(Not my video)
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RickO - I'm not sure I understand your title. I'm not aware of Amtrak stopping for crossings as a normal rule of operation. If you're suggesting that Amtrak should have stopped for this crossing, well, I'm sure you have enough railroad sense to know that trains can't stop on a "dime" (figuratively speaking). Could you clarify?
Thanks,
Steve
Knowing Rick's sense of humor I suspect his title is a sarcastic one.
Purely tongue in cheek Steve, merely another take on the way these incidents are reported making it sound like its the RR's fault. I.E. "the train hit the truck at full speed".
Fortunately the report is that eveyone is O.K. It certainly couldn't have been fun for the crew with that fireball over the cab.
The irony is that it was stated is the truck belongs to a contractor hired by UP to clean up debris along the tracks
Repair crew error?
You know, I should get out more often and interact with people. I take things to literal at times. Like when my girlfriend (well, ex-gf) said "we need to talk". I thought she had some projects she wanted me to work on. (Well technically she did, but the conversation did not go the way I thought it would go.) Oops.
Steve
@Chrico posted:Repair crew error?
That's my understanding. Apparently the crew was hired to clean up debris around the track. Who'd of thought they would have parked a vehicle on an active line. To save you some time I've already submitted the vid to the Darwin Award Committee.
Steve
Man that genesis is a beast. By the looks of the aftermath photos it could have kept going! Trains are not to be messed with...
For sale, one slightly used dump truck with minor damage. Should be able to buff right out. Please contact UP for more details.
should have been titled ( oh did not know they used these tracks any more). heard that more than once in my 25 years on the railroad.
@RideTheRails posted:That's my understanding. Apparently the crew was hired to clean up debris around the track. Who'd of thought they would have parked a vehicle on an active line. To save you some time I've already submitted the vid to the Darwin Award Committee.
Steve
Clean up debris or add to it?
Another example that there is no cure or vaccine for (what could have been) terminal stupidity; and,
that fools sometimes get extra help from above!
@RideTheRails posted:That's my understanding. Apparently the crew was hired to clean up debris around the track. Who'd of thought they would have parked a vehicle on an active line. To save you some time I've already submitted the vid to the Darwin Award Committee.
Steve
I thought I heard ABC world news say that the truck stalled on the tracks and the driver got out just in time. I dont believe the truck was "parked" on the tracks.
Job security for (the following) debris pick-up crew.
Someone perhaps should have the job at UP of
1. ensuring that outside contractors have trained their employees in the Amtrak contractors' safety course or the UP contractors' safety course
2. co-ordinating and advising contractors of the track schedules of all trains expected to pass the work location
3. issuing special train orders to operations employees advising them of slow orders in the vicinity of contracting work
4. posting flag persons at locations at both ends of the work zone, with placement sufficient to allow trains (under slow orders) enough time to stop in case of a track fouling
Oh, wait, why am I saying all this? I'm just a civilian with little to no railroad safety credentials. It's not my business to butt in with the bleeding obvious to one of the largest corporations in the country, and tell them how to run their shop. There are obviously people much more experienced and with railroad industry authority to perform these tasks.
I can see it now - a new Fantasy paint scheme - an AMTRAK P42 with flames on the nose!
How about an operating accessory with little workers running away, and then as the train passes, a propane-fired flame shoots out (tank mounted under the table) and the dump truck flies up in the air! There could be an X-rated version, with sound file, with the little worker guys saying "Oh-(shoot)!"
@Arthur P. Bloom posted:Someone perhaps should have the job at UP of
1. ensuring that outside contractors have trained their employees in the Amtrak contractors' safety course or the UP contractors' safety course
2. co-ordinating and advising contractors of the track schedules of all trains expected to pass the work location
3. issuing special train orders to operations employees advising them of slow orders in the vicinity of contracting work
4. posting flag persons at locations at both ends of the work zone, with placement sufficient to allow trains (under slow orders) enough time to stop in case of a track fouling
Come on, Arthur. All of the things you list are already a part of the Operating and Safety rules at every railroad, and somebody already has the job you “suggest.” You don’t know the circumstances behind this wreck. Maybe the truck stalled or broke something in the drive train? There are a lot of other possibilities.
It’s called an ACCIDENT, and they happen every day, no matter how thick the rule book is.
"All of the things you list are already a part of the Operating and Safety rules at every railroad, and somebody already has the job you “suggest.”
I guess my attempt at sarcasm was too subtle.
There is a lower chance of an "accident" happening when all safety guidelines are followed. Redundant safety rules, especially in an industry that is known for its big and scary moving parts, greatly reduce the possibility of an "accident." Somebody (many bodies) was asleep at the switch when it came to the planning and execution, even on a seemingly simple and mundane operation as cleaning up stuff along the ROW. I will agree that railroad company employees are trained to know what to do and what not to do. It's the visitors who need to embrace the safety culture of the host property. In this case, the evidence speaks for itself: even the owners/employees were lax.
To your point about my not knowing all the facts: let's not argue, unless you really want to. Working along the ROW should require that old concept of communication. Did they have a radio that they could use in the unlikely event that they fouled the track? Did they know how to use it? Was there a pre-established bug-out plan? I would love to be on the investigating team, just to see how many common-sense safety procedures, even the ones that a simple-minded, non-railroad guy like me could imagine, were not followed. The only fact I really need is the video. Sic loquitur pro se.
At least those in the Superliner lounge got a good view of the aftermath...and flames!
