ROANOKE TIMES
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993                   TAG: 9307220023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: DELAND, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium


MEDICATION BLAMED IN AMTRAK WRECK

An Amtrak engineer may have used poor judgment by taking heavy medication prior to operating a train that derailed in Palatka, Fla., almost two years ago, according to a federal report released Tuesday.

In the days leading up to the December 1991 crash, engineer Conrad Peterson Jr. took an assortment of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, which may have been a factor in the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded.

The train wrecked because the engineer and another crew member were inattentive and failed to apply the brakes quickly enough at a curve in the tracks, the board report stated.

Investigators determined that the Silver Meteor train was traveling more than 70 mph on a posted 30-mph curve near the station when the derailment occurred.

No one was killed in the accident, but 57 passengers and 10 Amtrak employees were injured. The train also destroyed two homes and caused about $1.4 million in damage.

Peterson had been taking prescription drugs for bronchitis and a back condition for several days prior to the accident, said Alan Pollock, a board spokesman. He also took an over-the-counter sleep aid the night before the ill-fated trip, Pollock said.

The board recommended that the National Railroad Passenger Corp. develop a program that educates railroad employees about the potential hazards of medication use. And although investigators decided that mechanical error was not a factor in the Palatka crash, the board also suggested more stringent guidelines for brake equipment inspections.

Peterson and Richard Moore, the assistant engineer, were fired as a result of Amtrak's investigation.



 by CNB