Fatal wreck in Evansville,IN.

icmr · October 3, 2005, 9:31pm

UPDATE, 3:30PM: The names of the victims in the Monday morning train accident have been released to Newswatch.

Forty seven-year-old Donovan Sailer Jr. of Paoli died at the scene. Fifty-year-old Mike Scales of Evansville was taken to Deaconess Hospital. Both were employees of Gohmann Asphalt of Clarksville, Indiana, working on the Diamond Avenue construction project.

The train’s engineer was also taken to Deaconess Hospital. He is 52-year-old Antonia Dassel. Police reports say the construction company employees were working on a hi-lift truck that was struck by the southbound train and knocked over. The accident happened at an overpass just west of Kratzville Road about 10:10am CDT.

The National Transportation Safety Board has arrived to investigate the accident.

UPDATE, 12:30PM: Authorities tell Newswatch that the accident happened when a train hit a lift holding three workers on the Diamond Avenue road construction project.

The three workers were thrown to the ground. One worker was killed. The other two were taken to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville.

We will have complete coverage on Newswatch at 5 and 6. Come back to this site for any updates as they become available.

UPDATE, 11AM: Authorities confirm that one person is dead, two others injured in the accident. Tune to Midday with Mike for complete coverage and come back to this site for updates as they become available.

EARLIER: Newswatch is investigating reports of a train accident near Allen’s Lane.

There are reports that as many as three people are injured. Allen’s Lane is closed at this time as rescue crews work the incident.

Tune to Midday with Mike for full coverage, and come back to this site for updates.

From http://www.weht.com/Global/story.asp?S=3932180

EVANSVILLE - A bizarre and deadly scene on Evansville’s westside Monday. A construction crew working on t

Anonymous · October 3, 2005, 9:41pm

Well, now surely CSX wouldn’t be going very fast through downtown Evansville. In my opinion, the construction workers probably had enough time to jump off of their support stand before the train hit it and knocked them out. The train probably had enough time to slam into emergency also. With all of those curves through Evansville and Howell Yard ahead that train shouldn’t have been going any faster than 30MPH. Somebody probably just goofed up and that’s why this accident happened. If anybody else has any information about this accident please post it on here for us to see.

icmr · October 3, 2005, 9:58pm

Well, NSR, I heard somewhere that engineers are encouraged not to put the train into emergency until they hit whatever is on the tracks. I was told the reason behind this was that if a car is sitting on the tracks and you put the train into emergency and the car moves then you have wasted your time, if the car doesn’t move and you hit it then put the train into emergency. This is just what I read and was told. Now I know that NS has a speed restriction so that they can stop before they hit a car on the tracks in Evansville but I dont know about CSX. There was an NS conductor that told some of us that when they are in Evansville and they are approaching a car stopped on the tracks that a few of them panick and start to go forward and then reverse to get off of the tracks but hit the cars in front and behind them.

AGAIN, THIS IS WHY OPERATION LIFESAVER SHOULD BE REQUIRED FOR EVERYONE WHO WORKS WITH OR NEAR A RAILROAD.

ICMR

Have a Happy and a SAFE day of Railroading.[swg][swg]

Anonymous · October 4, 2005, 11:40am

The engine that hit the construction crewmen’s forklift was a Union Pacific SD90MAC leading a CSX Coal Train. There’s an update about this on those News websites posted up above.

icmr · October 4, 2005, 11:44am

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

Anonymous · October 6, 2005, 9:45am

The accident never should have happened because there was a RR flagger there to “protect” the construction crew!!! Sigh, there are two philosophies of flagging. One is the CSX way in which the flagger controls the traffic coming through the work zone. The flagman checks in with the dispatcher every 2 hours and gets traffic lineups and the dispatcher can request to keep equipment clear for “hot” trains. The other philosophy is the Conrail way in which the flagger must inform the dispatcher if equipment or workers will foul the track. If the request is granted a dispatcher would give foul time for a certain amount of time. The flagger must get everything clear by the time limits or request more time. Up in Indy we still do it the old Conrail way, when foul time is requested we put blocks up on our boards so that no trains can get into the limits anyway. Putting all that trust into a flagman, which is usually an extraboard rookie is dangerous because I know we didn’t learn much if anything on being the actual flagman. And, if we get a new flagman or someone who has not done it before we insist they have a job briefing with a trainmaster before they go to work. The incident is still under investigation, but I think being more strict on flag protection would have prevented this.