Conrail Crew Allegedly Used Drug

Both crewmen of the Conrail locomotive that ran a stop signal and slid into the path of a speeding Amtrak passenger train were found to have marijuana in their system at the time of the accident, federal investigators said Wednesday.

One source close to the investigation said the amounts of marijuana in blood and urine samples taken from the two men within hours of the Jan. 4 accident near Baltimore were “a sufficient amount” to indicate possible chronic or recent use of the drug.

It remained uncertain, however, whether the marijuana was sufficient to have affected the performance of the engineer or brakeman at the time of the accident, the source said.

The Federal Railroad Administration, which released the test results, said in a statement, “The findings do not constitute an allegation of fault or determination of probable cause” and will be considered along with other evidence developed during the investigation under way by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The tests on the engineer, Richard Gates, 32, and the brakeman, Edward Cromwell, showed no evidence of alcohol in either man.

Tests on tissue samples of the Amtrak engineer, who along with 15 passengers was killed in the accident, showed no evidence of either alcohol or illegal drugs, the railroad agency said.

Federal regulations that went into effect last February prohibit a railroad employee from reporting to work impaired by alcohol or drugs or possessing or using illegal drugs or alcohol while at work.