Yesterday while watching The Weather Channel in a period of potentially sever weather for our area here in South Central Kansas. The person delivering the weather mentioned that [paraphrased] “… some of the railroads were actually paying attention to to reports of potentially severe weather conditions” Nothing specific but more of a generalized pronouncement.(?)
At the time yesterday was a particularly nasty severe cell to the North of the Wichita area and Newton, Ks. There was a solid dry line parallel to I-35 and just to the West. The kinds of conditions that can produce tornadoes and straight-line wind conditions.
In May 2007, an EF-5 Tornado wiped out about 95% of Greensburg,Ks. It was stated in some accounts that the UPRR which runs through Greensburg had stopped their trains and thus avoided large derailment problems with whole trains being blown over(?)
June 21,2011 at Blair, Ne. there was film of a BNSF Train caught and being blown off the rails by a tornado there. I wonder if they knew ( Their Central Dispatch is in Ft. Worth, Tx) that there were tornado warnings in the Blair area?
I just wonder if the railroads have access to their own weather reports or do they rely on Local weather providers on radio and TV.
Are train crews authorized to take any kind of weather related emergency actions to protect their train from a Tornado or sever local weather conditions?
Would that signal be "Diverging ‘duck and cover’ "?
CN has “Rule X” for weather situations. It covers high winds in excess of 60 mph, Tornado Warnings, and Flash Flood Warnings. IIRC the rule states basically that if local conditions aren’t as severe as indicated trains may operate at normal speed. However, if circustances warrant the train can operate (at the crew’s discretion) prepared to stop short of obstructions. I have seen trains do a full service application to stop upon hearing a Rule X for a tornado warning ahead of their position.
This was taken just after a Rule X was issued for tornados (yes, multiple) near Medina Jct. Taken in Neenah, WI.
Of course they do…and always have. A combination of the jet age and emergence of private weather forecastng companies like Accuweather (not the first, but most notable of the modern time agencies) seemed to make us all aware of weather not just in our backyard but also all across the country. There were private weather services…Travlers (which somehow became the cornerstone of Accuweather?) was one most publicly seen but airlines and farm coops used private weather services for years. Then there was Aunt Millie with her corns and Uncle Jake and his bursitus…
When a thunderstorm or tornado warning is issued, the dispatcher will contact trains in the area and inform them to abide by rule X. Most radios also include the NOAA weather radio to monitor for warnings and extreme temperatures. Tourist railroads are especially vulnerable with trains full of passengers in old and light equipment. Our procedure is go get out of the open and bring passengers into streamlined cars if needed.
I check the weather radio often and ask some of the passengers to check the weather radar on their iPhones if it looks like the severe weather is approaching.
Our issue is less the severe weather itself (tornados occur in NY, but not often) than the aftermath.
Our biggest concern is trees down across the tracks, since pretty much our entire route is lined by trees. Wind is the primary culprit there, although late in our season heavy, wet snow can cause problems, too.
A secondary concern, if we get heavy rains, is washouts - often due to plugged culverts.
“Yes” is the answer to most of your questions. There’ve been a couple threads on here over the past few years about that in the context of specific incidents, such as about 2 years ago when a rear-facing cab camera in a UP train caught a video of the train derailing due to a tornado - in Iowa, Kansas, or Oklahoma ? - and then a tank car came sliding into that unit. Also about a year ago a CN train in Wisconsin or Illinois went into a flooded area and derailed and either some haz-mat was spilled or something caught fire, etc. Do the “Search our Community” over on the right with the appropriate words and you should find those threads, among others.
Paul North.
P.S. - Such as these examples (just as ‘for instance’, and not a complete list):
All of the Class 1’s and Amtrak have commercial service contracts with weather forecasters/meteorologists that have direct feeds to the operating and dispatching centers. Those people are paid not just to forecast (and be just another bad guess along with the dispatchers[:-,]), but also look for and locate weather crisis’ that directly affect the railroads. ATSF had commercial feeds into its ROC’s as early as 1988. These folks also monitor earthquake activity. Some of the Regionals/Cls 2’s and shortline holding companies with central dispatching have this as well.
The BNSF and UP systems can easily convert warning areas into milepost and subdivision and ETA of a storm. Union Pacific’s GIS system (best in the industry by far), can do gaudy things like identify flood prone bridges and other local risk factors.
Just for clarification, the tornado video was from far northern Illinois, on the Harvard sub. The tornado crossed the tracks just northwest of Lawrence.
Carl, if you go to the link below, you will see arial photos of the damaged farm you mentioned in the post from 2009.
Also in the NOAA report, there is also a picture (but not a very good one) of some of the derailed cars. There are also some other damage photos. And at the bottom of the page, there is a text report, which describes in more detail what happened, including the hazmat car that derailed causing an evacuation of Lawrence.
I have been reading recently some DOT Internet postings referencing “Intelligent Systems”, systems primarily used to locate trains by location in a rail system. I suspected that there were policies and rules governing crews/management reactions to various weather systems, but was not sure how well they were incorporated into Operations of Trains.
A OTR truck company I worked for maintained television sets for dispatch to check for sever weather outbreaks, and we maintained a position at a major Air Cargo’s corporate center that allowed us to monitor all kinds of specifics for severe weather issues.
I was just not sure how sophisticated or integrated railroads had incorporated their weather monitoring systems into daily operations.
Kevin