With 99% of rail/vehicle or rail/pedestrian accidents, what's to "investigate"? Pick up the relevant pieces, make sure the track is clear and the equipment sound, and let the train proceed. Long delays to hundreds and sometimes (on a busy corridor) thousands of rail passengers while a lot of amateurs go through the motions is inexcusable.
Don't know what the solution might be. If railroads don't care enough about the inconvenience to their passengers to seek a legislative remedy, shouldn't the frequent delays to freight and freight crews from the same causes do the trick?
blue streak 1The Capitol corridor experienced a trespasser incident Tuesday. For whatever reason the incident investigation did not follow protocol. It resulted in a very lenghtly delay for all train traffic. Capitol corridor issued letter of appoogy and noted that they are investigating the excessive delay. IMO this whole investigation protocol needs revising not only RRs but highways as well ! We had I-185 closed a few weeks ago for ~11+ hours for an accident. From David B. Kutrosky Managing Director of the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority To those passengers who were affected directly or indirectly by the delays yesterday afternoon, we’d like to apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. Yesterday, on November 1, Train 532 fatally struck a trespasser west of the Richmond station, at the Cutting Blvd. grade crossing. The ensuing investigation shut down both mainline tracks of the railroad for 4.5 hours. Cutting Blvd. was also closed. Capitol Corridor and other passenger trains, as well as freight trains, could not pass on either side of the incident for hours, due to the investigation. Many Capitol Corridor passengers were caught in this mess and were unable to get to their destination station for quite some time. I want to extend my apologies to each of you who may have been impacted by yesterday’s events. Unfortunately, the protocol and investigation procedures for such trespasser/pedestrian/crossing incidents were not followed for some reason(s), which we are currently investigating. Normally, when a trespasser fatality occurs, it takes approximately 1-2 hours before trains can start moving again. However, in yesterday’s incident, the deviation from protocol led to a prolonged track closure that resulted in delays double the typical length of time. Without a doubt, trespasser-related incidents wreak havoc on your travel plans and directly impact the lives of our train crews. Believe me, we are doing a ‘lessons learned’ session to see how we can improve our communications with the local authorities and with our passengers to limit the length of delays after such incidents like yesterday’s. Please accept my apologies for the disruption in service yesterday. This afternoon (November 2, 2016), passengers will each receive a $3.00 Café Car coupon, as well as free snack packs. Once again, please accept our apologies. We do appreciate your patronage, and you can always contact us at www.capitolcorridor.org.
IMO this whole investigation protocol needs revising not only RRs but highways as well ! We had I-185 closed a few weeks ago for ~11+ hours for an accident.
To those passengers who were affected directly or indirectly by the delays yesterday afternoon, we’d like to apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
Yesterday, on November 1, Train 532 fatally struck a trespasser west of the Richmond station, at the Cutting Blvd. grade crossing. The ensuing investigation shut down both mainline tracks of the railroad for 4.5 hours. Cutting Blvd. was also closed. Capitol Corridor and other passenger trains, as well as freight trains, could not pass on either side of the incident for hours, due to the investigation. Many Capitol Corridor passengers were caught in this mess and were unable to get to their destination station for quite some time.
I want to extend my apologies to each of you who may have been impacted by yesterday’s events. Unfortunately, the protocol and investigation procedures for such trespasser/pedestrian/crossing incidents were not followed for some reason(s), which we are currently investigating.
Normally, when a trespasser fatality occurs, it takes approximately 1-2 hours before trains can start moving again. However, in yesterday’s incident, the deviation from protocol led to a prolonged track closure that resulted in delays double the typical length of time.
Without a doubt, trespasser-related incidents wreak havoc on your travel plans and directly impact the lives of our train crews.
Believe me, we are doing a ‘lessons learned’ session to see how we can improve our communications with the local authorities and with our passengers to limit the length of delays after such incidents like yesterday’s.
Please accept my apologies for the disruption in service yesterday. This afternoon (November 2, 2016), passengers will each receive a $3.00 Café Car coupon, as well as free snack packs.
Once again, please accept our apologies. We do appreciate your patronage, and you can always contact us at www.capitolcorridor.org.
The worst thing ever to happen to routine rail (and other forms of transportation) accident investigation has been the creation and popularity of the TV show CSI and its decendents. Now every person that responds to an incident believes that have to do a CSI type investigation and documentation of the accident scene.
The delays mentioned are not all the unusual and in other cases delays approach 8 or more hours.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The Capitol corridor experienced a trespasser incident Tuesday. For whatever reason the incident investigation did not follow protocol. It resulted in a very lenghtly delay for all train traffic. Capitol corridor issued letter of appoogy and noted that they are investigating the excessive delay.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.