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 as a result of fire or water damage. The Safety Board believes that the loss of event recorder data during this accident is further evidence of the need to develop and implcecnt crashworthy locomotive event recorders, and in 1993, the FRA issued a final rule on event recorders that acknowledges this need.

As indicated in the rule, because of the time required to develop crashworthy event recorders and equip trains with them, the FRA is seeking first to expeditiously equip locomotives on trains traveling at more than 30 mph with acceptable existing event recorders and then to proceed with crashworthiness and standardization issues The Safety Board looks forward to helping the FRA and the railroad industry increase the likelihood that recorded data are available to support railroad accident investigations

CSXT notification.—The owner of the Big Bayou Canot bridge, CSXT, did not have an up-to-date telephone listing of local authorities. The number for the Coast Guard in the Mobile telephone directory was incorrect. Consequently, the yardmaster was unsuccessful in his initial attempt to contact the Coast Guard and had to call the operator for assistance.

On November 30, 1993, following its investigation of the July 31, 1991, train accident at Lugoff, South Carolina, the Safety Board recommended that CSXT

R-93-20

Maintain an up-to-date emergency response telephone list

On April 15, 1994, CSXT informed the Safety Board that it is preparing emergency contact notebooks that will provide emergency numbers for counties within each of its operating subdivisions. CSXT reported on June 24, 1994, that it has completed notebooks for all 15 of its subdivisions and noted that it is developing a program to computerize the information

Emergency drills—Although the Mohile County Emergency Management Agency (MCEMA) held drills to simulate transportation accidents before this accident, those drills did not include simulations of an accident involving railroad operations In testimony, representatives from Amtrak, CSXT, Mobile County, and the Coast Guard said that they had never discussed the potential for an accident on the CSXT bridge. 56