Apparently this comment is based on local news coverage. It is reported that the trucks were not on the parade route yet. The first truck stopped at a traffic light and the second truck stopped on the crossing.
Here is the comment from the forum:
“The report that I read stated clearly that the truck was on its way to the parade and not yet on the parade route. The truck was apparently “trapped” on the crossing because the rig in front of him was stopped at a traffic signal. Crossing protective devices (lights and gates) are generally set up to provide 20 seconds of full protection before the train occupies the crossing. That’s not much time to allow a trapped vehicle to escape, but studies have found that if protection activates earlier, drivers tend to get impatient and try to beat the approaching train. In many places, crossing protection and traffic signals are linked so the railroad signals override the traffic signal to allow trapped vehicles to escape. Obviously, a thorough investigation of the circumstances will fix responsibility on someone.”
I was shocked when this story popped up on Fox News, last evening. An unbelievably sickening incident; Inexplicably circumstances compounded this tragedy. I was personally torn by the story.
Having spent a good deal of my adult life as a Veteran, and as an OTR trucker, and finished up in Trucking Transportation Safety. The story originally listed the passengers on the flatbed trailer as "Wounded Warriors’, that would have in my thought processes, indicated men and women who were personally incapacitated and incapable of quick movement due to injuries or amputations. They would have possibly been assisted by other individuals who were able bodied or less incapacitated(?). At any rate one’s heart has to mirror the agony of the circumstances of this event.
The location of the collision is here: N 31.98559 W 102.09350. Plug that into your favorite mapping program.
The trucks were headed south on Garfield, and it does appear that there are lights at Garfield and Industrial.
All of the casualties were located on the south side of the crossing.
I would opine that what was done wrong here was the truck occupying the crossing before it was able to clear the crossing. Warning or no, had the driver stopped short of the crossing, the collision would not have occured.
That said, I wasn’t there, and don’t know how traffic was progressing. The driver may have thought that he would be able to proceed far enough to clear the crossing but got stopped short.
One account I saw said that he was honking his horn, trying to get the truck ahead of him to move.
Looking at the location on google maps, both aerial(not satellite), ans “streetview” seem to show that it might be possible for a line of vehicles stopped at one of the lights to have a traffic backup onto the tracks.
While this shouldn’t happen i gather that in the real world it sometimes does. I recal
Midland is bisected by the tracks, almost dead center through the downtown /”main street” area, you literally cannot go from one side of town to the other without crossing them.
The Calgary Stampede Parade, one of the biggest in Canada, is in a somewhat similar situation. The parade never crosses the CPR mainline, but does run parallel to the ROW for a number of blocks. Starting long ago, so many families who knew nothing of railway operations would be all over the tracks getting to a good location to view the parade, that the CPR determined the best thing to do was to stop operating altogether.
Trains would stop about six in the morning, when the transit system would start bringing families down to the route. After the parade was over, it wasn’t simply a matter of starting up again. They used to send the Roadmaster and a number of MOW workers over the area with a fine tooth comb to look for anything left in the area before the Roadmaster would give the Superintendent the all clear to start operating again. I seem to recall this exercise used to take a couple of hours, until 1:30 or 2 PM.
My sympathies to all involved in this terrible incident.
I wonder if the engineer set or dumped the air a substantial distance before impact; possibly even before the signals activated. With a pair of flatbed trucks stopped at the light and one of them fouling the track. An engineer might take preemptive action upon seeing a high probability of the truck not clearing in time. Engineers are probably aware of the tendency for vehicles to back up on the crossing when waiting at the traffic lights there.
I read that it took a half mile to stop. That suggests to me that they started braking prior to reaching the crossing, and had slowed down considerably by the time they hit the trailer.
I base that on seeing the trailer still upright and connected to truck tractor, but turned 90 degrees to it. It suggests to me that the train hit the last few feet of the trailer at moderate speed, causing it to quickly pivot into the clear, pivoting on its connection to the tractor.
I heard of this tragic accident this morning on my way out the door and was surprised at the situation. Most of what has already been said here demonstrates my feelings on the matter. However, I was both shocked and saddened to learn that the father of one of my classmates was one of the casualties of this accident. For respect towards my classmate and her family I won’t mention names, but being a native Texan, her mother and father had left her here in NC long enough for them to attend the parade. While I don’t know her well personally, she is easily one of the nicest people I know and I hope you will all keep her and her family in your thoughts as we learn more about this accident.
This does confirm my earlier speculation that the train began braking prior to impact, and was traveling below the speed limit at the time of impact. Although it says that the impact speed was 62 mph, which was higher than what I expected.
On the surface it appears that the event organizers failed their responsibilities in two areas.
UP was not notified to restrict traffic.
Traffic Signals on the parade route were not disabled or protected by a police presence so that the movement of the parade would not be impeded by traffic signals.
Evidently a similar incident occurred last month during a Halloween parade in Topton, a small town about halfway to Allentown ! However, the truck driver apparently had the wits enough to pull ahead anyway - even though it broke the gate - and clear the crossing before the train did.
The report also details the coordination the city of Reading does with Norfolk Southern to prevent incidents, similar to what Bruce/ Agent Kid described above for the Calgary Stampede Parade. zugmann - has this kind of thing been covered in any of your DS training ? (Does your territory go that far east ?)
Both of these locations are former Reading RR lines, then ConRail, now Norfolk Southern.
My carrier gets and complys with many parade requests around the traditions ‘parade’ holidays as well as assisting with running races, bike races and many other forms of competiton and/or events that cross the carriers tracks. This weekend we will be holding traffic over a 20 mile streach of high traffic double track main line for 3 hours in support of a Ultra Marathon Race that will be crossing the tracks in multiple locations.
These kinds of incidents most times occur because the organizers have kept the event a ‘secret’ from the carriers - sometimes you can blame it directly on the organizers, sometimes on the local police. I my territory we generally receive two requests, one from the organizers and one from the local police. These kinds of happenings should NEVER occur.
From the article: “They [borough officials] said the said the protocol in that situation should have been to bring the train to a complete stop, with the conductor getting off the train to guide it safely through the intersection.” [sigh]