Norfolk Southern Mandated to Reduce Train Accidents: Investigative Report Explains Why

In a safety recommendation letter to the FRA dated two years before the collision in Graniteville ever happened, then-NTSB Chairwoman Ellen Engleman Conners wrote that “Safety Board railroad accident investigations over the past 30 years have shown conclusively that the most effective way to avoid train-to-train collisions is through the use of positive train control systems." If a positive train control system had been in place, Seeling would have received a warning that he was approaching a switch that was directing him off the main track.