posted
why are there so many derailments in this region of the country?
Amtrak Train Derails in N.C., Killing Two
30 minutes ago
RALEIGH, N.C. - An Amtrak passenger train struck a dump truck loaded with gravel and derailed Tuesday, killing two people, police said. ADVERTISEMENT
Both of the people who died were in the dump truck, said police spokesman Jim Sughrue.
There were no serious injuries among the roughly 200 passengers on the train, he said.
The collision knocked the train's engine and two lead cars off the tracks, said Bryant Woodall, the Fire Department's assistant chief. The upended dump truck came to rest nearby.
A small amount of diesel fuel spilled, Woodall said.
The northbound train, the Carolinian, was coming
from Charlotte and headed for New York.
About a half-dozen Amtrak passengers with "what appeared to be minor" injuries were taken to a hospital, Sughrue said. The rest were taken to the Amtrak station in Raleigh.
Posts: 416 | From: St. Albans, Vermont | Registered: Feb 2003
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From WRAL and WNCN Raleigh, NC news stations websites:
Officials said there were 196 passengers on the Amtrak Carolinian. ---
At least 15 people, ranging in age from 11 months to 85 years old, were taken to Wake Forest University Medical Center with minor injuries that included back pain, face pain, leg pain, and abdominal pain. Emergency officials said the injuries are pretty typical with the type of accident in which they were involved.
--- The remaining 182 passengers from the train who were not injured were taken by bus to the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center. The passengers were transported to the convention center because the Amtrak facility in Raleigh was not large enough to accommodate the group.
The convention center staff and the American Red Cross provided water and refreshments to the passengers.
An Amtrak spokeswoman said the passengers would be taken by bus to Washington, D.C., where they would be able to pick up other transportation. ---
The trucks body was sheared off from the frame and ended up sitting vertically next to the train.
---
The incident happened less than a mile and a half away from the Raleigh Amtrak station where the train had just departed from.
--- The trains engine and four cars derailed. The truck's cab was destroyed on impact, and wreckage was thrown several hundred feet down the track. The dump truck was hauling gravel from a quarry on to a nearby parking lot construction site when police say they drove around a lowered cross-arm and tried to beat the train to the rail crossing. ---
***Updated 8:30am AUG. 3, 2005*** Crews spent all night trying to right the derailed cars and clear gravel and debris from the wreck site.
Despite the accident, Amtrak said services will not be interrupted Wednesday.
Three of the people spent the night in the hospital, while the others were treated and released.
Amtrak's Train #79, Southbound CAROLINIAN service from New York Penn Station to Charlotte, NC was terminated last night at Rocky Mount and passengers bused to their final destinations.
Amtrak last night also rerouted its northbound and southbound Silver Star trains, traveling between New York and Miami through Raleigh, to instead go through Fayetteville to avoid the wreck site.
-------------------- The best part of life is the journey, not the destination. Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by shanghaiamtrak: why are there so many derailments in this region of the country?
Cause of accident?
How about 'Impatient driver ignoring the flashing lights and trying to beat the train'. That's usually the case when someone puts a truck on the tracks in front of a train and there are lots of ungated grade crossings in the south.
You know, being less than two miles from departing the Raleigh station, the train probably wasn't moving very fast yet either.
Amazing.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
This story will likely receive little "play" owing to it being "pre-empted" by "The Miracle at YYZ"
So will seven US combat deaths today.
Oh well, guess Natalie gets a "night off".
Posts: 9993 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Originally posted by shanghaiamtrak: why are there so many derailments in this region of the country?
... and there are lots of ungated grade crossings in the south.
You know, being less than two miles from departing the Raleigh station, the train probably wasn't moving very fast yet either.
Amazing.
A good number of years ago my small hometown of Salisbury used to have 13 street/railroad crossings before half of those were closed down. That was the highest number of crossings in the shortest span of distance in the entire state of North Carolina, and a very high occurance of car/train encounters and train/person/homeless person deaths. It is true there a number of rural crossings in NC that only have lighted warnings and no crossing gates.
As an afterthought, how fast could this train have been going since in was only 1.5-2 miles from departure and still within the capital city limits? Is there a speed restriction? 25-35mph or there abouts? The locomotive of the train (as seen in the slideshow) looks like it dug itself in the ground a bit too.
-------------------- The best part of life is the journey, not the destination. Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: So will seven US combat deaths today.
I did see this covererd tonight on the national news, it was prominent in the fact that it pushed the US death toll in Irag to over 1,800 since the war started.
The 'miracle' at Toronto was all over the news with constant and non-stop coverage for well over an hour. Amazing there were no deaths.
And even though 2 died in the 'train meets truck' in Raleigh, I did not see it at all on the national news tonight.
-------------------- The best part of life is the journey, not the destination. Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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I have also "UPDATED" my first post at the top of this thread with more details as they became available today (Aug. 3, 2005)...
-------------------- The best part of life is the journey, not the destination. Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
It's easy to misjudge the speed of a train.
In the mornings I wait on the platform in Aurora Illinois to take the 5:25am Metra train to Chicago. I usually get there early as I like to sit outside and enjoy the weather and watch the trains going by on the BNSF main line.
When the earlier commuter train leaves, starting from a full stop, it's already got to be going 40mph when it passes me...sitting about 75 feet in front and to the side of it.
When you see it begin moving from the parking lot, it looks slow, but when you are standing alongside,woosh,it's moving quickly.
That's why I think people stupidly think they can beat a train because it seems to be moving slow...BUT IT'S NOT!
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Many years ago when I was in graduate school I worked for the North Carolina DOT in the Railway-Highway Grade Crossing Signals Section. That's a long name for the job of putting in lights and gates. To the state's credit, NCDOT was VERY aggressive in the installation of crossing signals and gates. I'm still amazed that people go around the gates, though. I was riding the San Joaquin one evening south of Fresno when the engineer did an emergency stop. We missed a car full of people by less than 10 feet.
We used to see all the railroad crossing accident reports when I worked for the NCDOT. Sometimes the accidents at crossings were funny, though, but only when no one was hurt. In Charlotte one night a drunk was driving to a friend's house and he knew he had to make a left turn at a traffic light. So when he saw the flashing lights, he made a left turn onto the railroad tracks and smashed into a stopped railroad engine. The crew was amazed.
Recently in Roswell, New Mexico, a slow-moving freight ran into an eighteen-wheeler full of cow manure. No one was hurt but some of the truck's "freight" ended up inside the cab of the engine.
As you approach a grade crossing, it's always a good idea to remember Newton's Laws of Motion.
-------------------- Kiernan Posts: 155 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Apr 2005
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