Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
As a professional locomotive engineer for the Canadian National, I have viewed this video numerous times. It is frightening to say the least. The first set of signals shown appear to be either a yellow over yellow or yellow over green ("approach diverging") which would give the engineer significant advance notice that he is lined for a diverging route (which he clearly was). The next signal was clearly a red over green ("diverging clear") which indicated that he could run through the turnout at the prescribed speed and proceed on through the siding at prescribed speed and out the other end without stopping. The signal dropped in his face when the train he was meeting ran the red absolute and fouled his track. There was nothing that the train crew could do other than dynamite it and jump out the back door (about a 14 foot drop to the ground from a Dash 9-44-CW). Going out the front door of a safety cab would be too time consuming as you have to open an inner door and then the heavy outer door. This is hard to do even casually let alone in an emergency! The dispatcher had absolutely no time to give warning (and , I might add, these routes can be lined up way in advance, so the dispatcher probably wasn't even paying too close attention to it.), and the opposing train may have given warning as they are supposed to in the event an absolute signal is over run, but I don't think they had the time. About all anyone could have done was plug it and jump! Both crews were most fortunate to have survived. Most accidents like this are usually fatal to everyone involved.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag