WASHINGTON -- A deadly freight train crash in Ohio prompted federalregulators Tuesday to again recommend that locomotive cabs be outfitted with audio recorders, a wire service reports.

The National Transportation Safety Board said rules governing train recorders would be similar to those that cover aircraft cockpit voice recorders.

Information would be used solely by accident investigators, who only could release a written transcript of cab conversations to the public.

"There have been a number of accidents where we have not been able to, for one reason or another, talk to the crew and get information on how the train was operated," senior NTSB rail investigator Bob Chipkevich told a safety board hearing.

"We're currently investigating some accidents where that situation exists and that we really need the information to really understand what happened," Chipkevich said.

The safety board recommendation was prompted by the January 1999 crash of three freight trains operated by Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail) in Bryan, Ohio, that killed two people and caused an estimated $5.3 million in damage. Among the dead was BLE Member Roger H. Bell, who belonged to BLE Division 457 (Toledo, Ohio).

A mail train traveling westbound at 56 mph, near maximum speed, slammed into the rear of a much slower moving freight train at night and in heavy fog.

Three locomotives and 13 cars of the mail train and the last three cars of the other train derailed into the path of a third train traveling in the opposite direction on the opposite track. Eighteen cars of the third train jumped the tracks.

The engineer and conductor of the mail train were killed, while no one else on either of the other two trains were hurt, investigators said.

The safety board, in a declaration of probable cause, concluded the crew of the mail train failed to comply with signals that limited movement on the tracks.

Safety board investigators said a cab voice recorder could have helped determine why the crew, which was very experienced, ran through a signal warning of another train ahead, and another signal instructing the mail train to stop and proceed.

"Had the mail train been equipped with a locomotive cab audio recorder, the crew communications may have provided valuable clues," the board said in its finding.

Safety board investigators concluded the crew probably did not see the signals, which were working properly, because of thick fog.

A 1997 safety board recommendation for locomotive cab recorders was not accepted by the Federal Railroad Administration. Railroad regulators said train noise would make recorders impractical, safety board investigators said.

Conrail is jointly owned by CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.