On the Metra crash, the train was an eastbound headed into the city, in push mode. So it was the lead car, the engine was on the rear pushing.
Oh sure.
There was once a Chief of Police in Chicago who, when ask about corruption in the police department, said that it was typical across the country that 2% to 3% of officers were corrupt. But don’t smear the other 97% - 98% who aren’t corrupt.
Every line of endeavor has it’s bad guys. Go after them. But don’t smear the others.
The reports are usually stupid and are as dumb if not dumber than the person who caused the accident. The best ones (the dumbest) are the ones who say “the engineer didn’t swerve to avoid the vehicle”. Are you really that stupid, trains can’t swerve they’re on rails, but the vehicle could have. Honestly, usually the train is a innocent victim that was hit by a vehicle that didn’t stop. If we want to group people together by similarities and then blame that group we might as well just blame all humans for the accidents (it would make it easier, no need to make different groups). One person’s actions and decisions should not cause other people to be blamed, but sadly that is not the case in the world.
To address the question, I don’t really know whether there has been a “rash” of truck/train collisions or not. I don’t know whether the numbers are the same, or less, or more. But does it matter that much? I agree most truck drivers are careful and responsible. They all want to see their sweethearts and wives and kids and grandkids at the end of a run, just as the railroaders do. And signals do occasionally malfunction. But things happen. A seemingly healthy guy (or gal) can have a heart attack or stroke just when he/she needs to be alert. Sometimes it’s gross negligence. Hopefully we will have judges and lawyers and media people who have the maturity and judgment to properly assess responsibility.
Something I hate is the possibility that someone who is guilty of truly gross negligence can avoid responsibility by filing for bankruptcy or some such maneuver. For example, it has always galled me to think that the barge operator who hit the bridge at Bayou Canot several years ago was treated with relative gentleness. I think Amtrak should have come out of that one OWNING that barge company. It was dark, but you would think the operator was aware that he was traveling NW when he was supposed to be in a channel going NE. I’ve heard he didn’t even have a compass aboard that towboat!
It’s not all truckers by any means, and Bayou Canot demonstrates that it’s more than just trucks vs. trains.
Apparent train vs truck on the CSX St Lawrence Sub just occured - there is mention of a quarry in the radio traffic, so it may have been a private crossing. Emergency units are still arriving on the scene.
After recent announcements that the speed limit on the sub would be raised back to 40 MPH, this could prove interesting…
The Bayou Canot accident was the one where the barge hit a swing section, causing the side of the bridge to be in the middle, which launched a super liner into the river.
Part of that was the railroads fault, they could have done several things to prevent that including installing a better rail dectector, and better securing the swing part of the bridge. See if we we are going to blame people lets blame all humans, usually it is several things that went wrong, or one idiot (which then we just blame them).
If secured a barge that heavy it will still knock the bridge out.
The Bayou Canot bridge spaned an NON-navigable waterway. The drawspan mechanism had been removed many years ago when that section of the waterway was closed to navigation.
Most bridges are not bolted in place - they rely on gravity to hold them in position and not being bolted in place allows them the expand and contract with the temperature without generating undue strsses.
According to today’s paper, police are saying that the incident in NY was not due to train speed - the driver of the truck failed to stop at the crossing. He’s lucky he didn’t get killed. The truck was struck on the passenger side and the driver walked away (although he was airlifted to a trauma center as a precaution). Had he been hit on the driver’s side, it likely would have been a different outcome.
The possibility of the sun being a factor was raised, as it may have been directly in his eyes, but the driver was an employee of the quarry - thus would have known there was a stop sign at the crossing. I would opine that they’ve been ignoring it on a regular basis and finally got “caught.”
The train was just entering a section of track upgraded to 40 MPH from a section still at 25 MPH. It’s doubtful he was at 40 yet.
BaltACD,
I thought I remembered that the channel was off-limits to navigation. Thanks for confirming that. Shortly after it happened, I picked up a copy of the relevant USC&GS map and checked out the site. Seems the bridge had been a swing bridge until around WWII when it was secured in place and commercial navigation banned from the channel. As I said, the barge was in a channel going NW, and the intended route was a channel going NE. Supposedly no compass aboard. I don’t know whether the stars could be seen that night (“…a star to guide me.”)
As I said, GROSS negligence.
Tom
I believe there was some fog on the bayou’s that night. Tow boat knew they had bumped into ‘something’ but didn’t know what, and didn’t concern themselves in finding out.
Balt:
I can hear the conversation now, “Oh, it’s probably nothing, Joe. Just keep going.”
Tom