Mud slide hits train

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

http://www.weather.com/weather/videos/news-41/top-stories-169/video-mudslide-does-damage-33323

Rich

2

Holy moly, I’ll bet a dollar that guy was glad that wasn’t a string of LNG tankers! [:O]

3

I can just see it now: Lionels new “Landslide accessory track”.

4

The link above no longer works this one does:

http://youtu.be/9VZkSCEqJlQ

5

I wonder if the rumble / vibrations of the passing double stack train might have been the final “edge” that broke loose the large mud slide…

6

Looked like he might be pretty sure something was going to happen, though, as he kept his camera trained on that hillside.

Probably a good thing the train wasn’t running at, say, 60 MPH, too…

7

Now we know why BNSF will not allow an occupied passenger train to pass a mudslid area for 48 hours. I wonder if it is even a good idea to DH the AMTRAK trains to / from Seattle ???

8

That is an amazing video… Having heard details of derailments most of my life, I finally got a chance to see one happening.

Bruce

9

Well, there goes Christmas vacation for the engineering and track departments. (and Ka-Ching!! over at Shannon & Wilson)

10

Wow, what a video…and a once in a lifetime experience for the railfan there to take the video. That sure ruined somebody’s day (i.e. engineer and conductor, and more likely the dispatcher).

11

Engineer, Conductor and Dispatcher all get paid like it is just another day - which it is. MofW Personnel now have to figure out corrective actions so it won’t happen again and the car depart has to take charge in getting the right of way cleared for the derailed cars and MofW has to get the track rebuilt. Just another day on the railroad.

12

[(-D] [(-D] [(-D]

Well, there’s still a few days left before the holiday, and it’s not like a bridge was destroyed - they might be done by then. Besides, the OT pay might make it worth their while.

For those who don’t know, Shannon & Wilson is a major geotechnical engineering firm that does an awful lot of railroad-related work, and are the “go-to” guys when something goes wrong like this. See: http://www.shannonwilson.com/markets/railroad and http://www.shannonwilson.com/news/awards - “2010 California Transportation Foundation Award - Donner Pass Railroad Tunnel Clearance Improvements, Rocklin to Truckee, CA”

Since BNSF has demonstrated its new-found concern about grain elevators falling on its tracks (see concurrent thread on that here), do you suppose its next step will be to get more aggressive about landslide prediction, detection - and especially prevention - measures ?

  • Paul North.
13

BNSF needs to find the ‘angle of repose’ on those slopes, cut them back accordingly, and plant enough foliage to stabilize them.

14

AMTRAK bulletin below for mudslides. another source says that there were at least 6 more in one day which I imagine has BNSF very concerned. Maybe time to reroute EB over Stampeed and have passengers to / from Wenatchee - Edmonds bused?#### #### Empire Builder and Amtrak Cascades services affected by area mudslides

Dec. 22, 2012
12:30 p.m. PT

Due to another mudslide north of Seattle, BNSF Railway has placed a moratorium on rail traffic between Seattle and Everett, WA through Tuesday, Dec. 25.

The following Amtrak services are affected:

  • Empire Builder (Portland/Seattle – Chicago) – Trains 7 and 8 will originate and terminate in Everett, WA with alternate transportation.
  • Amtrak Cascades – Train service is suspended between Seattle and Vancouver, BC with