Another Bad Grade Crossing Collision

[Saturnalia]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/24/so ... -reported/

At least 30 people were injured Tuesday morning in a Southern California Metrolink commuter train collision involving a truck on the tracks in Ventura County, which is northwest of Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Oxnard police Sgt. Denise Shadinger says the crash reported at 5:44 a.m. Shadinger said the truck became fully engulfed in flames. Authorities are describing the scene as a multi-casualty incident.

Cue ignorant lawmakers claiming PTC solves-all

[ConrailMan5]

This ought to test how safe those Hyundai rotem cars are.
That just gives me chills. Because if that happened at the grade crossing I live at, it woul likely wipe out our house.
Hopefully there are no deaths from this one though

[Ypsi]

Reports indicated only 51 on the train, and so far no deaths but the 30 or so injuries.

http://news.yahoo.com/metrolink-train-s ... 39051.html

[CSX_CO]

This ought to test how safe those Hyundai rotem cars are.

Reports indicated only 51 on the train, and so far no deaths but the 30 or so injuries.

Sounds like they did their jobs...

Practice Safe CSX

[ConrailMan5]

This ought to test how safe those Hyundai rotem cars are.

Reports indicated only 51 on the train, and so far no deaths but the 30 or so injuries.

Sounds like they did their jobs...

Practice Safe CSX

Wasn't questioning it, I just believe this is their first major incident. Glad the did what they were designed to do!

[Bulby]

This ought to test how safe those Hyundai rotem cars are.

Reports indicated only 51 on the train, and so far no deaths but the 30 or so injuries.

Sounds like they did their jobs...

Practice Safe CSX

From what I can see in the aerials, the cars actually look like they took the impact fairly well. Huzzah for those overly-burdensome FRA crash-worthiness standards, as Amtrak's equipment procurement people say about them.

I'm obviously not on the ground, but from what I can see, once the cars are released to go for repairs, it should be relatively straightforward and quick. They don't appear to have suffered much damage.

The real reason the train jackknifed like that is that you had a string of light bi-levels in front of a really heavy locomotive that was under power. Simple physics (and countless accidents with cab-cars) can tell you that it was going to happen like that.

[Saturnalia]

The real reason the train jackknifed like that is that you had a string of light bi-levels in front of a really heavy locomotive that was under power. Simple physics (and countless accidents with cab-cars) can tell you that it was going to happen like that.

Well, in theory it sounds like the engineer dumped the train...thus the whole thing would be in emergency. Yet, the weight of the locomotive remains. My questions revolve around the cab cars, and perhaps they should have some added weight to them, to make them more like locomotives? Seems like that would help the physics...whether or not it is practical IDK.

Not knowing how many people were in each car, it hard to know for sure, but assuming equal distribution, 30+ people survived a roll-over accident in a railroad commuter car. That sounds pretty good to me!

[Bulby]

The real reason the train jackknifed like that is that you had a string of light bi-levels in front of a really heavy locomotive that was under power. Simple physics (and countless accidents with cab-cars) can tell you that it was going to happen like that.

Well, in theory it sounds like the engineer dumped the train...thus the whole thing would be in emergency. Yet, the weight of the locomotive remains. My questions revolve around the cab cars, and perhaps they should have some added weight to them, to make them more like locomotives? Seems like that would help the physics...whether or not it is practical IDK.

They are better than they used to be, though that isn't saying a lot.

If the engineer dumped it without shutting off the throttle, the PCS switch won't unload the prime mover for 3-5 seconds after it detects emergency application. That's designed so if you have a train come apart going down a hill and the rear end is coming down on you, the locomotives have a few more seconds to get in the clear.

If he dumped it into emergency, the application will propagate through the train at nearly 900ft per second. So, in under a second the locomotive PCS will sense the application and begin counting down. By the time you get the PCS switch to open, if he hadn't manually throttled off, they were probably on the crossing. It was dark and reports place the train speed between 50 and 70 miles per hour.

I will concede that Metrolink may have a different PCS switch, as they are not running freight, but that is my experience with the PCS switch.

[Ypsi]

Lives were likely saved by passenger cars designed to absorb a crash that were purchased after a deadly collision a decade ago, Metrolink officials said. The four passenger cars remained largely intact as did the locomotive.

http://news.yahoo.com/metrolink-train-s ... 39051.html

Police found the disoriented driver of the demolished Ford F-450 pickup truck about a mile or two from the crossing, said Jason Benites, an assistant chief of the Oxnard Police Department.

The driver, Jose Alejandro Sanchez Ramirez, 54, of Yuma, Arizona, was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, Benites said at an afternoon news conference.

Sanchez Ramirez was hauling a trailer to deliver produce and told police he tried to turn right at an intersection but turned prematurely onto the tracks and got stuck. He was hospitalized for observation.

uhhhh..

There were 48 passengers aboard and three crew members, who were all injured.

...

Many of the 23 people who weren't injured stood nearby wrapped in white blankets

[Bulby]

uhhhh..

There were 48 passengers aboard and three crew members, who were all injured.

...

Many of the 23 people who weren't injured stood nearby wrapped in white blankets

All three crew members were injured, it's poorly worded.

[Saturnalia]

hmmm...this just got more interesting!

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... n-arrested

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/25/fe ... latestnews

"It was not stuck, it was not bottomed out on the track or something like that," National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt tells reporters. The collision occurred about 80 feet west of the Rice Avenue grade crossing, suggesting to investigators the driver had driven the vehicle along the tracks.

[hoborich]

Well, the Fox News reporter said the train was "hurtling down the tracks", so that must be what happened.

[Ypsi]

The metrolink engineer, with a reported 40 years operating, died this morning in a hospital. Sad to read, only fatality associated with this collision so far.

http://ktla.com/2015/03/03/metrolink-en ... acks-dies/