Chicago-area readers, watch your local news tonight!
Seems some locomotives (eight of them, I heard) at UP’s Canal Street Yard started rolling north (downhill) and got away, finally derailing at Amtrak’s 18th Street Drawbridge. The one picture I’ve seen looks like a mess–plenty of track damage, I’d guess, but no structural damage (one can hope!).
Metra’s Southwest Service trains are probably not going to run tonight (they didn’t run the midday trains). Heritage Corridor trains are probably also affected. A number of Amtrak trains from Chicago to the east and south will also have to find some alternate routings.
I’m sure more will come out on this one. Please withhold judgement until it does.
That’s the impression I got, Larry. Still a lot to find out for sure.
Here are Metra’s advisories for service today:
SouthWest Service Modified Schedule UpdateOctober 22, 2009:
Due to a Union Pacific Railroad freight train derailment at 21st Street, the afternoon and evening service on the SouthWest Service Line will be modified for today. All inbound and outbound trains will leave Chicago Union Station at their regularly scheduled time but will reach their final destinations approximately 45 to 60 minutes late. The following outbound trains will depart Chicago Union Station: Train #819 departing CUS at 2:40 p.m.; Train #823 departing 4:30 p.m. (will operate to 179th ); Train #825 departing 5:00 p.m.: Train #829 departing 5:40 p.m.; Train #831 departing 6:15 p.m.: Train #833 departing 6:58 p.m.; Train #839 departing 9:50 p.m. and Train #841 departing 11:40 p.m. Train #827, scheduled to depart CUS at 5:18 p.m. and Train #837, scheduled to depart CUS at 8:10 p.m., will not operate today. Inbound Train #834, normally scheduled to depart 179th Street Station at 4:01 p.m., is expected to depart approximately 45 minutes late and incur additional delays enroute. The following inbound trains will be departing all outlying stations on time but will arrive at Chicago Union Sation 45 to 60 minutes late: Train #838, scheduled to depart 179th Street Station at 6:55 p.m. and Train #840, scheduled to depart 179th Street Station at 8:25 p.m. Train #830, scheduled to depart Manhattan at 2:25 p.m., Train #836, scheduled to depart 153rd Street Station at 5:44 p.m. and Train #842, scheduled to depart 179th Street Station at 9:47 p.m., will not operate today. Commuters riding the SouthWest Service may want to consider riding the Rock Island as alternate transportation. Metra apologizes for any inconvenience.
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Heritage Corridor:
All outbound trains on the Heritage Corridor are expected to depart Chicago Union Station at their regularly scheduled times today. However, due to the freight
Details are on News Wire; we’ll have an update going up soon. Unfortunately, no information on the cause yet, just that eight unoccupied units rolled away from Canal Street and four ended up derailing in a very unfortunate location. There have, fortunately, been no injuries as a result. Apparently they did pretty significant damage to the infrastructure. Amtrak’s Marc Magliari says two of the four engines are now out of the way and the other two will be rerailed by evening. However, it’ll take a while to get everything back to normal due to the damaged infrastructure.
While a properly set number of hand brakes should always work. I understand there are a number of GE locomotives that have a braking software glitch that if the locomotive has the prime mover shut down, while the air brakes are set on the locomotive, will release the air brakes when the prime mover is restarted. This can happen when some of the automatic fuel saving accessories take control and shut down and restart the locomotive.
Handbrake shouldnt be affected by that. I understand the air coming on and off, but the HB will have its own linkage to tie up the brakes on the one truck.FRA states every locomotive in a consist should be tied down.I have had an inspector burn us on that when I first started out.
Jut glad no one got hurt. Granted I know there is someone having the convesation like Tree posted at one point lol. I know I would have.
No, they’re different facilities. Global 1 is the former CNW Wood Street Yard (and also is on land once occupied by the B&OCT Robey Yard), and is a bit north and west of Canal Street. I’m not sure of the history of Canal Street, but it may have had C&EI (or more likely C&WI) origins. Canal Street is the point of origin for standard UP intermodal trains; Global 1 originates stack trains exclusively.
News report showed a UP spokesman (unfamiliar name to me) saying that they were trying to tie two locomotives onto six standing locomotives. How they all got away, unoccupied, is beyond me. Sounds, though, like the Chicago Rail Link (contract operator for Canal Street), not UP, is the one that’s going to have to answer for this.
HAL: The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.
[Regarding the supposed failure of the parabolic antenna on the ship, which HAL himself falsified] HAL: It can only be attributable to human error.
Dave Bowman: [sighs] . . . You know of course though he’s right about the 9000 series having a perfect operational record. They do. Dr. Frank Poole: Unfortunately that sounds a little like famous last words.
There’s a glitch in some of the new GE’s that are equipped with electrically powered hand brakes. When in the power mode they tighten up the hand brake, but don’t hold tension. The chain going to the brake lever looks tight, but isn’t or won’t hold. Instructions are to check the tension, and if it doesn’t hold to take the hand brake off power and manually apply it.
About a year ago a locomotive got away in Omaha. A train one or two ahead of us had set out the engine on the side of a hill. They did everything except check to see if the hand brake would hold. IIRC, there was some kind of defect that even though the wheel was fully applied, the brake wasn’t. The air leaked off and the engine rolled away.
We heard a train that was stopped behind us call the dispatcher and say that an engine with no one on board had just rolled by them. Had it happened about 10 minutes earlier, it would have gone into the side of us. The dispatcher lined it into the yard at Council Bluffs into a OPPD coal train.
I’m a regular rider on the Southwest Service (ex-Wabash) and Metra has been handling the situation about as well as possible. The detour has run as follows: BNSF to Union Avenue, a back-up on the St. Charles Air Line to 16th Street Tower (RI), IC Iowa Line to 21st Street and return to normal routing. Delays have run about 45 minutes.
Dan / CNW 6000 - Thanks much for posting and linking-in that great tele-photo through the bridge ! [bow]
It could be the subject of another thread to ‘‘Submit your best/ favorite caption for this photo’’ contest. [swg] My entry would be ‘‘Indecision ? Going down the middle sometimes doesn’t work too well, either.’’ Maybe I’ll submit that one to the Despair, Inc./ Demotivator poster people - if some of the others on here don’t beat me to it !
Anybody know what finally caused these locos to derail ? I don’t know the territory - was there a derail there ? Or, something else
That’s about the worst place possible to have a derailment in general. The derailment happening on the bridge just adds a lot more of a problem to an already bad situation. That area is a critical location for Amtrak, and Metra run Heritage Corridor and Southwest Service trains as well. All Amtrak service to St. Louis and all the Michigan corridor trains run by there, as well as east coast trains and the Texas Eagle. Amtrak was using bustitution from Chicago to Joliet (service to Summit was cancelled during this time), and from Chicago to Hammond/Whiting where people transferred to the trains yesterday. I’m not sure what Amtrak is doing today, I’d imagine they’re still using buses. I’m kinda surprized they haven’t been detouring trains down the Rock Island, as that is what they did when Brighton Park was being reconfigured. I’d imagine this will last a few more days as since the derailment was on the bridge, track work is going to be a lot more complicated than normal. It doesn’t appear any damage was done to the bridge itself judging by the photos, but they’ll still have to inspect the bridge once the track is fixed just to be 100% sure.
Anybody know what finally caused these locos to derail ? I don’t know the territory - was there a derail there ? Or, something else ?
What would have happened if a passenger train had been going by at the same time ? Is there not a more positive protection against this kind of ‘run-out’ accident ? In other words, is there
