I-25 a few miles north of Pueblo is still closed today, and may be that way for several more days to come…
(Coal Train Crash vxr :25)
It’s been more than 24 hours since a coal train derailed there, killing a 60-year-old truck driver from California. And the work to clear the highway hasn’t even started yet. CDOT says crews have to wait for permission from investigators before they begin the work to haul away 30 train cars and the hundreds or thousands of tons of coal they’d been carrying, that are blocking the interstate. A large team of federal investigators is in southern Colorado, trying to figure out exactly what caused that deadly incident.
(I-25 Crash wrap 1 :32)
Some of the first emergency communications from early Monday morning have come out now…
231017 radio traffic 1- I-25 standstill :04 Q:…any vehicles trapped…
There was one– a semi driven by a 60-year-old from California…
231017 radio traffic 2- driver trapped :05 Q:…is rolling in…
They were rolling in, but it was already too late. That driver, Lafollette (lah-FALL-eht) Henderson of Compton, California, died Monday morning. Federal investigators are now working to find out why, get the wreckage and tons of coal cleared from the interstate, and reopen I-25 to traffic. Those huge jobs combined may still take several days.
(I-25 Coal Crash wrap 2 :51)
The investigation of early Monday’s I-25 train derailment and bridge collapse, and what order those things happened in, is well underway now. What exactly are the key concerns?…
231017 R Halstead 1- look at the piers :07 Q:…their condition was…
Robert Halstead is a railroad accident re-constructionist. He says he’s reviewed more than 600 crashes, so he understands what the National Transportation Safety Board will want to know…
231017 R Halstead 2- years of inspections :07 Q:…of interest…
He says 3 scenarios are possible… the train derailed before it got to the bridge over I-25; it derailed while on the bridge itself; or the bridge collapsed first…
231017 R Halstead 3- bent, sheared, and when :12 Q:…the drama (2X)…
Halstead says bridges like that one are supposed to be inspected annually, and train tracks twice a week. He believes under all the coal and wreckage, there are answers.
TAG– That bridge that had been over I-25 was owned by CDOT. The department refused Monday to answer any questions about the incident, or the bridge’s inspection history.