Amtrak Crash Evidence Is Reviewed

By JENNIFER LOVEN Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators are re-interviewing three witnesses to last week's deadly Amtrak crash in Illinois who gave differing accounts of when a truck driver entered the train's path.

Evidence gathered from the scene disagrees with the driver's account of the accident, officials said.

Bob Lauby, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board's rail division, said Thursday that investigators' initial report on the eyewitnesses did not reconcile the inconsistencies of their testimony to his satisfaction.

He said it is not clear whether they have slightly different stories, which he would not detail, because they did not see the entire incident, they have incomplete memories or some other reason.

A key question is whether the driver of the steel-laden tractor-trailer that the train hit 50 miles south of Chicago, killing 11, started into the railroad crossing after warning lights had started to flash.

An attorney for truck driver John R. Stokes has said his client did not cause the March 15 crash by attempting to go around the crossing gates and beat the oncoming train. But NTSB Chairman Jim Hall told a Senate panel looking into the accident that evidence suggests the truck driver did try to cross when the lights were flashing.

``We believe that the information and data we've collected so far tells a different story'' from that of the driver, Hall said Thursday.

Hall also said a key part of the investigation will focus on whether Stokes' employer, Melco Transfer Inc., adequately monitored his driving record before allowing him to stay on the road. Ken Wykle, head of the Federal Highway Administration, said it appeared the company met all federal requirements.

The crash is renewing an old debate in Washington over what can be done to keep vehicles out of the nation's 259,000 grade-level railroad crossings, where most train accidents and fatalities occur.

Of all the options discussed before the Senate Transportation subcommittee on surface transportation, one given the least attention is the one many believe is the most foolproof way to reduce accidents: spending the enormous sums needed to either eliminate crossings or add high-tech improvements that make it virtually impossible for cars to get around gates.

Instead, talk focused on drivers' responsibility to obey warning signs, increasing penalties for those who don't, adding enforcement tools such as cameras and encouraging efforts to educate the public about the dangers of crossings.

Wykle said the Federal Highway Administration is ready to issue tough new penalties for truck drivers who violate federal rules about how to drive through a rail crossing. In the works for a year and expected out within a few months, the new regulations would suspend the licenses of first-time violators for two months. Fines would range from $2,500 to $10,000.

Separate rules penalizing such truck drivers' employers are being considered.

Federal Railroad Administration head Jolene Molitoris heralded a test of photo enforcement at California railroad crossings that has reduced collisions by 72 percent.

The agency's goal is to reduce the number of U.S. crossings 25 percent by 2001.

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