Metra vs Multiple Cars

[senshi]

Watching TV just now and the Chicago news reports are showing an accident involving a Metra train and at least 5 cars. (looks to be more to me)

It occured at the Elmwood Park station on the Milwaukee West lines, just south of O'Hare on Grand Ave. At least one car was on fire.

Don't know about injuries but the cars look pretty beat up.

[CSXrules4eva]

I wonder were the five cars filled with really dumb people that descided to beat the train?? I guess the scoot must of been going pretty darn fast to beat up five cars then "set" one on fire.

[Anonymous]

From ABC& TV News Chicago:

Metra train strikes multiple cars
November 23, 2005 (Elmwood Park, IL) - There is breaking news in northwest suburban Elmwood Park where a Metra train has struck several vehicles. It happened on Grand near Harlem in that suburb.

At least 10 ambulances have been called to the scene. It is unclear if anyone on board the train was injured but about a dozen vehicles are involved in the crash. This is a long crossing at Grand and Harlem.
It is not clear why so many vehicles were on the tracks at the time.

A Metra spokesman says a train heading from downtown Chicago to Antioch struck several vehicles during the holiday rush hour this afternoon.

Spokesman Patrick Waldron says at least one of the vehicles burst into flames as a result of the accident.

There was no information available regarding injuries.

Waldron says the train probably was carrying several hundred passengers when the collision occurred. It left Chicago's Union Station at 4:25 p.m.

[Randy Stahl]

Do not stop on tracks !!!! Hope fully every one exited their vehicles when they realized why those signs are there.
Randy

[BaltACD]

Flamer must have been a Pinto. :)

[Anonymous]

CNN now reporting 13 injured 1 critical, apparently none injured on train.

LC

[Anonymous]

[:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O][:O]]

Heard about it on the radio, 2 minutes later my dad calls up and says, big train crash. And i went right by it too. It was so crowded though i didnt see anything but a stopped Metra train!!

[CSXrules4eva]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BaltACD

Flamer must have been a Pinto. :)

I really do like your signature picture, that is a prefict example of how the cars that got struck by the scoot look after the accident. lol

Well, my thoughts and prayers go out to the people involved and the families of people that were hurt, if their are any. God Bless

Some people never learn. under no curcumstances do you pull your car on the tracks in a traffic jam, waiting for a red light or anything. I think what happened here involved one car pulling up on the tracks and stoping, then others followed his/her example, imagine that, I see it all the time. In the end they all payed for their actions.

[Anonymous]

Live feed from Channel 5 on their site shows interview with eyewitness in one of the cars. He said that cars were going around the gates and that all warning devices were operating for "about a minute " before the train arrived at the crossing. From his description it sounds like there was a big holiday traffic jam at that location and people realized too late that they were on the tracks and couldn't get off due to the crush of traffic ahead and behind them. A good reason to stop clear IMMEDIATELY when the warning devices activate. A 60 mph commuter train won't stop on a dime...

LC

[jeaton]

The accident ocured east of the junction of the Metra Milwaukee West and the CN line that Metra uses for the service to Antioch. The Metra-Milwaukee-CP crosses Harlem at an angle making it a rather long street crossing. Harlem is a major street in that area and at any one point there would be a substantial number of cars going over the crossing. Fullerton Avenue is parallel and adjacent to the tracks at the crossing and some of the cars involved may have been on that street.

Eye witnesses said the gates did not go down. Given the number car involved, I buy that. This certainly wasn't a case of some dummy trying to beat the train

Search "Metra" on Google news for more updates.

Jay

PS But then maybe I am wrong. I still think malfunctioning gates may have been involved. It is not like this is a rarely used stretch of track. In addition to Metra's trains, CP also has freight traffic.

[mloik]

Just watched some of the Ch 5 live feed on-line. Pretty sad coverage: "drivers in cars on tracks are the victims, and the trains are at fault." They seem to be convinced that the signals were not working, instead of the possibility that fools may have gone around gates in a ru***o get home before a major holiday.

Frustrating.

[rrnut282]

Does Metra have video cameras in the cabs?

[Modelcar]

....Late word had the dozen hurt and at least one critical.....Haven't heard one word of where the train is...In general, they always hold a train that's involved in an accident but didn't see this one at all....Of course it must have stayed on the tracks..{ that's a wonder after hitting that many vehicles}....and maybe it was just beyond camera range.

[Anonymous]

This RR crossing is a nasty one! Sets at about a 10 to 15 degree angle. The crossing itself is over 100ft long! That means that to look both directions you must look forward and backwards over your shoulder. At the same time you must pay attention to traffic around you. Add to this a traffic signal at a road intersection not far from the crossing. Mighty difficult situation at night. Let's pray that the victims of this tragedy(road and rail) make it through and that something is done to make this crossing a safer one.

[Anonymous]

And so it starts, Dumb Commuters rushing to get home to get kids and then ru***o the airport for the extended holiday weekend.

[senshi]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mloik

Just watched some of the Ch 5 live feed on-line. Pretty sad coverage: "drivers in cars on tracks are the victims, and the trains are at fault." They seem to be convinced that the signals were not working, instead of the possibility that fools may have gone around gates in a ru***o get home before a major holiday.

Frustrating.

With the gates working or not you shouldn't be stopped on the tracks. Unfortunatly a lot of people don't heed that warning.

[beaulieu]

Word that I have heard is that 4 cars were hit by the train but that these cars were then thrown into other cars. So some of the victims were not in cars on the tracks.

[CShaveRR]

Jay, I don't buy the possibility of the gates malfunctioning or not functioning. There were a number of witnesses who said that the gates did go down.

I strongly suspect that heavier-than-normal traffic was backed up from the traffic signal to the west of the crossing. No, I don't know how many blocks away this signal is, and it doesn't matter. There were a bunch of people who ignored the warning sign here, which says "Long Crossing--Do Not Stop On Tracks". The shots of the scene seem to indicate that all of the cars involved had been going westbound. If the crossing is so long that people can't see their way to safety, it should be a candidate for separation.

And right away, the news coverage starts going toward what the engineer may have done wrong, and how fast he should have been going. That is disgusting--the engineer was more helpless than the drivers of the cars on the crossing (they should have been able to help themselves by heeding the warning on that big overhead sign!).

(Quentin, a couple of shots panned further down the track and showed the stopped train. A second train also was there, moved in to pick up the passengers from the first one. The distance of the train from the crossing was not all that great--leads me to believe that the brakes had been applied well before the time of impact.)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR



And right away, the news coverage starts going toward what the engineer may have done wrong, and how fast he should have been going. That is disgusting--the engineer was more helpless than the drivers of the cars on the crossing (they should have been able to help themselves by heeding the warning on that big overhead sign!).

One reporter even mentioned something about how positive train control could have helped in this situation and how the engineer may have run a stop signal! I'm thinking it was the reporter who's signals were a bit crossed.

[Anonymous]

As of 7:30pm trains started moving at 10mph through the scene.

[Chris_S68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by R.W. King

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR



And right away, the news coverage starts going toward what the engineer may have done wrong, and how fast he should have been going. That is disgusting--the engineer was more helpless than the drivers of the cars on the crossing (they should have been able to help themselves by heeding the warning on that big overhead sign!).

One reporter even mentioned something about how positive train control could have helped in this situation and how the engineer may have run a stop signal! I'm thinking it was the reporter who's signals were a bit crossed.

The problem with reporters speaking on things they know nothing about, is that people end up believing their tripe. All the safety equipment in the world cannot guard against ignorance.

[eastside]

The engineer must have slowed the train considerably by the time of the collision because no one was killed immediately. I've never heard of a train taking out so many cars in one blow.

[Green Bay Paddlers]

LOL - Logged on just to check the "railroad experts" from all around the country give their in-depth analysis of this wreck based on no actual data.

Come on guys. Let the injured heal and the real pro's investigate the loss. I feel terrible for the engineer as well as those who were injured.

Shelve the negative comments for now...

[Anonymous]

Best I could ever do was 4 with one lick. I hit one, it hit two more and one of those hit the fourth. Only going 25 MPH with a freight train; traffic backed up over a crossing. Nobody hurt.

Just watch. By the time the media and the *** lawyers get done with this, it'll all be Metra's fault and will cost them gazillions.

Old Timer

[arbfbe]

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER STOP ON A RAILROAD CROSSING. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER! If you cannot clear the crossing, even if the gates are up and no train is in sight do not foul the crossing unless you can IMMEDIATELY clear the tracks. If all four of the cars who were hit by the train had complied with that advice NONE of this would have happened and NO ONE would have been injured. Every train operating person on this forum knows of what I speak. Tell your family and tell your friends. It may save lives someday.

[greyhounds]

I've been over that crossing many, many times. Both in automobiles and on the trains. The ex-wife used to go nuts when we got stopped there, and it bothered her even more that I was enjoying watching the train go by.

I don't know what happened, but I very much doubt a signal failure - although, as I said, I don't know what happened. That crossing is incredibly busy with trains, fast trains. I don't know what would cause the system to fail between trains.

[jeaton]

As I look at the further reports, it looks like a traffic backup from the intersection the Harlem and Grand left cars that entered the crossing stuck when the gates came down. Just saw a shot on TV after the accident with the gates down and lights flashing so I have to take back my guess of malfunctioning gates. My bad.

From Mapquest maps it looks as if it is about 200 feet from the crossing to the intersection. If you have about 15 cars in the clear between the tracks and the intersection, it seems to me that even if the street traffic lights are coordinated with the RR crossing protection there still may not be enough time for the last cars in the backup to get moving off the track.

And people don't understand the big yellow sign that says "Do not stop on the tracks"

Like it or not, it is a dangerous situation.

Jay

[Dutchrailnut]

Don't be surprised if on Monday tapes surface from the big buildings near the crossing. Most big buildings these days have security camera's and you be surprised ho much info apears a few days after something like this.
Is this crossing in a Whistle ban area ???
If crossings fail, they fail in safe mode, that is gates are down and lights keep flashing till power is dead.
Crossings can not fail in gates up mode unless no circuit is made by entire train .

[edbenton]

what needs to be done is all crossing with commuter trains need to have a interlock where if a train is coming the traffic light goes green to mabye clear the crossing if possible I saw the tape of the aftermath and it was the same as the scholl bus crossing one a few years ago they traffic back up to the point were they were trapped on the crossing. Some people will never learn NEVER STOP ON THE TRACKS!!

[rrnut282]

"Positive Train Control would have prevented this accident", what a hoot. When they develop Positive Automobile Control, let's talk safety improvement.

arbfbe
most, not all, traffic signals in close proximity to rail crossings are interconnected so that the traffic signal will go green for the street being crossed before the gates are activated. Even with this system in place, if traffic is heavy, and too many people went through on the red "because I should have made it anyway" that gives the drivers on the other street (with the crossing) no place to go when the gates come down.