Hi, on Friday night I was doing some railfaning at the Wilmette Train station, the pedesterian crossing at the station was malfunctioning. It was malfunctioning because the crossing was rrunning while the rest of the crossings were not, I called Union Pacific’s crossing hotline to report the problem. They said someone would be sent and he would tell the dispatcher for the Kenosha sub. Did I do the right thing or should I have also called the police? And finally how long dose it take railroads to send a maintianer to a location of a crossing problem? Please let me know thank you.
You called a number that is published for crossing malfunctions.
You told them the issue.
There’s nothing else to really do. They were aware of the problem, and if necessary, would notify the police themselves.
Asking how long it takes for a maintainer to arrive is asking like how many fish are in the sea. You can’t answer that question because it could be five minutes or five hours. It all depends on circumstances.
Yes, you did the right thing. Calling the police probably would have resulted only in the police just calling the railway, too. The police probably aren’t going to do anything as they can’t repair crossings and usually they won’t flag them or anything like that.
The maintainer would take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2-3 hours to arrive, depending upon his location, availability, whether he still had time on his hours of service, etc.
RWM
Do the federal hours of service regulations also apply to signal maintainers and the like? Or are you referring to rules internal to the railroad regarding when overtime can be authorized and that kind of thing?
Yes.
This happened to me in Toronto a few years back. On my way to work one day I noticed a CN crossing sound and flash…then it stopped…and THEN a train came through. The train narrowly missed a city bus that had started to move toward the crossing. I called CN, and their people had the problem fixed that afternoon. They responded quickly…and I guess I can take the credit for averting a serious crossing accident in the heart of a large city.
I remember back in 1996 shortly after moving into my apartment in Bowling Green, Ohio. I lived just across the street from the Conrail line through town near one of the side streets crossing the tracks. Excited about living next to the tracks, I was heading to the windows whenever I heard a train coming through. On the one night, I heard a train coming through town and saw the signals at the nearby crossing come on with the gates going down. About mid-train, the gates went up, and the signals turned off. As soon as the last car cleared, the signals came on, the gates came down for a minute before going back up, and the signals turned off. I called the BG police department and told them what was happening. I didn’t thinking of finding my scanner at the time since it was still packed away, but they obviously contacted Conrail, who took it seriously, since the next train that came through creeped up to the crossing before proceeding on.
It was after that incident that I stopped relying at all on crossing signals to work since they can obviously stop working even if a train is in the crossing. Of course, I get a lot of people blowing their horn behind me and nearly rearending me whenever I come up to a crossing, but it’s their fault if they hit me.
Kevin
No, I think the police would have just done the same thing you did. It could take the mantaniers hours or minuets to get there. Depending on how close theay are.
The carriers take malfunctioning road crossing protection VERY SERIOUSLY. While a maintainer may not get to the scene immediately, mandatory directives are issued to train crews operating through the territory for them to provide protection to the crossing in accordance with the type of failure that has been reported to the carrier, most often - Stop and Flag their way over the crossing.
Signal Maintainers are covered by the Hours of Service law. The maintainer for the territory of the failure may be ‘on the law’ or have insufficient HOS time left to permit him to respond. Adjoining maintainers will be called if the primary maintainer is not available, however, they may have a journey of a considerable distance to respond. In other cases while the maintainer may respond nearly immediately, the necessary parts to fix the trouble may not be immediately available and may take hours to a day or two to get to the location.
I have both NS and csx numbers in my phone in case of this happening.One time the maintainer came out and discovered that a string of cars in a siding was tripping the circut for the crossing.The dispatcher stopped the next train and the crew moved the cars in the siding.Just another day for the maintainers here in nw ohio.
stay safe
joe
I ride the Sounder commuter train. Ocasionally the train must slow to a crawl for some problem, and the conductor announces the problem. There is one crossing in Kent, WA, that seems to be the most trouble. Usually the problem is that the gates have been struck by a vehicle. I often see a railroad maintenance vehicle, and a broken gate and its wires and lights strung out on the sidewalk. I rarely see a policeman.
I saw a old video of a steam loco switching in town. Most of the time, the gates went down at the same time as the engine crossed. It was moving slowly and someone would have to be mighty stupid to hit that engine. I wondered if the crossing was ever used by express passenger trains.
A few years ago I saw an vehicle accident, non-railroad. The scene seemed strange, and I later found out that the drivers both claimed a green light. While the policeman was writing them up, another happened. They found out the light was sequenced incorrectly and it was indeed green in two opposing directions, only for a turn direction so the accidents were low-speed.
I always look for trains anyway!
Stop, Look, and Listen
Reynold
Wrong If you stop and get rear ended and there is no aparent reason ( lights not flashing) you will be charged for the wreck and your insurance will haft to pay. If you stop for no aparent reason anywhere and get rear ended it will be dtermined as your fault and you will haft to pay.
The “apparent reason” in this case would be the “Stop, Look, and Listen.” An old but simple rule for railroad crossings that goes back a long way. He would not be at fault for stopping. In most states, the car that does the hitting, regardless of why the other stopped, would be at fault.<
Sleep well, you did good!
[quote user=“TomDiehl”]
The “apparent reason” in this case would be the “Stop, Look, and Listen.” An old but simple rule for railroad crossings that goes back a long way. He would not be at fault for stopping. In most states, the car that does the hitting, regardless of why the other
It’s common for most vehicles to slow at crossings anyhow, simply because going over them at high speed is usually rough, and they don’t want damage to their vehicles. Besides, if you’re braking for the crossing, and the cars behind you see your brake lights, it’s their responsibility to come to a stop without hitting you, as long as you don’t slam on the brakes.
People are also impatient. I remember slowing for a lighted crossing when no train was in the area. Even though all I did was slow enough to check both directions safely, the guy behind me laid on his horn the moment I started slowing. Other people’s impatience and stupidity is not your fault, so don’t worry about it.
If you stop on the road and the person behind you hits you it is their fault it is called " failure to maintain control of vehicle" There is no " stop for no apparent reason" law. if the car in front of you stops period and you hit it you failed to stop your vehicle.
Here in Ohio, it’s “failure to maintain an assured clear distance”.
Kevin