The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently called on Volpe engineering psychologist Dr. Jordan Multer to serve on an expert panel during an investigative hearing into a fatal train accident in Goodwell, Oklahoma. The NTSB hearing sought testimony from expert witnesses regarding the accident—which took the lives of three crewmembers and caused an estimated $14.79 million in damages—and the safety issues involved in an effort to determine causal factors and potential preventative interventions.
In June 2012, two Union Pacific freight trains collided head-on while operating on a straight track near Goodwell. One train was supposed to wait, allowing the second to pull onto a side track; however, instead, the first train ran through multiple stop signals and collided head-on into the second train, derailing numerous cars and igniting a diesel fire. NTSB noted that positive train control, which is the safety technology designed to supplement the human operation of trains, could have prevented the collision.
Dr. Multer, who works in Volpe's Center for Human Factors Research and System Applications, has conducted considerable research in support of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in two key areas related to the investigation: cognitive task analysis—which deals with understanding the kinds of decisions, collaborative demands, and cognitive activities that are involved in operating railroad systems—and the impact of technology on railroad operations, such as positive train control.
During his February 26 testimony at NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C., Dr. Multer discussed human performance and why accidents like the Goodwell collision can happen. He testified that while positive train control may serve as a barrier to prevent signal violation, it does not address underlying systemic causes.
"If you design a technology-driven system, like any kind of technology, you have limits beyond which you cannot operate," Dr. Multer said. "A computer operates well within a certain temperature range. The same thing is true for a human being. If you put them in a situation where they're operating outside of their performance limitations, then they're going to make mistakes." The important question to ask, Dr. Multer said, is "How do you design a system from a user-centered perspective that would enable the human being to operate in an optimal way?"
Dr. Multer served on the NTSB expert panel alongside Bob Grimaila, Union Pacific Railroad vice president for safety; Robert Lauby, FRA deputy associate administrator for regulatory and legislative operations; and Dennis Pierce, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.