Found this in an article about an Indian Railroad Train, and seemed to be a subject that could be appreciated here. Particularly as the US Rail System agonizes over Positive Train Controls {PTC}.
As bad as some people think that AMTRAK is(?), I do not think they have ever,ever had an incident like this.
FTA: "…More than a thousand furious rail passengers stormed a station office after they noticed the train they were on had gone 980km in the WRONG direction.
As the packed service pulled into the Indian city of Warangal people on board went berserk as they realised they were five hours away from where they should have been and no staff on board had noticed…"
FTA:"…India’s signalling system is run on codes but instead of entering the three-letters for its next intended stop Bhubaneswar (BBS) staff put in the code for Bilaspur (BSP) sending the train in completely the wrong direction.<
They moved the same boxcar between 3 or 4 sidings and industries down the street from my house for over 2 years, not a single crew called it in as a lost car, they just kept moving it out of their way.
When I finally called the SP headquarters here in Houston, it took me 3 phone calls and over an hour before I reached a clerk who would even take the reporting marks down.
I know I’ve told the tale on here about the UP gon that would arrive at Proviso like clockwork every second or third day, because nobody knew how to send it to Creston. The car kept showing up for many months, over the winter and into the next construction season.
That’s funny stuff. We had that happen with some loads. They were supposed to go to a place like Smithfiled*, OH. Our yard serves a Smithfield, but it is Smithfield, PA. So we took the cars, and put it on the outbound manifest to send it away. And wouldn’t you know it - 2 days later - here come the same cars back again. D’oh!
made-up town name. But the rest of the story is real.
These stories are probably not that uncommon, and some end tragically. There was an accident at Hinton, AB about 25 years ago. A VIA train and a CN freight collided head on. Passengers in the VIA dome observation car could see the CN freight coming on the same track from miles away. One reportly even shouted “OMG he is on our track”…but neither train applied its brakes prior to the collision. Apparently crew members on both trains were fast asleep when both trains collided at speed. I don’t remember the death toll, but that accident changed a few regulations throughout the industry. Running 600 miles in the wrong direction is bad enough…but the outcome could obviously have been much worse. Hopefully all involved are fired.
You think the RR industry is Screwed up try the OTR side. Hauled a Load of P&G From Iowa City to Browns Summit NC. Get there send in my Empty call was told have a reload Right there give them my PU# yeah I had a Relaod the same Crap I had hauled down. P&G was using me as a Test load my carrier and I had to haul the stuff I had just taken down there BACK to the PLANT in Iowa City with no Shrink Wrap and no Load locks on the cargo allowed. Made it back no damage with a load that was on Slip sheets funner that hell that one.
Next one was in CA picked up a load of Grapefruit watched the guys switch the box tops to say Florida Grapefruit and then PUT THEM BACK IN MY TRAILER. Guess where I took them Right back to California. 6000 miles in just over a week and I had the same crap on the trailer the entire time.
Best one was that load of American style Kobe Beef. I ended up with one extra case of Prime ribs when I emptied out. Called the Broker they did not want them back. Company said GET RID OF THEM I went I will throw them away. Gave one to the Lumper. I was heading home anyway. I came home with 5 Prime ribs that day each was normally 100 bucks a LB. I had 80 lbs of Beef in my trailer to process when I got home. I was eating steaks for a year off of that one.
Found this link (with a number of photos) to an article from the _Edmonton Sun Newspape_r, referencing the fatal Hinton,AB. head-on between the VIA train and the CN Freight:, on Feb. 8,1986
to edbenton: No doubt there are lots of anomalies in our OTR experience of all those years looking at the world through a windshield.[:'(][sigh][:-^]
They seem to exist anywhere transport is needed and used ( recall a story, I think Murphy Siding related it of the small town lumber yard located on a major rail link that had a siding whose switch opposed the flow of traffic on the railroad. The lumber yard had ordered a specific load of a needs type of lumber.
The railroad notified the receiver (lumber yard0 it was at the near yard awaiting the next local to deliver the car The owner watched the local speed by with a couple of extra revenue fr