Providence, RI Railroad Worker Loses Life by Amtrak Train

Providence, RIA one-time employee of Amtrak who was working there in the capacity of a contractor, was killed, while two other railroad workers sustained injuries. Sixty-five year old Gary Graves lost his life on March 13th 2008 while completing some track work on a contracted basis for Amtrak.

The ruling in his death is that Mr. Graves died from multiple blunt trunk injuries. In the years prior to the incident he had retired from the railroad company. He was most recently performing contracted railway work for HTNB Corp. which is a countrywide architecture and engineering company. Mr. Graves was a resident of Delaware, but was doing work for HTNB Corp.'s office located in Philadelphia, PA. The other two railroad workers were said to have sustained serious injuries, but their names have not been released. They received treatment at a local, undisclosed hospital in the area.

A total of one hundred sixty-eight passengers were aboard the Amtrak train that struck the three men. One hundred sixty-two were passengers and six were Amtrak railroad workers. None of the people riding on the Amtrak train were harmed in any way. It is estimated that the train was traveling far below the established fifty-five mile per hour speed limit set for the trains. The site of the accident was around a very sharp curve in the railway. No information has been set forth to confirm if the sharp curve played a role in the accident. Some passengers have said that the train was honking the horn to warn the railroad workers, and was traveling at a low rate of speed. The train was traveling in a northbound direction heading from Washington D.C. to the Boston, MA area. The accident occurred at approximately 1:15 p.m on the 13th of March 2008.

For a couple of hours following the railroad accident both Northbound and Southbound Amtrak trains were stopped close to the scene of the accident. Passengers of the affected train were bused in between the areas of Providence and South Attleboro. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority helped to do the busing for the passengers.

The workers were said to be inspecting tracks located directly outside from the downtown Providence office. An investigation will commence to uncover the details surrounding the accident. Investigators will take into account the expertise and experience of the railway workers. At this point in time it is too soon to tell if there were infringements of safety requirements. Investigators working on behalf of both the Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety board were at the location to gather information. The investigators anticipate gathering evidence from the scene for at least one week. It will be several months before a complete report will be formulated and issued for the occurrence. For the investigation railway workers will be questions and interviewed. Also, the event recorder which is very close in nature to the black box of an airplane will be reviewed by the investigation team. The event recorder takes note of brake applications, rate of speed, and throttle position.

By Delsia Hartford