Did I read it correctly that the truck had been trying to negotiate the turn for 15 MINUTES when “the train showed up”? Whatever became of cell phones? Do engineers, truck drivers, and patrolmen no longer figure out how – and why – they need to use them? Helloooooooooooooo. Calling 911 – get me Amtrak…
@ Jim Cox - You read correctly that the truck had been trying to negotiate the turn for 15 minutes … But as so many others have commented below, the NC State Trooper who was on the scene “to assist the truck prior to the collision” should have had the sense to call the emergency number on the crossing control box (shown in the lower left corner of the picture) to alert CSX of the issue; the dispatcher then could have radio’d the train to warn of the obstruction. The trooper dropped the ball, so this event happened. And F.Y.I., a result of the Metrolink-UP collision out in California in 2008 is that locomotive engineers are prohibited from using cell phones while on duty - they can loose their operating licence if caught. In this instance, someone on the ground should have made the necessary call.
The 2008 California incident makes it clear that the engineer couldn’t be contacting anyone. But surely there must have been others on this scene – passersby with phones? As well as the cop and maybe even the truck driver could have called or yelled for the cop or anybody else to do so. Seems a number of folks may have squandered an opportunity, perhaps never thinking what rolls down those tracks from time to time. Thanks for straightening out the issue a little.