At 10:08 AM on June 24 two trains collided head-on two miles east of Goodwell, Oklahoma. The collision caused a huge diesel fuel fire that has finally been contained by fire crews.

The eastbound train was carrying a mixture of goods from Los Angeles to Chicago, whereas the westbound train was taking a shipment of cars and trucks from Kansas City to Los Angeles. Each train had one conductor and one engineer, and of the two crews, only one man survived.

The westbound train operator, Juan Zurita, jumped from the train before the crash occurred and suffered only minor injuries. According to Raquel Espinoza, the spokeswoman for the Union Pacific Railroad Zurita was “shaken up about the situation, and we are working to make sure that he receives the care that he needs. We’re doing everything we can to find the rest of the crew.”

The conductor of the other train, Brian L. Stone, 50, from Dalhart, Texas died along with the two engineers, Dan Hall and John Hall. The Hall engineers are unrelated. According to the National Transportation Safety Board there was “no survivable space” left on the trains.

Betsy Randolph, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper, was surprised when remains were found because of the high temperatures of the diesel fire. The fire was so intense that one firefighter was taken to the hospital for heat-related injuries and several others were treated on site for the same thing.

Currently federal investigators are looking into why one of the trains did not pull into a side track when the other train approached the main line. Mark Rosekind of the National Transportation Safety Board stated, “one train had the right of way. We’re still getting the data to figure out what was scheduled to happen… who was supposed to be where and when.”

Gary Mathews, a truck driver, witnessed the train accident. He told reporters, “I was thinking, ‘I’m going to see a train crash unless somebody does something.’” Mathews also claimed that neither train signaled the other with lights or sounds. Mathews told officials that the westbound train, with conductor Juan Zurita, slowed down before the train but the eastbound train did not. The crash scared Mathews so badly he refused to stop until he reached his destination, 350 miles later.

According to investigators the track and signaling devices appeared to be in working order. The National Transportation Safety Board will also look into whether or not one of the crew was on his cell phone or if one of the crews had not been well-rested.

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The September 12 collision that claimed the lives of ten people and left 86 injured could have been caused by a “signal flew back error”. The Times of India reports that “This error occurs when a system shows a wrong signal and turns to the right signal in a few seconds.” Meaning the signal light could have been green when the train driver approached, causing him to accelerate. The light would have then changed to the correct yellow or red light, but it would have done so too late for the driver to see.

The Chenai Beach-Vellore Electric Multiple Unit train (EMU) crashed into a stationary Arakkonam-Katpadi passenger train waiting for a signal near Chitheri station. Eight coaches were derailed and three completely damaged in the accident. Both trains were loaded with passengers.

India Rail wrote on their website that “the accident occurred amidst heavy downpour which hampered rescue and relief operations.”

As a result of the collision, trains were cancelled, diverted or rescheduled at Chennai. This affected locals who rely on the train to get them to and from work on a daily basis. Fortunately, the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation deployed 45 buses to transport passengers.

According to reports, rescue teams had cleared the mangled steel from the tracks and trains were allowed to pass through the spot to Chennai by Wednesday, September 13. Thus allowing some normalcy to those using the line.

Initially, the driver, A. Rajkumar was suspected for being the cause of the accident by over speeding and ignoring signals to slow down. He managed to jump out of the driver’s cabin just before the collision and was also seriously injured. As a result of his injuries, there was no word on exactly what had taken place. Somewhat recovered, Rajkumar stated that the first two signals had been yellow, however, the last one had been green and that was the reason he had accelerated. Railway Minister Danish Travedi said a breathalyzer test had been done on the driver and cleared him of being under the influence of alcohol.

The commissioner of railway safety S K Mittal is going through the signal records and an inquiry report is expected to be out in a few days to determine where the liability lies.

About 18 million people use the accident prone railway line on a daily basis. Only a month ago, a collision in West Bengal took the lives of 200 people. Another post on the India Railway site states that Indian Railways are working on a system to prevent train accidents like the one near Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu Tuesday night, which killed 10 and injured 86, said Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at Arakonam in Vellore district, Trivedi said: “A system is being worked out to ensure these incidents do not happen.” He did not elaborate.

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