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Gates down when truck struck California Amtrak train
Doesn’t matter if the gates where down or not, or how fast the train or truck were traveling, isn’t it obvious? It can’t be the truck drivers fault!
Interesting how the Amtrak employee knows the gates were down. Was the employee in question in the locomotive cab at the time? Why isn’t the freight railroad saying anything about the grade crossing equipment? I would trust the word of their investigators more than an Amtrak employee who is most likely speculating. Regardless, the truck driver’s days of driving a truck are finished. The FMCSA will make certain that outcome. According to the new 2010 CSA regulations, the truck driver is considered to be at fault even if the truck driver is shown to be not at fault.
The truck driver and passenger both said they cannot explain how they hit the train at 55mph, There are gates, signals, flashing warning approach lights, and bells, That road is a speedway with car accidents happening all the time with average speed of 75mph.
The truck driver and passenger both said they cannot explain how they hit the train at 55mph, There are gates, signals, flashing warning approach lights, and bells, That road is a speedway with car accidents happening all the time with average speed of 75mph.
The train traveled 600 ft and derailed at a switch?? Something is missing from this narrative. Was the train destined to derail at the switch regardless of the truck collision?
Mr. Guse, I find your comments amazing, to say the least. Why? The engineer can see the gates as he approaches a crossing. Many locomotives are now equipped with dash-cams which would also record those images along with pertinent data about speed, whistles, brake applications, etc. (The data obtained from the engine’s event recorder) Railroad crossing circuits are designed electrically to be fail safe. That means they are designed to activate the signals and lower the gates in the event the crossing controls malfunction or lose power - similar to fire alarm life safety systems in large buildings.
Of course, one could theorize that the engineer steered off the tracks in a amazing conspiracy to chase the truck down and propel the poor little truck driver and his passenger into the train. Personally, I think it is high time that all trucks be required to have working dashcams and event recorders and that all drivers having CDL be charged with a felony for any event where they drive into the path of a train or damage railroad track structures.
I rode this railline the day before this Accident and the average speed of Amtrak is between 70 and 80 mph. in this area.
I can’t see how the truck hit the Engine in a push mode at the rear of the Train and derailed two cars plus the P42 Engine.
I would like to hear whose at fault due to the rikety rails in this section of Track at Hanford.
Crossing lights generally have small “windows” in the sides of the light housing, not visible from the highway (that’s what the big flashing red lights are for) but visible from the locomotive cab. Presumably, engineers are clued to look at these because indeed their purpose is to let engine crews know that the crossing lights are functioning. It’s conceivable that the un-named Amtrak employee had gained their knowledge from the engineer about the lights and the gates.
The cars that derailed were at the rear of this train. The train was in push mode with the locomotive at the rear. It indicates to me that the truck hit the train after the front had passed through the grade crossing. What was the truck driver doing, texting?
Jeffrey, if they have a camera in the locomotive, that would prove the gates were down.
Here in California we are experiencing “big rig” smashups on the freeways on an almost-daily basis. Those truck jockeys are driving their rigs like they are Porsches, and the results are some horrendous messes that shut down the vital highways for hours on end.
This one sounds just like the tragic collision involving the Zephyr out in Nevada a couple years ago. Everything was working properly, as attested to by eyewitnesses including the trucker’s fellow employees, and yet he slammed his big rig dirt-hauler into the side of the train, killing several.
When the trucking companies are fined and charged the full cost of the cleanups, they’ll get drivers who care. Until then, why not let them speed, make unsafe lane changes, and just generally terrorize the populace? The insurance company will pay for the lost cargo and vehicles destroyed or badly damages. No problem, man!
It seems like the anti-Amtrak, anti-government, anti-everything Jeffrey Guse has once again has come with his venom.
First of all, I am a retired railroad employee. If a locomotive engineer said that a vehicle did not stop for a railroad crossing, I would believe them. In addition, most road locomotives have a camera system so the rail company can defend themselves in court.
Secondly, I am a commercial driver and thus am held to a higher standard then the average driver. Last week, I avoided two accidents as a result of an automobile driver doing stupid things.
Jeffrey Guse—are you aware that President Nixon (a republican) signed the law authorizing Amtrak in 1970?
I would think that if a train is already across the road, it has the right of way. Since the truck hit the side of the train, it is apparent the train was there first whether the crossing gates and signals were working or not.
I would think that if a train is already across the road, it has the right of way. Since the truck hit the side of the train, it is apparent the train was there first whether the crossing gates and signals were working or not.
"Interesting how the Amtrak employee knows the gates were down. "
Many locos have forward facing cameras whose footage can be reviewed after the event. In addition, some, maybe many, grade crossing equipment has event recorders that record the state of various inputs - including detection of barriers down.
Gates up, gates down, he broadsides the train. There are warning signs that one is about to cross tracks at all the crossings I’ve seen. Trains are pretty tall and long, they sound warnings, and the driver is responsible for hitting any object in front of him.
1- if the gates were smashed by the truck they were down.
2- if the gates were not smashed by the truck and were down after the accident, or if another vehicle was stopped and observed the gates down, the truck driver tried to run around them. Nevertheless, the engineers almost always are sounding the horns.
I was stopped at a crossing with a NS freight engine in sight and approaching and blowing a horn loud enough for my old partially deaf ears to hear. A car passed me in no passing zone and weaved around both gates in front of the train. This is done all the time, heads you win, tails you die.
When DART was adding the rail lines in Texas, they were planning to add jersey barriers at the crossings to prevent cars weaving around the gates.
A truck trying to occupy a crossing where the train has the right of way is cannot be done.
Wait a year for the two railroads involved and Feds to complete their investigations and publish a report before passing judgement on who is at fault…but odds are that it was the truck driver’s.
I have little sympathy for truckers, or any driver for that matter, who run crossing barriers. If they are lucky enough not to get killed in the accident, they deserve what they get. I have seen too many of these turn out tragically from up close. Another litigation field day when the cause is cut and dried. On-board cameras will show what is what, along with the signal box and locomotive event recorder download data. Any regulation which disinculps the driver will be challenged and voided by any reasonable court. My sympathy is for the victims aboard the train.