You can see the size of the refinery equipment that was struck in the thumbnail. Unfortunately the crew did not make it...
Even worse, numerous reports say this truck was stuck on the crossing for upwards of 45 minutes, and nobody knew to call the 800 number on the blue sign mounted on every grade crossing signal.
Plug these coordinates into Google Maps to view the location of the crossing: 31°25'41.1"N 103°29'43.4"W
---PCJ
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I hope that the railroad and the families of the crew of the train sue the trucking company for every cent that they have.
Edit: Also, the truck driver should have his CDL permanently revoked.
So sad, especially when it was avoidable.
How the local authorities could not know what to do is just criminal.
Bob
Very sad……I feel sorry for the UP employees and their families…..
Peter
After reading a comment from a Texas state representative (apparently oblivious to the blue ENS signs) advising people to call 911 when they see a vehicle blocking a crossing; I believe it is high time the railroad industry spends some money to get the ENS message in front of the public and law enforcement.
Operation Lifesaver has been advising groups about these blue signs for years now but, it is patently obvious that isn’t getting the message broadcast near as broadly as necessary. The railroad industry needs to place public service ads on TV, the internet and in print publications advising the public, law enforcement and, especially, motor carriers of the existence and purpose of these blue ENS signs. This should be a priority for 2025 so there won’t be empty places at dinner tables again next holiday season.
Curt
There really should be a way to automatically detect and report a blocked grade crossing to warn the railroad dispatch or something.
@rplst8 posted:There really should be a way to automatically detect and report a blocked grade crossing to warn the railroad dispatch or something.
It’s a good thought but, with something like 212,000 railroad crossings in this country (based on a figure I’ve seen within the past few days, it would require a substantial investment in time and money to add such protection to even those crossings deemed to be the most “at risk”.
The 800 number on the blue ENS signs at a crossing connects directly into that railroad’s dispatch center and generates a pretty quick response based on what the railroads have said. It’s not perfect but, it’s what we’ve got now and it works so long as people know to use it. It’s that obvious lack of knowledge that needs to be addressed.
Curt
The escort company was blatantly negligent here too.
@rplst8 posted:There really should be a way to automatically detect and report a blocked grade crossing to warn the railroad dispatch or something.
Excellent idea! With today’s technology this shouldn’t even be difficult to do. After all we have cameras that detect if someone is in the left turn lane at a traffic light.
I also feel terrible for the families that lost loved ones especially when it could have easily been avoided.
IMO, the sad part is that these drivers are not trained / informed of the blue emergency signs. This training should be required in order to obtain a CDL. In the past year, I was speaking with one of my brothers about this and he had no idea of the signs at the RR crossings and he's been driving for 15 plus years, lowboy trailers no less.
@Zeke13 posted:IMO, the sad part is that these drivers are not trained / informed of the blue emergency signs. This training should be required in order to obtain a CDL. In the past year, I was speaking with one of my brothers about this and he had no idea of the signs at the RR crossings and he's been driving for 15 plus years, lowboy trailers no less.
Is that ENS info, taught at Driving Schools? I wouldn't have known about those signs, if I hadn't read about those, in the OGR forum.
8 years ago, I reported a malfunctioning grade crossing, using the Emergency Notification System, number, at a local UP crossing, on a weekend. Despite waiting 30 minutes and calling twice, I was informed by the UP dispatcher, that the nearest signal maintainer, was over an hour way, in the next state.
These are just my opinion,
Naveen Rajan
@naveenrajan posted:8 years ago, I reported a malfunctioning grade crossing, using the Emergency Notification System, number, at a local UP crossing, on a weekend. Despite waiting 30 minutes and calling twice, I was informed by the UP dispatcher, that the nearest signal maintainer, was over an hour way, in the next state.These are just my opinion,
Naveen Rajan
Naveen:
Four years ago my youngest son was the conductor on an NS intermodal train traveling from Brosnan Yard in Macon, GA to Inman Yard in Atlanta. Just south of the city, he and his engineer were notified by the dispatcher that a tractor trailer had become stuck on a crossing just north of their current location. The engineer was able to bring the train to a safe stop about 100-150 yards short of the crossing.
Neither the tractor trailer driver nor the driver of the heavy duty wrecker dispatched to remove him had bothered to call the 800 number on the ENS sign. Fortunately for all involved, a firetruck returning from a call came up on the crossing and one of the firefighters asked the two drivers if either had phoned the number on the ENS sign. When advised they had not, he immediately phoned the number with the result being my son was contacted and his engineer was able to get them stopped before several people’s day was ruined.
In this instance, the process worked exactly as it should. I suspect in your example, had you been notifying UP of a disabled vehicle on that crossing, the response would have been radically different.
To provide some perspective, I’ve included a photo my son took from the engineer’s seat showing just how close they came before getting stopped.
Curt
"@Naveen Rajan posted: "Is that ENS info, taught at Driving Schools?"
I don't know if it is taught or not. But "apparently not" to answer your question. That's why it should be required to know in order to get a CDL license. This was basically my point, to be taught.
Curt......that is one scary photo!!!
I am so glad your son lived to tell the tale, and show us the picture.
Peter.....Buco Australia.
My condolences to the family of the UP crew.
I consider myself to be observant and a careful driver. Our normal driving has 2 railroad crossings we go over almost daily. I have never heard about the ENS signs nor have I ever noticed one to the best of my recollection. Thanks for bringing this up. I will share this with my family.
Ii have a friend who is the lawyer for a trucking company, and another friend whose son is safety director for another trucking company. The stories of driver stupidity that they tell are mind boggling.
After reading some more details, it is bizarre to me that ENS was not called by:
The driver of the truck
The driver of the pilot vehicle
The driver of the trailing "pilot vehicle"
The police/highway patrol escort they had when the Trucking company got the permit and route from TXDOT
I am disappointed that I am not seeing much national news coverage on this, at least not the news that we watch. In their reporting they could emphasize the ENS signs and protocol. I shared it on my own FB page. Not sure how many friends took a good look at it though. One can only hope that if enough people post it there might be a life saved at some point.
Mikki
The phone number should be posted in every truck either on the dashboard or the glove box. These accidents should never happen
@RailRide posted:You can see the size of the piece of refinery equipment that was struck in the thumbnail. Unfortunately the crew did not make it...
Even worse, numerous reports say this truck was stuck on the crossing for upwards of 45 minutes, and nobody knew to call the 800 number on the blue sign mounted on every grade crossing signal.
Plug these coordinates into Google Maps to view the location of the crossing: 31°25'41.1"N 103°29'43.4"W
---PCJ
People need to go to jail and be charged with a crime, if there are any police officers involved, they need to be suspended indefinitely without pay. And the trucking company should have to pay the families of the crew every penny they desire. This is absolutely criminal 45 minutes and not one moron could figure out what the Blue sign was telling them.
I agree there was a complete lack of training/awareness on the part of all the governmental and commercial folks that were there. Ignorance more than stupidity I think. What struck me was in one of the videos the "blue sign" was really small, kind of insignificant when watching them try to remove the truck. What also struck me in the initial reporting I saw on the different news channels was nobody mentioning the blue sign or it even talking about calling someone. Lots of things need to be corrected here in order to break the accident chain.
For anyone unfamiliar with ENS signs; I’ve pasted a link to the FRA which provides a description and visual of these signs.
And I urge all of you to advise your friends, family and co-workers about these signs. Knowing where to find them and understanding why they are there is key!
Curt
@RailRide posted:You can see the size of the piece of refinery equipment that was struck in the thumbnail. Unfortunately the crew did not make it...
Even worse, numerous reports say this truck was stuck on the crossing for upwards of 45 minutes, and nobody knew to call the 800 number on the blue sign mounted on every grade crossing signal.
Plug these coordinates into Google Maps to view the location of the crossing: 31°25'41.1"N 103°29'43.4"W
---PCJ
I see by some of the posts that came after mine, people talk about the size of the signs and the placement. I would fully understand this if this was some random act. This was not, this was an oversized load permitted to be traveling on the road. The dispatcher of the trucking company is supposed to know all the rules and regulations. The police who were involved, should know to call the railroad immediately when there is a problem on the tracks. And let us not forget the escorts who are supposed to guide this large oversize load safely to its destination. These people are liable. I don’t care if the signs didn’t even exist. There comes a time in place where common sense must rule they all need to pay. The ultimate penalty men died. A railroad was interrupted. Equipment was destroyed. How many lives have to be lost until people realize you need to take responsibility .
Popped up on my feed last night.
@juniata guy posted:For anyone unfamiliar with ENS signs; I’ve pasted a link to the FRA which provides a description and visual of these signs.
And I urge all of you to advise your friends, family and co-workers about these signs. Knowing where to find them and understanding why they are there is key!
Curt
I follow the FRA on LinkedIn, and they post about these signs a few times a year. I'm sure they also do it through other forms of media, I just have not seen them. I did not know about the signs either until it popped up in my feed. I agree that it is important to share this information.
Watching this video was disturbing enough and then adding the loss of life. It is tragic and could have been avoided with a little education.
Based on a news release from the NTSB, it’s unlikely phoning the 800 number would have prevented this accident. The NTSB has advised the truck was blocking the crossing for only about one minute before the train struck the vehicle, not nearly enough time to allow the notification process to take place.
That said; even though ENS would not have prevented this accident, there are almost certainly many train/vehicle accidents that could be avoided through better education concerning the ENS process.
Curt
@juniata guy posted:Based on a news release from the NTSB, it’s unlikely phoning the 800 number would have prevented this accident. The NTSB has advised the truck was blocking the crossing for only about one minute before the train struck the vehicle, not nearly enough time to allow the notification process to take place.
I find that info odd as it appears that the trailer was disconnected from the tractor trailer. I would imagine that it takes more than 1 minute to do that.
According to the video posted by @RSJB18 (Thanks for posting that by the way) the news reporter said the truck got stuck on the tracks "Shortly before" the gates came down. I am not sure how much time it takes between when the gates come down and when the train passes but I would think it is at least 2 or 3 minutes before the train arrives.
@Frank Mulligan posted:I find that info odd as it appears that the trailer was disconnected from the tractor trailer. I would imagine that it takes more than 1 minute to do that.
Link to TRAINS Newswire article covering the NTSB news release.
Curt
The one minute that the NTSB says the truck was stuck on the crossing before the train hit it means to me that the truck company made no provisions with the UP prior to the accident. There is no way that a rig and load like that one could have made the crossing in only a minute.
Stuart
Wow, that is a big discrepancy between early reports of 45 min and NTSB’s 1 min. Kind of changes what one thinks happened.
While I 100% agree that some of these people SURELY should know about the signs and how to report the incident. That being said, the signs are less than clear, somewhere they should say clearly to call if the crossing is blocked. Yes, I know a thinking person should be able to figure that out, but common sense is very uncommon, so sometimes you have to spell it out!
Another point is the signs should be a LOT bigger and probably a brighter and more obnoxious color to draw attention to them.
I know what they are and why they're there, but to the typical idiot on the road, it might not sink in in time.
I was just re-watching the original video several times. Some things I find very strange are there is a man, I think he may be the truck driver but I am not 100% sure, who calmly walks towards the truck seconds after the impact of the locomotives. Then you can see him very calmly walking again at the 11 second mark as the train is crashing into itself. I don't get it-if it were me I would be running as far as I could to get away from the collision. Then after the train finally comes to a stop he again calmly gets in the truck and moves it out of the way. Why? I don't think any traffic is going to be getting through that street for quite a while.
Oversize loads normally scope out lane widths, tunnel dimensions, overhead clearances of bridges and overpasses. Do they scope out road approach angles to RR crossings to know if a particular trailers length and height above the road will allow it to get across the track without hanging up?
@CALNNC posted:Do they scope out road approach angles to RR crossings to know if a particular trailers length and height above the road will allow it to get across the track without hanging up?
I think that question is answered in the video. 
I saw a show on TV a couple weeks ago about moving oversized loads. They notified the railroad and coordinated a 5 minute time where the railroad would stop all train traffic so the load could cross the tracks. Is this standard procedure or was the moving company being proactive? I would certainly think it should be.
Ed
It’s disturbing to me how the reporter glossed over “the deaths of two Union Pacific workers “. My heart goes out to the families of the Train Crew that died.
@Frank Mulligan posted:I find that info odd as it appears that the trailer was disconnected from the tractor trailer. I would imagine that it takes more than 1 minute to do that.
Nah, if the trailer is high centered on the rails, which is the case here, there would be no need to lower the landing gear, in a case like that just pull the fifth wheel release, the glad hands should pull apart just like on rail cars, and the electrical umbilical may, or may not pull out undamaged, but in a case like that, an umbilical is a small cost compared to separating the tractor before a collision like that. Many/most umbilicals are double ended, and plug into another socket on the tractor, identical to the one on the wagon, changing out an umbilical cord is a pretty simple project.
Haven’t really paid attention to how the pillar was loaded/Supported in this case, but a typical Lowboy set up, high centered, jump out, pull the fifth wheel release, climb back in, and you could probably drive the tractor away, in 10, maybe 15 seconds Tops.
Doug
It will be interesting to read more detail about this accident. It would seem that it was a lowboy type trailer high centered, which would explain why the truck wasn’t able to clear the crossing, but none of the videos that I have seen, have shown the back of the tractor clearly enough to determine if it was a typical fifth wheel/semi trailer set or something different.
There are highway versions of the Schnabel type system, where the load is structurally part of the vehicle, and that wouldn’t be possible to “Uncouple” in under a minute.
Log trucks are another example, where they can’t be uncoupled while loaded, with the front “Bunks” attached to the “Tractor” and the logs spanning to the rear “Bunks,, with the “Reach” really just positioning the trailer axles for loading, and guiding the the log trailer while moving, the logs themselves are self supporting between the bunks, and the reach not really carrying any load.
It does appear that the tractor was uncoupled, in the Pecos accident, but the videos just don’t show as much detail as I would like to see, to better understand what happened
Doug
More information I've read.
It wasn't a true lowboy trailer, rather it was a hydraulic platform trailer. Hard to tell from the video, but it looks like the type used was not the typical 5th wheel setup.
Similar to this although with a closer coupling, based on the video images.
The Pilot cars were, as is usual, contracted from a pilot car company familiar with the area.Law enforcement escort was part of the permitting requirement by TXDOT.
The trucking company has been in business for a little over 40 years with up-to-date DOT inspections, and has a good safety record per the DOT's SAFER program
I work in aviation logistics where we have FAA and DOT constantly monitoring, so right now I am strictly looking at this tragedy from an operational standpoint. It will be informative to read the NTSB prelim report in about a month or so.
As with aviation, incidents can eventually be traced back to one point of failure. What may seem obvious to any of us, may not be so.
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