Prison bus collides with UP freight.

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Report that 8 prisoners and 2 correction officers killed. Have not found any other media reports. Some one find others to confirm ?

http://news.yahoo.com/bus-carrying-prisoners-involved-west-texas-fatal-wreck-163023806.html

EDIT-- Bus slid off ice covered I-20, down an embankment, and evidently onto UP tracks. Not clear if bus hit the train mid train or the train hit bus. If later with prisoners chained down they had no chance.

2

some confirmation

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/Bus-Carrying-Prisoners-Involved-in-West-Texas-Fatal-Wreck-288553821.html?device=tablet&c=y

3

No fault of UP’s.

Reminds me of the opening scenes in the 1993 “The Fugitive” movie, starring Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106977/

  • Paul North.
4

Shouldn’t this read “Bus collides with UP train”?

5

The news reports have been somewhat vague, but I’d interpret them to mean the bus hit the train, particularly in light of one report that some containers near the end of the train were damaged.

6

Article I read said the bus came off the Interstate and down an embankment to get on the railroad.

7

Freak accident. Sad. Looks like bus bashed into one-two freight cars of train. One news photo shows UPS trailer’s side, end, and ceiling (TOFC, not double stack) ripped open like a sardine can with its contents spilling onto the ground. A bunch of people aren’t going to have their packages delivered on time or at all. Wonder if they’ll realize that they were involved?

8

CBS News report: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/bus-carrying-inmates-plunges-off-bridge-in-texas/

9

If you look at that overpass (it’s west of Odessa) in Google Earth street view, the guardrails aren’t very high. Certainly not high enough to stop an out-of-control bus.

I was in Midland in 1984 when they had an ice storm. Texans ain’t used to driving on it.

10

Terrible! just terrible! All those poor dead and injured UPS packages. Just minding their own business. Then to have some bus attck them as they went for their train ride. Oh, my. Oh my.

Oh, yeah, by the way, ten people were killed, too.

And why were minimum security prisoners wearing handcuffs? Since minimum security facilities have no walls or guard towers, inmates can leave whenever they want to (as long as they don’t mind a further charge of escaping). They do not need to wait for a bus ride to stage a jail-break, unlike medium- or maximum-security inmates. To cuff minimum-security inmates while on a transport bus seems rather superfluous.

11

Get real!

12

MAXIMUM bad luck. What are the odds?

13

Meaning???