset Limited (an Amtrak train) derails as it crosses the bridge, resulting in its collapse and the deaths of 47 people.
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00:01The Sunset Limited, pride of Amtrak's fleet, is America's first coast-to-coast train.
00:06This double-decker superliner combines the luxury of the past with high-tech innovation.
00:12But it's barreling into the night toward a boat lost on a foggy river.
00:16In just eight minutes, the fate of 47 passengers and crew will be sealed
00:21in one of the worst train disasters in American history.
00:25Now, with cutting-edge computer technology, we reveal exactly what went wrong.
00:32Disasters don't just happen. They're a chain of critical events.
00:36Unravel the fateful decisions in those final seconds from disaster.
00:48The United States. Alabama. Mobile.
00:59The Mobile River. One of America's most important inland waterways.
01:07Yet in one minute, the calm of night will turn to devastation.
01:15The story begins three days earlier when the train departs Los Angeles to commence its epic journey across America.
01:22In the 4,900-kilometer trip to Miami, the train makes 50 stops and more than 200 passengers will board.
01:33This is no ordinary train.
01:36The Sunset Limited has three locomotives and seven double-decker coaches,
01:40including a 72-seater dining car and a vista lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows.
01:48The comfort and well-being of the passengers is the responsibility of John Turk, the on-board supervisor.
01:54He's proud of his train.
01:57The humongous amounts of steel surrounding you, all of this comfort.
02:02We had all of the technology.
02:04We had great conductors, great engineers.
02:07We even had the new engines.
02:09Quieter, faster, stronger.
02:13For many passengers, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see some of the great American landscape,
02:18from the mighty Mississippi River to the spectacular Gulf Coast beaches.
02:26Trudy Justin and her husband, Larry, are returning to Florida from a vacation in New Mexico.
02:32We took the train. Great, great trip.
02:34No maps, no congestion, no having to worry about turning, and just really relaxing.
02:42Very comfortable.
02:43For two days and two nights, the Sunset Limited motor's on.
02:47By Tuesday, September the 21st, the train is in Texas, over halfway to its destination.
02:54By tonight, it'll reach the busy Mobile River in Alabama,
02:58where it'll cross some of the oldest river bridges in America.
03:05At the mouth of the river lies the second largest port in the USA.
03:09Sixteen square kilometers of docks handle more than 19 million tons of cargo a year,
03:14supplying the Midwest with coal, steel, and lumber.
03:20Today, the towboat Mobile River is due to deliver six loaded barges to Tuscaloosa,
03:26362 kilometers north of Mobile.
03:29When complete, the fathilla will stretch to 150 meters long and 32 meters wide,
03:35secured by wires and safety lines.
03:38What's more, the Mobile River is designed to push the tow of barges out in front.
03:45Andrew Stabler is the Mobile River's captain.
03:48He's been working on the river for 19 years.
03:51Well, everything was normal.
03:53We came into town, we got our supplies, got our groceries, got our maintenance done.
03:59It was normal, normal day, routine.
04:042 p.m.
04:07While Captain Stabler and the crew are preparing their boat,
04:10the sunset passes through Houston.
04:12Ken Ivory has missed his flight and decides to take the train instead.
04:19I've never been on a train before.
04:22Very first time, and I thought it would be very exciting
04:26to see the country from a different perspective.
04:305.30 p.m.
04:33The Mobile River is now ready and sets off from its base to collect its fleet of barges.
04:40At the same time, the Sunset Limited is now powering through Louisiana.
04:5010 p.m.
04:53The train arrives in New Orleans, where food and water supplies are replenished.
04:59The train refuels its three locomotives with 22,000 litres of diesel.
05:05Well, New Orleans, we kind of kicked back, got comfortable.
05:09People starting to kind of settle in, get ready for the night.
05:13But there's a problem.
05:15Engineers discover they need to repair the air conditioners and one of the toilets.
05:19The train will be delayed.
05:2711.30 p.m.
05:29On the Movilla, Captain Stabler retires to his bunk.
05:33I went off watch.
05:34I laid there and watched TV a while.
05:37A certain time, around 12, I shut my light off and go to sleep.
05:46Willie Odom takes the helm.
05:48Although the pilot is far less experienced, he's the captain's second-in-command.
05:55I had worked with Willie before and he done a good job.
05:59Good pilot, I think.
06:0411.34 p.m.
06:06Finally, 34 minutes behind schedule, the sunset departs New Orleans.
06:11I went to sleep.
06:1612.55 a.m.
06:19The Movilla leaves its last collection point with all six barges in tow.
06:24The barges are laden with steel slabs, coke and a heavy iron compound.
06:29It's a gigantic load weighing over 1,400 tons.
06:34As they head upriver, everything is set for a peaceful night.
06:39Here's your National Weather Service forecast for Mobile and surrounding areas.
06:43For tonight, fog was reported.
06:46At Pascagoula, fog was reported.
06:50Fog rolls in frequently on the Mobile and descends in patches.
06:55Haze envelops the Movilla.
06:58But pilot Willie Odom is used to these conditions.
07:032.15 a.m.
07:06Odom radios another towboat that he knows is further up the river.
07:12He called in reference to the conditions of the river where we were at, and they were getting worse.
07:19It was what we would call in the towing industry a shut-out fog.
07:25Jeff Williams is on pilot duty on the Thomas McCabe, about a kilometer ahead of the Movilla, at the top
07:31of 12 Mile Island.
07:33Willie Odom is approaching the island, but he can't see it.
07:37He decides that visibility is so bad, he can't go on.
07:43Willie keeps his boat close to the banks, and tries desperately to find a solid tree on which to anchor.
07:49But in this swampy terrain, there are few trees strong enough for his heavy load.
07:57On board the Sunset Limited, virtually all the passengers are asleep in their seats or bunks.
08:03The train is gliding through the darkness.
08:092.30 a.m.
08:11It quietly arrives in Mobile.
08:13Three minutes later, the Sunset Limited departs again to cross the backwaters of Alabama.
08:18In just over an hour, it's scheduled to reach the city of Atmore, but will have to cross the Mobile
08:23River first.
08:28Willie Odom has failed to find a place to moor.
08:31He could just shove the barges into the bank, but believing he's near a familiar tree, he keeps going.
08:38He's traveling at just one or two knots, pushing more than 1,400 tons of cargo blindly ahead.
08:462.45 a.m.
08:49Suddenly, there's a sharp jolt.
08:52Willie feels the impact of the barges crashing into something, but has no idea what he's hit.
08:58However, Captain Stabler isn't worried.
09:02I woke up because I felt a bump.
09:04It didn't roll me out of the bed, and it didn't knock anything off the shelves, or just enough to
09:08wake me up.
09:10The captain is called to the wheelhouse by one of the deckhands.
09:13He assumes the barges have just run into the bank.
09:16But when he arrives on deck, he finds the pilot badly shaken.
09:22I get real confused because Willie's confused, and see, I trusted Willie.
09:26I don't think he realized what was happening.
09:29He was just in shock.
09:32Six minutes later, at 2.51 a.m., the Sunset Limited motors past a green light which signals the all
09:39-clear.
09:39It's just 2.7 kilometers away.
09:44Unaffected by the fog, the train is now accelerating up to 116 kilometers per hour.
09:50Most of the 220 passengers and crew are sleeping soundly.
09:59Amtrak's finest coast-to-coast passenger train is hurtling through the backwaters of Alabama.
10:05It's on a collision course.
10:092.45 a.m.
10:13Eight kilometers up ahead, the towboat Movilla has just slammed into something.
10:18The captain of the Movilla is struggling to control two barges which have broken loose.
10:23To make matters worse, fog makes it impossible to see anything from the wheelhouse windows.
10:29His ability was probably about 50 to 75 foot.
10:32Boy, it was so foggy.
10:33Foggy, foggy, foggy.
10:35About fog as I've ever seen it.
10:38The Sunset Limited train is carrying 220 people.
10:41Most of them are asleep.
10:44The engine crew and the locomotive have no idea what's about to happen.
10:502.53 a.m.
10:53Suddenly, the train crashes at full speed.
10:58Passengers are hurled in all directions.
11:01I remembered it with three huge, loud bams.
11:07And each time, I could feel the equipment buckling and jumping.
11:12It probably wasn't but a few seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime.
11:18I had the time to sit there and say, man, this train is derailing.
11:23The three lead engines of the train have careered off a bridge.
11:27The crew dormitory car, the baggage car, and two passenger cars also fly up the track.
11:33When it went airborne, it did like a 360.
11:37I thought I was going to die.
11:38I thought all of us was going to die for sure.
11:41These first news pictures reveal the severity of the crash.
11:47It was a pretty rough impact.
11:49I heard screams.
11:50I heard people just yelling and just all kinds of chaos.
11:56I remember saying, dad, dad, dad, calling my husband because I could hear him groaning.
12:05The fuel tanks rupture on impact, bursting into flames.
12:09They're nearly full after refueling just four hours ago and are now leaking thousands of liters of diesel into the
12:15river.
12:17The captain of the Mo Villa, Andrew Stabler, is some 200 meters away.
12:21He hears the noise and sees a huge fire ahead.
12:27While I was still trying to figure out what's happening, and we seen the fire, you could see the glow,
12:31it was so foggy, but you still see that glow, and you know it's a fire.
12:35John Turk, the onboard services supervisor of the train, is shaken out of bed, but unhurt.
12:41He's in the sleeper compartment, one of the four cars at the rear of the train, which has stayed on
12:46the track.
12:47He rises quickly, and rushes towards the front of the train, to help the passengers.
12:54I could see the flames were kind of in a distance.
12:59And my eyes are focusing for what my memory has.
13:03Well, where's the next coach?
13:04Through that portal, I should have seen a door.
13:07Now, not only is there a fire, the train isn't there.
13:10Not only is the train isn't there, we're on a bridge, but the rest of the bridge isn't there.
13:15This was unbelievable.
13:18I stood there for just a moment, just stunned.
13:21It was shocking.
13:23I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
13:26John Turk immediately calls the emergency services.
13:30Okay, you're with the Amtrak train?
13:32Yes, ma'am.
13:32I'm the supervisor on board.
13:34We're on the Mobile River.
13:35You're on the Mobile River?
13:36On the Mobile River.
13:37We got cars burning there over the bridges.
13:40There's people in the water.
13:41We're trying to help them.
13:42We need all kinds of help.
13:43Yes, ma'am.
13:44We need help.
13:45Ma'am, I have to go and assist these folks.
13:48Two passenger cars have crashed into the water.
13:51One is almost completely submerged in the swamp.
13:54The other is sticking out of the mud at an angle.
13:57And Trudy Justin is amongst the many people trapped inside.
14:01She's trying not to panic, but her husband, Larry, is injured.
14:05I was trying to get my husband up off of the floor, and I couldn't see.
14:09And the coach is filling up with smoke, heavy, heavy, thick smoke.
14:15It was decided by someone that we need to get out, that we're going to explode.
14:19And I heard them yelling, water's coming in, the water's coming in.
14:24You can hear the gurgling, people drowning, and just, just chaos.
14:33The train has crashed in a tributary off the main Mobile River called Big Bayou Cannot.
14:39It's a remote, swampy region, 10 kilometers from Mobile, not usually open to river traffic.
14:46There are no roads to the accident site.
14:52The police department's 911 operator calls the Coast Guard, but cannot give them the exact location of the crash.
15:053.20 a.m.
15:06From their base at Dauphin Island, south of Mobile, the Coast Guard sent out a three-man crew in an
15:12inflatable reconnaissance boat.
15:19It's 21 kilometers from Dauphin Island to Big Bayou Cannot, where the train has derailed.
15:25Even with good visibility, the journey would take 35 minutes.
15:32People are still trapped inside the first passenger car, which is half-buried in the swamp and rapidly filling with
15:38water.
15:40One passenger, Mike Doppi, scrambles frantically for an exit.
15:46I could barely see anything, you know, so mainly I'm feeling my way around.
15:50You know, I'm trying to feel for an emergency handle, trying to feel for some kind of an opening or
15:55lever I could use to get out.
15:57You know, I actually even remember stepping on someone, and she, you know, cried out in pain.
16:06The car is being propped up by one of the beams from the bridge, providing a glimmer of hope for
16:11the people on the upper deck.
16:14There's an emergency exit just beside the beam.
16:18Mike Doppi gets out first.
16:21A former lifeguard, he stays to help the others.
16:26Mike was hanging on to the post, and when the people come out of the car, he tell us,
16:32you're going to go down in the water, and what I'm going to do is jerk you back up.
16:36It was pitch black dark, and the only light you had was from the fire.
16:44You couldn't see nothing.
16:45You didn't know where the bank was.
16:48So do you take a chance at trying to get to that bank, or you just stay with the wreckage?
16:56Mike Doppi manages to help some 30 people escape from the carriage.
17:01Now, other dangers could be lurking, alligators and poisonous snakes.
17:05However, the burning train itself is the biggest threat.
17:12Water is a loose word.
17:14This was not water like the bathtub or anything.
17:20This was diesel.
17:21Very strong with diesel, to the point that afterwards our skin peeled.
17:28You could hear people screaming, and just, just death.
17:33It was just, it was just death all around.
17:41The crew dorm sleeper carriage has crashed beside the passenger car.
17:45It, too, is on fire.
17:47And one of the conductors, Ronald Quaintance, a friend of the onboard supervisor, John Turk, is trapped inside.
17:54Some of the crew try to rescue him.
17:58But Mr. Quaintance was asking him to please get him out.
18:03The flames, to please put out the flames.
18:05They couldn't get the door open.
18:07They couldn't separate the equipment.
18:08The flames became too great.
18:10They had to abandon him.
18:12He said the Lord's Prayer.
18:14He said the 23rd Psalm.
18:16And if you ever heard his voice once, you didn't have to be there to hear him saying those prayers.
18:22You could just imagine it.
18:24The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not.
18:28Our Father, who art in heaven.
18:31And that voice haunted me for a long time.
18:37On the Movilla, some 300 meters from the accident site, Captain Stabler has finally managed to round up the loose
18:44barges and shove them onto the bank.
18:46He now heads back towards the fire to try to help.
18:51We're still up amongst a hell of a fire.
18:53This is a, I mean, this is a huge fire.
18:57And that little breeze is blowing that smoke right in the wheelhouse, up to the point where I can't see,
19:02I can't breathe.
19:06And my husband saw the boat coming towards us, and he got really, really upset, saying, watch out for the
19:14propellers.
19:17The captain of the Movilla can't get close enough to rescue the people in the water, and tells his deckhand
19:22to take the skiff, a small aluminium rowing boat, into the swamp.
19:27But the skiff can only carry four or five people at a time.
19:30It's unstable, and the current is strong.
19:41The Movilla eventually rescues 17 people from the water.
19:45Trudy Justin and her husband, Mike Dopeide and Ken Ivory are amongst them.
19:5020 more are picked up by another tug.
19:544.25 AM.
19:56The Coast Guard finally arrive on the scene, and now help with the rescue.
20:03A relief train takes the remaining survivors on the riverbank back to Movilla.
20:1847 people have died in the crash, five of them crew members.
20:22It's the worst disaster in Amtrak's history.
20:29I would like to ask that we all bow in a moment of silent prayer.
20:36And this is why they were praying in Washington tonight, the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak history.
20:41The question tonight is, what caused an Amtrak passenger train to derail?
20:45The cause of the accident is far from being determined.
20:48No one knows what has happened to the bridge across the big bayou cannot.
20:51Why is it now scattered in pieces, buried in the swamp?
20:56Questions about the tragedy start to surface.
20:59Why was a towboat and its barges in the vicinity where river traffic is off limits?
21:05Was pilot Willie Odom responsible?
21:07Or was there something else?
21:09A fault with the signals or the track?
21:12At this early stage, every possibility must be considered.
21:15I've just, moments ago, spoken with the laboratory people who tell me right now they cannot discount the fact that
21:22some part of that track might have been sabotaged.
21:27The crash has taken everyone by surprise.
21:30The Sunset Limited, Amtrak's glorious coast-to-coast superliner, has been a dream on wheels for thousands of tourists.
21:37It's never had a fatal accident.
21:39Until now.
21:49It took just eight minutes.
21:51Now we rewind the events of that fatal night and go deep into the investigation to reveal what really happened.
22:00Advanced computer simulation will take us where no camera can go, into the heart of the disaster zone.
22:11The National Transportation Safety Board immediately take over the investigation.
22:17Within hours, they arrive on the scene and begin the process of finding out why the crash happened.
22:23They analyze the wreckage, searching for clues that will explain the disaster of Sunset Limited train number two.
22:31They call on railway engineers, bridge experts, and marine specialists in their search for answers.
22:411,500 kilometers away, a man receives a call at 5 a.m. at his home in Virginia.
22:47His name is Russ Gober, and he's the leader of the NTSB team.
22:52He heads straight to Mobile.
22:58As we came into this place, it's a beautiful setting, but just a horrible sight.
23:04You see a bridge completely missing, and cars in the river, and equipment just completely destroyed.
23:12That is stress.
23:16It's now up to Russ and his team to find the answers.
23:23A company towboat and six barges were near the bridge at the time of the accident.
23:28What I'm saying is we are looking at a suspect barge.
23:32It's now well known that the Mo Villa was in Big Bayou Cannot at the time of the accident,
23:37but it's still a mystery as to why it was there.
23:40The bayou is not a commercial waterway.
23:43The night was foggy, but the Mo Villa is equipped with radar that should have clearly indicated the turnoff.
23:51But Willie Odom tells investigators he saw the banks on the radar, but not the intersection.
23:5730 minutes before the crash, Odom reaches the north end of 12 Mile Island and forks left instead of continuing
24:04upriver.
24:06The question is, was he too preoccupied with the fog to check his radar screen?
24:11Captain Stabler believes he knows the answer.
24:15Willie did not look in his radar.
24:18I'm guilty of that sometimes.
24:21Everybody that's running towboat with fire is guilty of that.
24:24If he looked in that radar, he would have seen he was making a wrong turn.
24:29Investigators learned that Willie Odom was not properly trained to read radar.
24:33It's not one of the requirements for licensed towboat pilots.
24:41Ten minutes before the Sunset Limited crashes, Willie Odom is in Big Bayou Cannot.
24:46When he finally does check the radar, he sees something he doesn't recognize.
24:52He called and asked me if there was a tow of any sort that might be moored or anything between
25:01me and him.
25:02And I told him no, not that I knew of.
25:06The Movila is not on the main river, and what lies ahead is not another tow and barges.
25:12Willie Odom has made a fatal error.
25:14He's on the wrong part of the river.
25:19Eight minutes to disaster, Willie thrusts his engines into reverse, but he's too late.
25:26Suddenly there's a bump as the barges run into something.
25:29But to the captain of the Movila, this gentle bump doesn't feel like a bridge collapsing.
25:35So what did the Movila hit?
25:44Amtrak Sunset Limited crashes off the bridge at Big Bayou Cannot, Alabama.
25:4947 people have died in one of the worst train wrecks in U.S. history.
25:55Now, using advanced graphics based on the National Transportation Safety Board's official report,
26:01we go deep into the investigation to unravel the deadly chain of events.
26:09To prevent future accidents, the investigators need to find out exactly why the bridge collapsed.
26:15They know a towboat was nearby, but did it hit the bridge?
26:23They send in their bridge expert, Ron Webber.
26:29Now we return with Ron to the scene of the disaster.
26:35It was much greater than any other accident I've been on.
26:38It was 47 dead, and it was a vast amount of people.
26:48Ron will rely on forensics to tell the story.
26:53He hones in on the South Pier where the bridge became detached, looking for any signs of damage.
27:05Well, I was looking for telltale marks.
27:07We call them witness marks, any physical evidence.
27:11Well, here you have missing concrete.
27:14So it was obvious that this chipped off.
27:16There's also some chipping of the concrete closer to the water.
27:25The damage that Ron discovers is consistent with an impact from a heavily laden barge.
27:30It's a promising lead.
27:32He reports to Russ Gober, who's in charge of the investigation.
27:36But Russ needs more evidence than chipped concrete.
27:42He wants to inspect the Movilas barges to see if they, too, have any damage or telltale marks.
27:49The safety board does not take anything on the surface.
27:53We want to scientifically look at it.
27:57So we took scrapings from the barge, the paint.
28:01And we took scrapings from the piers.
28:03And we had our lab analyze it.
28:06And then we sent it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab and had them to also analyze it.
28:14Then, a breakthrough.
28:16A few days later, the results come back from the FBI Materials Lab in Washington.
28:22The forensic experts line up the marks on the concrete pier with the front, left-hand side barge.
28:29The structure of the particles matched up the best that you could match something.
28:42It's the first scientific proof that the Movilas hit the bridge.
28:50But a heavy steel bridge on solid concrete piers should hold up.
28:55The impact from the barge was slight.
29:03That portion of the bridge was still in proper position and had not moved.
29:09So we knew that the barge did not knock the bridge down.
29:15The pier was actually the support of the bridge, but in a sense it was protecting it, too.
29:22I can only say that this did not cause any structural damage outside of the chipping of the concrete.
29:30The investigating team need to dig deeper.
29:33If the barge didn't knock the bridge down, what did?
29:39They remove much of the debris from the river and examine it for clues.
29:47It's photographed and then sent to New York for forensic examination.
29:54After five days, they recover part of the central through-girda of the bridge.
30:01This span, known as the girder section, lay across the bayou supported by three concrete piers.
30:08It's more than 42 meters long and made of steel.
30:12But the impact has now crushed it like a piece of aluminium.
30:18They inspect and photograph every centimetre of the girder.
30:24Then the investigators spot something.
30:28We looked at the bottom flange of the girder, which is pretty strong, has good stiffness.
30:36And along this 140-foot girder, there were two places where it was indented outily from a pretty good force.
30:45The investigators find recent scratch marks and indentations on the underside of the girder.
30:51If the barges only hit the concrete pier, what caused the marks underneath the bridge?
30:57Was there a second impact?
31:03This was really something that our marine and bridge engineers were astounded with and kind of puzzled at first indications.
31:14They were not sure until we got the bridge out of the water what happened.
31:21Investigators must now take a second look at the critical moment, eight minutes before the accident, when the Movila hit
31:27the bridge.
31:28They know that the barge didn't destroy the bridge.
31:31But have they missed a vital clue?
31:36The investigators returned to inspect the Movila's barges, paying particular attention to the push knees at the front,
31:43the extra bumpers designed to help one barge push another.
31:47Then, a further surprise.
31:51In this tow, we found other barges that had scrape marks on the push knees.
31:58I think one was 22 inches wide and one was 21 inches wide.
32:04But they find these scrape marks on the center barge, not the left-hand barge that has hit the concrete
32:10pier.
32:12Russ Gober goes back to the evidence.
32:17He finds that the dents in the girder exactly match the scrape marks on the center barge.
32:26The pieces of the jigsaw are beginning to fall into place.
32:35Investigators can now prove a second impact.
32:39Milliseconds after the left barge slammed into the pier.
32:43The center barge collided with the middle section of the bridge, the through girder, hitting it like a one-two
32:50punch.
32:53But this still doesn't solve the puzzle of why the bridge collapsed.
33:01The girder section should still hold firm.
33:05So why did it end up in the swamp?
33:13The Sunset Limited train has careered off a bridge and 47 people have perished.
33:19Investigators now know that barges from the towboat Movilla rammed the bridge.
33:23But they're certain that the impact was not enough to destroy it.
33:29Bridge expert Ron Weber needs to find more clues.
33:32And decides to dig deeper into the bridge's curious three-part construction.
33:37Before long, Ron makes a remarkable discovery.
33:42The 84-year-old plans for the bridge reveal that it was originally designed as a swing bridge.
33:51Swing bridges are fairly common in the area.
33:53Although this function has never been used at Big Bayou, Cannot,
33:57just over 2.5 kilometers away, Bridge Sara is a working swing bridge.
34:02The center section, the through girder, is designed to swing open to allow boats to pass through.
34:09Ron wants to see if this bridge will offer any clues.
34:14We're looking at a similar swing bridge.
34:17And you can see where the train tracks are, almost halfway up.
34:21And you can see the mechanism on the bottom of the bridge.
34:24The gearing mechanism enables the bridge to rotate.
34:29Back at Big Bayou, Cannot Bridge, the investigators then reveal
34:33that not only was the swing mechanism never operational,
34:36it wasn't even completed.
34:39The Bayou, Cannot Bridge, wasn't being used.
34:43So you didn't have the wheels on it.
34:44You didn't have any of the gears there.
34:46If they wanted to make it a swing bridge, they could have done it very easily.
34:51The investigators must now answer a crucial question.
34:54Could this swing mechanism have affected the bridge's ability to withstand impact?
35:05The bridge at Big Bayou, Cannot, is designed to take extremely heavy loads.
35:10Every day, around 20 heavy freight trains cross the bridge,
35:13exerting massive downward pressure.
35:17But Ron finds out that the bridge designers have made an unfortunate error.
35:22They didn't allow for lateral impacts.
35:27The central girder is just resting on one of its piers
35:30and is not properly bolted down.
35:34Well, I was surprised, but they did not look at the possibility
35:38of a force from a barge or a ship hitting it.
35:43This design oversight, undetected for 84 years,
35:47is to have tragic consequences.
35:49To see precisely how, we must look again at the moment of impact,
35:54eight minutes before the crash,
35:55when the Mobilla's barges hit the bridge.
36:02When the barge came along, it moved the whole girder over this way
36:08and fell down this pedestal.
36:11And you can see here yet the missing concrete, which it broke off.
36:17As the girder section fell off its pedestal, it left tell-tale marks on the concrete.
36:22There were some red lead paint marks from the bridge.
36:25These old bridges were painted with red lead and some other scratches.
36:32Ron now knows what happened to the bridge.
36:34It didn't collapse simply because it was hit by the Mobilla's barges.
36:38By incorporating Ron's findings into our enhanced computer graphics,
36:43we can now reveal exactly what went wrong.
36:51First, the left-hand barge hits the concrete pier.
36:58Then, the center barge rams into the girder section of the bridge.
37:03But because it's not secured at the south pier,
37:06it swings out of position by almost a meter into the path of the train.
37:13However, the Sunset Limited train is several kilometers from the bridge.
37:19There is still time.
37:24Investigators know that the track is fitted with an automatic alarm system.
37:28If the rails snap,
37:30the signals switch from green to red to alert oncoming trains.
37:34So, why didn't the system signal danger?
37:43Examining the rail tracks at the scene is almost impossible
37:46due to the extent of damage caused by the impact.
37:50But they find one important clue about the condition of the track
37:54just before the derailment.
37:59Two minutes before the crash.
38:02The train rushes past the last signal before the bridge,
38:06which has already been hit by the barge.
38:09But the signal recorder shows that the signal stays green,
38:13meaning there's no break in the track ahead.
38:17If the rail had broken,
38:20the last signal prior to the point of derailment
38:24would have been a restricting signal.
38:27A restricting signal requires a train to immediately reduce speed
38:32to a maximum of 24 kilometers per hour.
38:35But the Sunset didn't slow down.
38:37There was no red signal,
38:39and the track wasn't broken.
38:41Why?
38:43Modern rail tracks use continuous welded rail
38:46designed for strength and flexibility.
38:49It's laid in segments 400 meters long,
38:51which give it great ability to absorb the energy of an impact
38:55and resist fracture.
38:56Continuous welded rail is very flexible.
39:00If it's not bolted down,
39:03it can move and look like a piece of spaghetti
39:06if it isn't attached.
39:11When the barges struck the bridge,
39:14it just shoved it over for 38 inches.
39:18This is the final fatal link.
39:21If the track had broken,
39:22the sensor would have been triggered.
39:25But the flexibility of the rail
39:26means the track is just bent out of shape.
39:30Even a deviation of almost a meter
39:32leaves the signal wiring intact.
39:35The Sunset Limited is now just 2.7 kilometers from the bridge.
39:40The massive steel girder lies in its path.
39:45And there is no way to stop the train
39:47from its collision course.
39:51The train is carrying 220 people.
39:54When the black box event recorder is recovered,
39:56it reveals that at the moment of impact,
39:58the train was traveling at 116 kilometers per hour.
40:02It was not slowing down.
40:04The front locomotive of the train smashed into the girder,
40:08forcing it and the bridge down into the swamp.
40:16Two days after the accident,
40:18the lead locomotive is hoisted from the swamp.
40:21The damage to the engine proves
40:22the investigator's conclusions,
40:24that it hit the girder before flying off the bridge.
40:28On impact, the engine is catapulted into the air.
40:32It slams into the mud on the opposite bank.
40:38The first passenger car follows within seconds.
40:44I remember it being airborne,
40:46and I was holding on, bracing myself.
40:49And then the car did a 360.
40:52It just made a complete turnaround.
40:56The girder of an old swing bridge
40:58has moved out of alignment,
41:00resulting in tragedy for the 47 lives lost
41:03and their families.
41:05But Ron Weber discovers that one simple measure
41:08might have prevented the catastrophe.
41:10What is it?
41:11And why wasn't it used?
41:18Investigators have finally unraveled the chain of events
41:21that propelled Amtrak Sunset Limited
41:23into a swamp near Mobile, Alabama.
41:30Ron Weber believes that a simple
41:32and inexpensive modification to the bridge
41:35could have prevented the disaster.
41:42He suggests that shear blocks
41:44could easily have been fitted
41:45between the pedestals of the pier,
41:47acting as a doorstop
41:48and preventing the girder from moving.
41:50The barge's impact would have had no effect.
41:56The weak link here was where it attached to the pier.
41:59And as we know,
42:00it was only held there by friction on one end.
42:02And that just isn't enough.
42:05And for minimal cost,
42:07it could have been fixed.
42:10This is not the first time
42:11a train has derailed
42:12because of a displaced track.
42:17After an accident in Utah in 1979,
42:21the Federal Railroad Administration
42:22did a feasibility study
42:24on installing a mechanism
42:25specific to bridge displacement.
42:28It would trigger the signals
42:29even if the track wasn't broken
42:31but just bent out of place.
42:35The FRA concluded
42:37that the cost of such a national system
42:38outweighed the benefit.
42:42Since 1982,
42:4426 derailments, including Mobile,
42:46have occurred
42:47due to displaced bridges.
42:49As yet,
42:50no nationwide safety system
42:52is in place
42:52which would prevent this
42:54from happening again.
42:55So,
42:56could it happen again?
43:01We hope that nothing like this
43:03would happen again.
43:06But if there is
43:07an unprotected bridge
43:12and barges moving
43:14in the area,
43:15it could happen again.
43:19However,
43:20one of the positive outcomes
43:21following the NTSB report
43:23is that licensed
43:25towboat pilots
43:26must now be qualified
43:27to use radar.
43:29Nevertheless,
43:30for passenger Trudy Justin,
43:32the nightmare lives on.
43:33this last summer
43:35when the fires
43:37out in California
43:37were so horrible
43:38and they were burning up
43:40about half the world
43:41out there,
43:42I was walking
43:42into a video store
43:44and I turn around
43:45and every one
43:47of these TVs,
43:49there's no sound
43:50and the whole thing
43:52was
43:54showing
43:56the California fires.
43:58It was like
43:59the tongue of the fires
44:00was just leaping
44:01right out of that television.
44:05I had a flashback
44:06because that was
44:07the realest
44:08that I had ever seen
44:09since the night
44:1010 years ago.
44:13I ran.
44:14I ran.
44:15Literally with my heart pounding.
44:17I mean,
44:18that was what
44:18we lived through.
44:22John Turk,
44:23the onboard services supervisor,
44:25returned to work
44:25just four months
44:26after the accident.
44:29I couldn't sleep
44:30in the crew car
44:30for a long time.
44:32I couldn't sleep
44:33nowhere near the front
44:34of the train.
44:35Even if my
44:36assigned room
44:37was in the crew car,
44:38I couldn't go in there
44:39at all.
44:41That voice was waiting
44:42for me.
44:44The Lord is my shepherd,
44:46I shall not.
44:48Our Father
44:49who art in heaven.
44:53On that September night
44:55in 1993,
44:56Willie Odom's
44:57fateful wrong turn
44:58into the bayou
44:59was the first
45:00tragic event
45:00of a deadly sequence.
45:03However,
45:04pilot Jeff Williams
45:05knows only too well
45:06how easily
45:07this can happen.
45:09In 1990,
45:11I was pilot
45:12on a smaller boat
45:13and we had left
45:15Mobile
45:16almost same time,
45:19same river conditions.
45:21Whenever I came up
45:23into the wheelhouse,
45:24I looked at the radar
45:26and trying to figure out
45:29exactly where we were.
45:31There was a train
45:32that came across
45:33that big Bayou-Kanaet bridge
45:36and it was a very
45:37frightening thing.
45:40I know it's possible
45:42that it can happen.
45:44The barge's impact
45:46with the bridge
45:46was the second
45:47critical event.
45:48The bridge girder,
45:50not properly bolted down,
45:52swung out of line.
45:55Then,
45:56the third critical event.
45:58The track bent
45:59but did not break.
46:01The warning signal
46:02didn't go off.
46:05Captain Stabler
46:06believes these events
46:07were more like fiction
46:08than real life.
46:12Everything does it like,
46:14it's just like,
46:14well,
46:15like a movie.
46:16I mean,
46:16just like a script.
46:17Somebody just shot a movie
46:18and that's a movie.
46:20It's either with you
46:21or against you.
46:23It was against us.
46:26Just 11 days later,
46:28the big Bayou-Kanaet bridge
46:30had been rebuilt
46:30using fixed girders
46:32without a swing mechanism.
46:34The Sunset Limited
46:35has resumed
46:36its luxury service,
46:37continuing to take
46:39thousands of people
46:40on their dream holiday,
46:41so far,
46:42without major incident.
46:44the Sunset Limited
46:44an excellent event.
46:45It's the first time
46:45The Sunset Limited
46:47is a film-
46:50an amazing sitcom
46:50series of
46:50the Sunset Limited
46:51is a film-
46:51a film-
46:51e-boy-
46:51and a great
46:51series of
46:51wonderful things
46:51like you
46:51as a film-
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