ACYBaltACD: Not sure what you meant by your response. I was just pointing out the irony. If you took offense, none was intended & I apologize. But we were early on the northbound trip too. And early arriving back at Sanford yesterday morning and back to Lorton this morning. Tom
No offense - just stating facts!
Despite what many may think - running Amtrak without delay is a priority on CSX.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Not said anywhere in here is the fact it may be the coroner, not the police or state agency that has final release on the train. If it's a rural area, that could be an eternity. (first you have to find the coroner)
mudchicken Not said anywhere in here is the fact it may be the coroner, not the police or state agency that has final release on the train. If it's a rural area, that could be an eternity. (first you have to find the coroner)
Had a incident - DB at the 'worst road crossing in Maryland'. Local police on scene - body in multiple parts - need the Coroner to pronounce the individual deae - 3 hours and the Coroner get on the scene, takes a minute and pronounces the individual dead and leaves (Coroner doesn't remove the body) 5 more hours waiting for the 'body snatchers' to arrive from 3 counties away (outsourcing) to pick up the pieces, and nobody removed the parts of the remains that were attached to the engine. Over 8 hours being shut down on a double track railroad. Fortunately it was a weekend and MARC service did not get disrupted as it would have had the incident happened during the week. Carrier officials and Police were on scene trying to get things moving to no avail.
Firelock76 One thing's for certain: no one, and I mean NO ONE, would put up with traffic on a major highway being totally stopped for two, four, six, eight hours or more for an accident investigation. At the least there'd be some angry letters to the editor of the local paper, at worst a full-blown riot. I realize it's an "apples and oranges" situation, but in an open and shut case of trespassing or grade-crossing foolishness there shouldn't be any reason for a super-long delay. Or maybe getting a rail line open and running again just doesn't have the same urgency as getting a highway open.
One thing's for certain: no one, and I mean NO ONE, would put up with traffic on a major highway being totally stopped for two, four, six, eight hours or more for an accident investigation. At the least there'd be some angry letters to the editor of the local paper, at worst a full-blown riot.
I realize it's an "apples and oranges" situation, but in an open and shut case of trespassing or grade-crossing foolishness there shouldn't be any reason for a super-long delay.
Or maybe getting a rail line open and running again just doesn't have the same urgency as getting a highway open.
Actually that is not quite true, we have closed a major freeway here in Dallas for a lot longer than a few hours in order for Police to complete their investigation and cleanup.
Hate to be a cynic, but wait until some politician or local big shot gets inconvenienced, I guarantee you you'll see a change, fast!
Firelock76 Hate to be a cynic, but wait until some politician or local big shot gets inconvenienced, I guarantee you you'll see a change, fast!
In the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area (includes Northern Virginia), you can't swing a dead cat around without hitting a politician (take your pick, local, state, federal and their combined back office staffs) - and the delays are some of the worst in the country.
Well the general consensus in Texas at least is one of understanding. I know where your comming from and I get irritated when a fire truck blocks three lanes of traffic on a freeway for a one lane accident but generally, I am in the minority.
A train is a different story though and sudden braking on a train can cause more problems than sudden braking in a automobile. I think it prudent that a train would need to be inspected after a sudden stop. I am far more tolerant of an accident related delay on a train than I am in a car. BTW, when I was in the Army I used to load Armored Vehicles and tie them down on flatcars on the German National Railway system (DB). DB would inspect our work to make sure we did a good job but you can picture even with tie down chains what a sudden stop will do to a anchored 13-70 ton Armored Vehicle on a flatcar........it's going to shift no matter how much anchoring you do.
You might ask what my training was to tie down heavy loads on the DB system the next time you use their high speed passenger trains. Welp, absolutely minimal training. I was a 19-20 year old Infantryman at the time. You have to stand back in awe sometimes at the awesome responsibility the U.S. Army allots to the younger men in uniform but it is pretty awesome at times. Again our work was spot inspected by DB rail inspectors but still......think about the consequences of one poorly tied down tank that shifts it's position on a flat car.
Sometime in the 50's, my cousin was coming up from New Orleans on IC and train was over 4 hours late arriving in St. L. The train had hit a car in MS and someone died, so they had to sit there until investigations were finished and then the train proceeded on its way. This was long before buses were sent to remove passengers, they just had to sit and wait it out.
Sunnyland Sometime in the 50's, my cousin was coming up from New Orleans on IC and train was over 4 hours late arriving in St. L. The train had hit a car in MS and someone died, so they had to sit there until investigations were finished and then the train proceeded on its way. This was long before buses were sent to remove passengers, they just had to sit and wait it out.
Normally, busses are only arranged when the train involved in the incident has sustained mechanical damage that won't permit it to continue to destination. If the train is 'just' waiting on the authorities to wrap up their investigation, the passengers stay with the train.
I have been a passenger three times when we have had collisions with people and vehicles. First was in Albuquerque on Train 3, coming into town a drunk minivan driver went around several stopped cars and past the down gates and was shredded under our train. Three fatals. The second was south of Pontiac, IL, where an elderly gentleman plowed into the side of the first coach of train 305. The conducter and I walked the 1/2 mile back to the crossing (neither of us had seen anything but passengers in the first coach reported the collision). Ironically, we could not see anything amiss at the crossing and were actually starting to walk back to the train when I heard moaning, and "Help me!" Looking down in a creek bed was a flattened, overturned blue Dodge pick up, when the sole occupant pinned upside down. I worked with him (ex-EMTs never die, they just get loaded out) while the conductor called EMS and a helicopter flew the man to Peoria. He was not seriously injured amazingly enough. I prayed hard for the guy, I learned later that 10 years ago to the day his son had commmitted suicide in front of a train at the same crossing. Finally, near Red Wing, MN, someone drunk turned off a snowy crossing onto the tracks and we plowed through their car, they bailed at the last moment and were unhurt.
In all cases, a minimum of three hours was required, mostly due to waiting for track/train inspectors to check the condition of damage to track and the train cars. In the fatal case, the coroner had to spend a couple additional hours cleaning body parts from under the train and the crew all requested replacement as well.
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