Hazmat derailment near Philadelphia

[ngauger]

OK - all you railroaders:


Am I hearing this correctly???????

• the bridge controls the red signals at each approach to the bridge
  
• the signal registers green when the bridge is successfully closed and latched
  
• the creek is tidal water allowing the possibility of debris to potentially float into and foul the bridge closing
  
• the signal was red indicating the possibility of a "not" completely closed bridge
  
• The signal would not "clear" to green
  
• The engineer contacted dispatch who can not control the signal and dispatch gave the engineer the "go ahead" to go across the bridge

This raises the question of "Common sense"... if the signal would not clear, wouldn't that alone say that something was fundamentally wrong with the closing???

Could the Dispatcher be held responsible along with the Engineer for the derailment???