Hot off the presses on today’s Acela accident that killed one worker and injured two others:
// grabs toolbox, fixes broken link:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/15586390/detail.html
// heads back to truck to find 16# long handled circuit breaker.
*RATS! [:(][:(][:(] …who blew the 214(c) lookout protection or who was out of their limits? Not good.
(*) expletive deleted
Thanks for fixing the link MC
Sometimes, one questions how reporters managed to get out of grade school. In this case, a witness told the reporter that “The train was going at about 160 mph…” and the paper printed that. Jez! I didn’t know they had improved the NEC quite that much. [soapbox]
That northbound Acela came up through Rhode Island hitting 150 mph (Max speed for the Acela) stated its slowdown to conventional speeds as it approached East Greenwich, Warwick, Cranston and then the Station Stop in Providence. Moving out of the station toward Boston, it must (should) have been under a restricted signal with Crews on the Track, as it passed on a curve under the Charles Street bridge into the former New Haven Railroad Northamption Street Yard (now Providence & Worcester) the track crew was struck, one killed. Where was the Flagman for the crew? Watch this one!
AGAIN TODAY!!!
Stoninghton, CT
Acela 2155 Struck a woman walking her dog on railroad property. She is in the Hospital, the dog, a yellow Lab, is dead.
The headlight a mile away, —will blow by you in 24 seconds !!!
Railroads have changed !!
Were those struck Amtrak or P&W employees?
Two Amtrak and one Sub-Contractor. Sub-Contractors must go through “Right Of Way” safety training.
Up here, just in New England, that makes (by my count) the seven years of Bullet Train service has killed 6 people, one Dog and one Deer. This Amtrak worker in Providence, a passenger that got off a Commuter Train in Massachusetts and stepped in front of an Acela at speed on the next track, 3 killed at one of the few Grade Crossings near New London, CT, and a person on the tracks in East Haven.
Who is to blaim? Not Amtrak. A Bullet Train each way each hour plus Regional Trains and Local Commuter Trains on a 2 track high speed line. How can a person put themselfs in such danger. Stay off railroad property. If near moving trains, stay back 20 feet.
The Providence Journal ran a story today about the Woman in CT. and it seemed to indicate that she was walking the dog along one of the tracks and assumed that she would be facing oncoming traffic and would thus be able to step out of the way (I’m guessing she assumed that the NEC is operated directionally like a public street). Sadly for her and the dog she was very mistaken. None of the media report I’ve seen have advised people how they can avoid being struck by a train i.e KEEP OFF THE RIGHT OF WAY!
A Double Track Main Line!
Concrete Ties!
Welded Rail!
A 25,000 volt Catenary over your head!
WALK YOUR DOG???
Well yeah, it’s not like a train would actually come and hit you, the railroads are dying, right? It’s perfectly OK to walk your dog on private property, just ignore those “high voltage” and “no trespassing” signs, they never mean it, right?
[banghead]
The fatality was a contractor, a former Amtrak Engineering Department official employed by a consulting engineering firm engaged to Amtrak to inspect cracked concrete ties. The two injured personnel were Amtrak employees, including a flagman.
I do not know why this tragedy was not preventable.
RWM
ALL ACCIDENTS ARE PREVITABLE…
Of course we all know this was the trains fault.
Perhaps the NEC’s top speed in miles per hour should be limited to the average IQ of people who stroll along an active rail line: Of course, they’d have to haul the “Hooterville Cannonball” out of mothballs! [banghead]