Join the discussion on the following article:
NS train derails after collision with truck in Pennsylvania
Just wondering if any information available on delays or re-routing since it is on a busy corridor that was recently featured in the magazine.
Total lack of communication. A failure to communicate.
Guse, Please do not talk about legal truck routes, when there are no such things as set routes for truckers!!!
Guse, are you sure it is not Obama’s fault directly? Or maybe Bloomberg’s fault? It must be the government’s fault! It just has to be!!
Obviously somebody screwed up. I’m not sure why the lead truck didn’t tell the truck driver he wouldn’t be able to make the turn. I can’t imagine they got permission to take a load like that on that road. Here are some pics.
http://www.abc27.com/story/23416243/train-crashes-with-truck-near-boiling-springs
WOW! The nose of that EMD looks in really good shape. Crash standards at work.
Obviously some pseudo-intellectual state worker in charge of regulating oversize loads who never drove anything bigger than a Honda told the driver to use the route with the very bad grade crossing. There is only one legal truck route going near Dillsburg, PA. That would be US15 and it has no grade crossings due to an overpass. Taking a stab in the dark here, my guess is the driver and his escort were coming from I-81, are not allowed on the Turnpike because of the antiquated toll plazas, so they were told to use SR74, which is a road I avoid without the trailer. Based on my notes of what to avoid, they probably got stuck at Brandtsville which has that really bad S curve on the crossing. They should have used SR34 and SR94 further south, which is an almost straight pull by comparison. The only faults with that route are a really nasty ramp coming off of I-81, it is super narrow like almost every other state route in the state, and having to negotiate downtown Mount Holly Springs. The only other alternate would have been SR581 on the west side of Harrisburg which is even worse unless all the idiot four wheelers were kept out of the way, which could be done with enough officers and snow plows. Taking another guess, the state wants its bridge components but isn’t willing to spend the money on clearing the roads of idiot four wheelers in order to get it to the job site. After all, the political insiders need to get paid under the table before anybody else.
Only the rebar wrapped around the locomotive. Concrete doesn’t wrap!
Has there ever been a statistical study on the IQ levels for truck drivers who have been involved in grade crossing accidents? If not, someone should do it – I’m retired and “too old” to do it now – should have thought about doing it when I taught statistics for 41 years !!!
I think someone in permitting screwed up…
The local news in Harrisburg stated the driver was backing up to reposition the truck to cross the tracks when the warning light and bells went off. The “driver jumped clear just in time” before impact. Why can’t there be a phone number to call when a driver gets into trouble so any rail traffic can be stopped? Such a contact procedure would have saved life and millions of dollars in damage.
What they should have done was call Norfolk and Southern and told them they were stuck on the crossing. It just might have saved a lot of damage from happening, or at least call 911…
To Stephen’s point, there is a tag with contact and crossing identity information on every highway / railroad crossing signpost. The problem usually is that when trouble occurs, such as in this case, there simply isn’t enough time to contact the railroad to stop traffic. Also, most people aren’t aware that these tags exist. But if you look, they are there. With oversize loads, there is supposed to be a recommended route to avoid difficult situations. Yet sometimes, those recommended routes are not followed. Which could be what happened here.
Actually the govt. was involved. They had a state police escort. I guess it never dawned on anyone to call NS to see when a train might be near. Hopefully the folks that issue permits, may start thinking about RR crossings. Living in the area and crossing there many times I can tell you a regular semi has trouble. The road makes a hard right (lots of big trees on either side) crosses a creek then crosses the track and makes a hard left. Here is a link to some photos.
http://www.abc27.com/story/23416243/train-crashes-with-truck-near-boiling-springs
Lawdy, lawdy Miss Clawdy, and all the ships at sea…
Guse loose-lipped a gripe about a government employee w/o suggesting socialists were responsible for the idiotic concrete beam truckers/transporters action.
The notion that a person paid by us, taxpaying folk, could fail to be knowledgeable…never drove more than a Honda…shame, shame.
We’ve bantered about truckers that created more mayhem by exponential factors than that of an insurance commercial spectre.
Truckers, I suggest a law which would put “life in prison” as the result of your move across a track causing a collision with a railroad move over the crossing. In other words, take solace in being killed from the collision or face incarceration 'til death.
While running a local freight, SW1500 cab forward at 40 mph, we, I, hit the tank trailer of an 18-wheeler coming out of a chemical plant…cats with only 8 lives left…
Guse’s “idiot 4-wheelers,” is he talking about all of us who don’t drive more than 2 axle highway motor vehicles?
All of us?
The McCarthy, Wisc. Sen. Pinko-Commie head-line grabber was asked, " Have you no shame?"
Hopefully NS is presently preparing a bill to submit to the trucking company for repairs to its locomotives, the crossing, and medical bills for NS crew members!!!
Touring Scotland last summer I saw good sized signs and phone box at a pull off at level (grade) crossings. Signs said: Oversize and slow moving traffic required to call railroad prior to crossing. In the day of almost total mobile phone coverage why not laws and sign to do the same in the USA? Our method is to have a 115+ decibel horn on the locomotive to scare the cement beam off the track!!
Ultimately, the driver is the captain of his ship (truck) and should have stopped before fouling the main.
Goosie, you didn’t give enough details on the Pennsyvania state highways. I want to hear more detailed info.!! Where’s your criticism of Amtrak, socialists, unions, college intellectuals and your “not so smart” smart phones!!!
I agree with LYLE ESPENSCHEID, IQ tests should be given as part of truckers CDL licencing process. And the CDL should be given in English, not in the applicant’s native language. Maybe then we’ll have intelligent truckers who understand the dangers of railroad crossings.