WASHINGTON — Two workers struck and killed by a PATCO train on the Benjamin Frankin Bridge in Camden, N.J., had entered the right-of-way before a track outage for maintenance work had been established, the National Transportation Safety Board said in determining probable cause as part of its final report on the Oct. 14, 2022, incident.
A failure to address right-of-way information in the pre-shift job briefing, although it was required under the Port Authority Transit Corp. Right-of-Way Safety Plan, was a contributing factor, the agency said in the final report released on Thursday, May 23.
The two workers were struck and killed about 9:21 p.m. by a westbound train traveling 33 mph on Main Track 2 of the bridge linking Philadelphia and Camden; they were subsequently identified as Victor Martins, 55, and Donato Fiocca, 53, of contractor JPC Group Inc. [see “Workers killed on Ben Franklin Bridge …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 3, 2022].
The workers were scheduled to put new caulking on columns of the bridge near the track’s third rail. Track 2 was scheduled to be taken out of service at 9:30 p.m., but the workers had entered the area — a close-clearance area with insufficient room for both people and trains — before that time. The train’s operator saw the workers and began emergency braking but struck them and continued about 100 feet before stopping.
Subsequent to the accident, the New Jersey Department of Transportation issued a safety action letter requiring PATCO to take five actions: A safety stand ndown to discuss the incident and review PATCO’s roadway worker protection program; providing NJDOT with updates on the accident investigation every 30 days; corrective actions including a requirement that PATCO representatives much be present when roadway workers enter the right of way; submission of forms showing completion of job briefing for all contracted work; and a review of PATCO’s Safety System Oversight program monitoring.
What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.
The Bridge Line (PATCO) and the Bridge are owned by the Delaware River Port Authority and the PATCO Line is not an FRA regulated railroad.
The Bridge Line operates as two single tracks on outriggers to the Bridge (pretty good view from the river side of the cars). The two tracks are normally operated current of traffic double track, but each track is reverse-signalled for single-track operation, with crossovers at both ends of the Bridge.
The workers jumped the gun not only on train operation but the third rail was still live (obvious to us but not necessarily to a contractor) with 750 v DC.
A sad and preventable tragedy. “Expect a train on any track, at any time, in any direction” IMHO, “Blue Flag” type procedures in cases like this, especially involving contract workers, should be the norm, not the exception.
What I didn’t see in the summary was any qualified PATCO employee attached to the contractor crew to oversee them while they were working in the track area.
PATCO is interstate but is not an FRA regulated railroad. It was formed from part of Philadelphia’s Broad St. Subway System’s Bridge Line and PRSL’s Atlantic City Line.