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CSX crude oil train burned in Lynchburg UPDATE 3:51 CDT
Big pile of Not Good. One more of these this year and Congress may well get involved.
Jim Norton…Good comment, But adding a caboose won’t help where a track is washed out. If that’s what happened.
As the song lyrics say:
“when will they ever learn, when will they learn?”
Regarding Mr. Attenhofer’s information: two men riding the head end knew something was wrong maybe as late as the air dumping. A man on the rear has a chance of seeing trouble much quicker. It just seems like common sense would merit human involvement from both ends of the train.
Put a manned caboose on the back of these hazardous trains. There is no way two men in the cab can monitor the entire length of a crude oil train.
FRED is good for the pocket book but not safety.
Latest speculation as to the cause of the derailment was the bank of the James river giving away from an extreme rainstorm just before the derailment.
I saw this on tonight’s news and it did appear that the ground beneath the tracks had either washed out or crumbled. There was a lot of nothing below the tracks.
In the drone video, there are two adjacent CSX tracks next to the river. The third, undamaged, track by itself is part of Norfolk Southern…and rarely used. The building with the green roof is the Depot Grille restaurant. The cars parked near the tracks are most likely from people eating at the Depot, or visiting the “Amazement Square” children’s museum. There isn’t any sort of barrier between the parking lot and the tracks (anyone could walk right over to them). This area is also frequented by joggers and cyclists as it is along the “James River Heritage Trail”, which is a popular “Rail to Trail” destination here in the city. My son goes to school about a mile from the derailment area and we could clearly smell smoke coming from it this afternoon.
This is the best view yet of the derailment. My son took a look at the tracks at the point where the tank cars are in the river through our binoculars and told me that he thought the tracks were “washed out”.
http://www.wset.com/story/25395596/must-watch-train-derailment-drone-video
Local news station WSET.com showed some video of the scene that was shot using a remote control “drone” camera from above. I’m hoping they will make the footage available again because it shows an extremely detailed overview of the accident.
Wow CSX cant catch a break.
Pete,
Maybe CSX could have used a Drone to inspect the tracks ahead of the train? One man,sitting at a desk, controlling a drone could inspect a lot of territory in a short time and find issues like track defects before they lead to derailments.
Its really a bummer to check back seeing additional comments to find what is a system that can’t stop duplicate posts.
What does it take to remove 7 duplicate posts that have nothing to do with the article???
What does it take to remove 7 duplicate posts that have nothing to do with the article???
Thank goodness nobody was hurt. This’ll encourage the pipeline fanatics unfortunately, even though pipelines cannot reasonably be a substitute for oil-by-rail.
On another note: Trains.com - I know there’s a pride thing with rolling your own software, I get it, I’m like that myself, but could you at least look at Disqus.com or Livefyre.com’s LiveComments. They’re not perfect systems, but they’re easy to integrate, the moderation tools work well, and there’s no problem with duplicates or delayed posting. It’ll save you a headache, honestly.
George… While the use of drones shouldn’t be dismissed, I think it would be pretty tough to cover every square foot of track…Unless there were some other issue (like flooding, earthquakes etc) that would suggest and area should be monitored more closely. If the tracks were washed out, then the drone would be pretty useful. But if the rail is broken, it may be harder to detect from above. I could definitely see using them as a security device in an urban yard to deter against trespassers. The general public is full of people who would be up in arms against “big brother” watching anything from the sky, so it might be a tough sell.
CSX representatives are in town… They’re bending over backward to help businesses and residents in the evacuated area recover any monetary losses. The environmental impact won’t be nearly as severe as some would suggest. Our local drinking water isn’t affected at all, and what oil there is in the river will be extremely diluted due to recent rain storms. The accident happened on a flat grading, and it wasn’t a run-away train. I think this will prove to be a “freak” accident and in no way feel that CSX’s movement of crude oil through town should be seen as a safety threat. But that’s just my opinion. I’m sure the environmentalists will have a field day with this issue, as will the politicians who are intent on building more pipelines and adding cameras etc…
I am sorry that my single comment was posted so many times.