SMETHPORT – The engineer of the Norfolk Southern train that
derailed near Gardeau last year will apparently stand trial on
charges of reckless endangerment and risking a catastrophe after
Magisterial District Judge Bill Todd ruled Monday that the
Commonwealth had shown a prima fascia case against him.

Michael Siefert, 45, formerly of Buffalo N.Y., did not testify
at the preliminary hearing before Todd, but Trooper Gary Stuckey of
the Pennsylvania State Police read portions of testimony Siefert
had given in a hearing when he was fired by Norfolk Southern
Railroad.

In that testimony, Siefert admitted that he was operating the
southbound train during the early morning of June 30, 2006, when it
crested Keating Summit at about 10 miles per hour, but that the
next thing he was aware of was the conductor repeatedly shouting
his name and realizing that the train was out of control and
speeding down the steep grade at more than 70 miles per hour.

“I’m still trying to figure out what happened,” that testimony
read.

At that hearing, Siefert also admitted the train was not being
operated according to Norfolk Southern rules, which stipulated a 15
mph speed in the area and that the subsequent derailment was a
result of that failure to follow procedure.

Asked at the railroad hearing if he had fallen asleep, he
replied “I don’t think so,” and that his eyes were open but Steve
Rogers, the conductor, “kept yelling my name.”

Rather than “dumping the train” or engaging the emergency
braking devices, he decide the “ride it out,” something that had
been done with a supervisor and other railroad officials on board
when he did his training run on that piece of track in 2000, he
said.

After the hearing, Siefert said that a sudden application of the
brakes would have caused the rear of the train to overtake the
front and that he made a conscious decision to try to ride it
out.

The same railroad official who was now accusing him of causing
the wreck was on the train during Siefert’s training run, the
engineer said, and made the same decision.

The only difference and “The reason we’re here now is that the
train derailed.”

A similar statement was in the testimony presented in court, and
McKean County District Attorney John Pavlock countered it by saying
“Just because you’ve done something before, doesn’t mean it is
right to do it again.”

Defense Attorney Paul Maliza of Emporium told the court that the
conductors also had the authority and means to activate the brakes
and asked why he was not charged – “Two people were operating that
train; the conductor had equal responsibility.”

Pavlock replied that the investigation is continuing and further
charges are possible.

Most of the hearing consisted of Stuckey on the stand entering
into evidence various testimony and conclusions of a dismissal
hearing and of a hearing by the Federal Railroad Agency, as well as
results of toxicology tests done after the wreck when Siefert was
taken to Olean (N.Y.) General Hospital. Stuckey affirmed that those
involved in the testing and the hearings would be available to
testify at a trial and that the blood and urine samples were
preserved and available.

While the samples showed some evidence of morphine, it was
unclear whether Siefert had taken some prescription drug containing
the substance or whether the positive sample was the result of
illegal drugs.

Maliza argued that all the prosecution had was a statement by a
doctor that the drugs “may likely have been a contributing factor,”
in how Siefert acted or reacted.

He also asked why Siefert’s license to operate a train had not
been revoked, to which Pavlock replied that any federal action was
separate from what the state criminal charges.

Even without the drug tests, “The speed (of the train) itself is
enough (to substantiate) the charges.”

The only other witness to testify was Pennsylvania Waterways
Conservation Officer Robert Mader, who described the scene when he
arrived several hours after the crash.

Mader testified that the stream into which sodium hydroxide
poured from four derailed tankers was a Class A Trout Stream and
said that all aquatic life in the stream had been destroyed, with
fish and other organisms affected as far as 30 miles farther down
into the Sinnemahoning River. He showed pictures of the scene and
the stream with the brown sodium hydroxide in it.

Siefert’s testimony at his dismissal and FRA hearing said
nothing about possible drug use, but the engineer did tell those
boards that he had been under great stress, with his life “pretty
well messed up” because his wife of 23 years had left him, without
apparent cause.

Siefert said he had gone down that hill 150-200 times before
last year’s derailment.