Back on April 27th the CZ hit a car in northern Nevada. Local sheriff believes this was suicide by train.
Incident happened at 2:30 AM. A little earlier or later the Darwin enforcer would have been a freight.
Chuck
Meteor $98/01 hit vehicle going around gates near Jacksonville. Unbelievable that no one killed.
http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2015-06-02/story/amtrak-train-shears-car-half-jacksonville-crash-police-say-driver-went
Also report of # 280 killing someone but no details.
Motorcyclist tried to beat Sounder train but lucky was hit by lowering gate knocking him off cycle and saving life . Cycle not so lucky.
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Police-Very-lucky-motorcyclist-OK-after-riding-into-path-of-train-306142941.html
More bad luck - Amtrak #22 collides with truck driver in Wilmington, IL:
http://abc7chicago.com/news/amtrak-train-collides-with-truck-near-wilmington/768798/
This is just south of the UP Global IV intermodal yard on the Joliet sub.
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
Another link to 22 collision.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/amtrak-crash-306324891.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_CHBrand
http://abcnews.go.com/US/amtrak-train-collides-truck-illinois/story?id=31564976
Proposed headline: Train Bites Into 35 Tons of Bacon
Tom
Amtrak 98 got a Lincoln Navigator yesterday in Satsuma, FL. Driver drove around the lowered gates & was seriously injured.
ACY Amtrak 98 got a Lincoln Navigator yesterday in Satsuma, FL. Driver drove around the lowered gates & was seriously injured. Tom
San Joaquin line got another van 1 kiled.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/06/10/3673508_1-killed-after-train-hits-car.html?rh=1
Removal of passengers from the train implies significant damage to track and/or equipment. Anybody have any more details?
Quite a few Amtrak train-vehicle collisions have been noted during the short, three-month life of this thread. Putting to one side the damages/injuries to vehicles and their passengers, isn't it clear that the trains are also at risk? Isn't it obvious that the only solution is level crossing reduction (separated, upgraded or eliminated) on lines where passenger train operate?
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
This thread is focused on Amtrak, but trust me, just as many vehicles are being hit by freight trains. Nothing will stop it but grade separation. People are too stupid to be allowed to drive across train tracks.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Vet This thread is focused on Amtrak, but trust me, just as many vehicles are being hit by freight trains. Nothing will stop it but grade separation. People are too stupid to be allowed to drive across train tracks.
And they don't know how to park next to the tracks either - One of our trains took out 1/2 dozen at 'watering hole'.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The problem with reduction and elimination of grade crossings is obvious: There's not the money to pay for them. Every one is a struggle.
One more example, if it were needed, of how infrastructure in this country is starved in favor of spending for other priorities.
Yes, grade crossing elimination would be helpful, but some folks are foolish enough to get hit by trains whether there's a designated crossing or not. They walk. They run, often with ear buds. They lie down in the gauge to take a nap. They make movies. They make exercise videos. They drive bicycles, cars, and trucks, often where there's no road. They have no clue. I have no idea what will stop them. Maybe more grade crossings will help, but with or without the crossing closures, I see no end to this idiocy.
dakotafredThere's not the money to pay for them. Every one is a struggle. One more example, if it were needed, of how infrastructure in this country is starved in favor of spending for other priorities.
Ending money-hole, pointless 'adventures' such as Iraq might be a start, as its total costs may reach $4-5 trillion. A fraction of that spent on infrastructure here could do far more for our security than foreign ops.
ACY's is a better answer than mine. Personally, I wouldn't favor spending the money it would take for all-separated grade crossings even if we had it. There are better uses, for infrastructure that would be an actual investment in the future.
But it's all academic, because we would rather spend the money on ourselves -- entitlements all around, for the middle class and wealthy, too! -- and borrow more when that's gone. On top of bearing the cost of being the world's policeman.
Inadequate highways, bridges, railroads and airports are only the beginning of it. You can kind of ease into that kind of Third World-ism, like the frog in the pot of heating water. But wait until failure of our 200-year-old big-city water and sewer systems start becoming a monthly event. There won't be a check that will cover the social dislocations and upheavals.
The answers are not difficult. Stop acting as the world's policeman. It makes us less secure and costs trillions (Iraq alone =$4-6 trillion over time). End the subsidies to carbon producers. The IMF estimates the world total for 2015 will be $5.3 trillion. Focus on broad infrastructure, the essential foundation for future economic strength. But the political will is lacking
Well if you want to see something really strange grade crossing wise. This is the former Milwaukee Road Branch to Monroe, WI. Now WSOR in combination with the state has done a good job pulling the track up from the weeds and increasing weight limits and speed. During Milwaukees time this line could only have a lightweight GP9 on it and then it was crawling 10 mph through the weeds.
Anyways look at the difference in crossing signals in the first three minutes. Focus in on the crossing signals at 1:25 in the below clip. Note the heavy duty tubular steel that blocks the entire roadway. This is a line that might see 2-3 trains a day MAX, slow freights with no Amtrak trains. Now contrast that Heavy Duty Crossing with some of the crossings that Amtrak traverses at a much higher speed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnzjJQP7s38
schlimm The answers are not difficult. Stop acting as the world's policeman. It makes us less secure and costs trillions (Iraq alone =$4-6 trillion over time). End the subsidies to carbon producers. The IMF estimates the world total for 2015 will be $5.3 trillion. Focus on broad infrastructure, the essential foundation for future economic strength. But the political will is lacking
OK so your barking up the wrong tree here on this issue. It is not lack of money or political will, at least not in Wisconsin and I would venture to bet that is the case across the country. It's lack of a legal entity taking responsibility for specific crossing maintenence (and no it does not default to the rail line). It depends on when the crossing was constructed and who constructed it.
A long time ago I was a school bus driver for a Summer in Wisconsin and tried to get some C&NW crossbucks upgraded to gates and flashers. Guess what? Problem is not money, problem is trying to get a legal entity to take ownership of the RR Crossing itself. Railroad said it was a County issue as the County owned the road according to them. County said the road was recently privately owned and constructed by a developer and they were not sure who was in charge of the crossing. This BS is happening in just about every state in the Union.
This country has a railroad crossing improvement program in most states and most notably in Wisconsin and it has never run out of money and it is still flush with money in Wisconsin at least BUT there are still crossbucks at various RR Crossings that Amtrak zooms across. The issue is MORE who wants to take ownership for the crossing and what legal entity to approach. Fix that problem and you will go a long ways to fixing grade crossings across the country.
Having said that check out the grade crossing quality variance in this WSOR video on the line to Monroe, WI which might see on a lucky day maybe 2-3 trains a day. Look at the Heavy Duty Crossing at time mark 1:25. Notice it is a fairly recent boulevard and there is probably no question who owns maintenence of the RR crossing. Note the other two crossings before it. Two lane roads, the one with flashers........jurisdiction over the crossing is probably clear. The one with crossbucks it is probably a private road that was converted to public use and no agreement yet on who maintains the crossing (and no it does not default to the RR). So, in my opinion that right there is the main issue. You can see it vividly in the video below. County Highways can apply for state funds to upgrade the railroad crossings BUT do they want to assume the liability and do they own the road outright? Was the road constructed by the County or a private developer?
Notice on the boulevard which I would guess is a State Highway.....there is no question about protection of the railroad tracks.
FWIW: When I was a kid this Milwaukee Branch could not rate more than a GP9 or MP15AC and then it would crawl along all the way through the weeds into Monroe, WI and not exceed more than 10-20 mph and most of the line was crossbucks with some flashers in between. So WSOR has done a good job with state money upgrading the line.
Another example of this issue. Read down through these guidlines and you can infer that in the past in Wisconsin, some roadway projects would specifically exclude railroad crossings. Again in my opinion, the entity doing the road project does not want to accept railroad crossing maintenece for the road in perpetuity or get sued if there is a grade crossing accident. They want the railroad to do it all and accept all liability.
http://www.co.portage.wi.us/planningzoning/7%20-%20Rail%20Coordination%20Local%20Program.pdf
schlimm The answers are not difficult. Stop acting as the world's policeman. It makes us less secure and costs trillions (Iraq alone =$4-6 trillion over time). End the subsidies to carbon producers.
The answers are not difficult. Stop acting as the world's policeman. It makes us less secure and costs trillions (Iraq alone =$4-6 trillion over time). End the subsidies to carbon producers.
dakotafredYes, the Middle East has been expensive. But it needn't have been a loss, until the current administration.
Well off topic but....
I am a little more rosy about the world than schlimm is and I would say it is hard to say that the Middle East is a loss yet. I actually see a silver lining in a maniac group running around cutting peoples heads off. Once Arabs have their own mini holocaust they will be more likely to think twice before sponsoring that type of behavior in a third country. We might even see a boost in secularism finally in which the pace of societal change in the ME can be acclerated somewhat. If that happens and is the outcome......it would be worth $10 Trillion to me as a taxpayer.
Think of the increased trade and exports alone from this country to all those ME countries that were happy to live in the stone age with a Dictator. Now they will be able to import our Railroad Technology finally.
BTW, Iraq was doing pretty well before we pulled out. They had a webco satellite system in place and Iraqi railway trains were being dispatched from Cedar Rapids, IA at one point. They bought some second hand Czech locomotives and had contracts out for new Passenger Equipment and were going to expand both Passenger and Freight Service...........not sure what happened to all that.
Our Media was whining a lot about us missing out on the first round of bidding by the Oil Companies and it turns out they were being coy and waiting for those contracts to fall apart and bid at lower prices after they did. We also have done pretty decently with increasing our civilian exports to Iraq, in my humble opinion.....considering the country is still largely at war.
Are we more secure now than before we invaded Iraq? No. We destabilized the region.
Was spending $4-6 trillion a wise investment? Could it have been spent better here or saved?
Most Americans say No and Yes.
schlimm Are we more secure now than before we invaded Iraq? No. We destabilized the region. Was spending $4-6 trillion a wise investment? Could it have been spent better here or saved? Most Americans say No and Yes.
Not really. We did not destabilize the region, it was unstable long before the 1970's. Additionally, we were not alone in wanting to see Mosedeq eliminated from Iran believe it or not the current regime in Iran (despite it's spin these days) wanted him gone as well. Read some of Kholmenis comments on that episode before it transpired and that he was leading a fundamentalist Islamic movement waaaayyyyyy back then. I believe either the King or one of the major Princes of Saudi Arabia was shot dead in 1975 because he opened the first TV station which went against the Islamic rules of display of graven images. Zoom forward to now and we have pictures of Bin Laden not only on TV but watching it as well..........THAT IS CHANGE. The timeline for change in the ME is a lot slower than it is in the United States but they are indeed changing. Sending close to 200,000 U.S. Troops into a country of what? 15-20 million is going to produce change as well......give it time. Foreign Policy is not like a light switch that can be flicked on for instant results. Sometimes there are setbacks, sometimes you deal with the wrong people. Ask the Haganah in Isreal up until 1938 they dealt directly with Adolph Eichman and even sat down and had tea with him to get more Jews to Palestine......Ooops, wrong guy. So we are not the only country having some setbacks here and there either.
Opinion polls are about immediate gratification not long-term foreign policy goals.
Differences in opinion are what makes a horse race and politics. Ignoring public opinion is the stuff of dictators and arrogant foolishness. The broad public is more correct than the advisors who thought Iraq would be a quick success. The basic premise was false. Even Rumsfeld acknowledges that.
I'm going to ignore the political stuff but ask a question similar to what I said on CNN 15 years ago. What if we spent the $ required for PTC to save an average of around 5 fatalaties a year and spent it on grade crossing improvements where over 400 lives are lost each year?
Buslist I'm going to ignore the political stuff but ask a question similar to what I said on CNN 15 years ago. What if we spent the $ required for PTC to save an average of around 5 fatalaties a year and spent it on grade crossing improvements where over 400 lives are lost each year?
When I was in 'Technology' a couple of decades ago, all the 'techies' wanted to have their names associated with 'new development' - no matter how big a POS that new development was, rather than actually get assigned to a group that was assigned to making the last 'new development' that was a POS to actually work and do something for the company, which was viewed at drudgrey.
In the same vein PTC is 'new development', and crossing improvements and a host of other initiatives that are actually more productive are drudgery.
Well as I said earlier I think you still have issues at below the State level with jurisdictional disputes on who owns the particular grade crossing in question and whom is responsible for maintaining it. Across the country I think we need to settle that first. Then make all counties and townships aware there is a grade crossing improvement program that in most cases will cost them almost nothing to get a crossings warning devices upgraded.
In majority of the cases the issue is NOT lack of money.
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