Gates got stuck and car got struck...

J

JCitron

Trainzing since 12-2003
http://www.whdh.com/story/31274560/amtrak-train-collides-with-car-in-andover-mbta-investigating

Located at the junction of Railroad, Essex, Shawsheen, and Pearson Streets in Andover Mass. is a rail crossing. According to the woman she was crossing the tracks when the gates went down on the front of her car suddenly and then the back gate went down getting her trapped. The passing Amtrak Downeaster struck her car at 50 mph (81kph) totaling her SUV. The car was damaged, but she is unhurt. It's a good thing the train wasn't going faster because this could have been more serious. Either the engineer was able to slow down some by putting the train into emergency, or he was obeying a speed restriction which has been in place there for some time due to track work along this line.

At first I would blame her for going around the gates then confabulating a story, but this particular crossing has had gate issues before. My brother used to have his screen printing business behind where the camera is. I would go down there on my days off to rail fan because the building overlooks the tracks. There's nothing like having a comfy chair, soda, and food, while watching the trains go by. :

Anyway the MBTA, our local transit authority, was always down there investigating the gates which would get stuck either up or down on a nearly daily basis. From what I was told by one of the "T" MOW crew members nearly 20 years ago is the ground is a bit wet in that vicinity which causes the circuits to have problems.

This will be interesting to see what the investigation leads to on this. I'm glad she wasn't hurt.

John
 
Although it would severely damage a car, gates can be forcefully driven through, snapped off, and lifted up by a person or a vehicle ... they are not made of steel and are merely fiberglass boards that gravity pulls downward
 
cascaderailroad said:
Although it would severely damage a car, gates can be forcefully driven through, snapped off, and lifted up by a person or a vehicle ... they are not made of steel and are merely fiberglass boards that gravity pulls downward
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We know that, but she didn't and stayed in the car which got struck by the train.
 
I'd be interested to know exactly what the woman meant by "suddenly." It's not like the gates just free-fall over the road, unless this somehow occurred due to the malfunction. A ~10 second gap after the flashers activate is hardly sudden... but yes, it will be interesting to see what the investigation yields.
 
d0g said:
I'd be interested to know exactly what the woman meant by "suddenly." It's not like the gates just free-fall over the road, unless this somehow occurred due to the malfunction. A ~10 second gap after the flashers activate is hardly sudden... but yes, it will be interesting to see what the investigation yields.
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I wonder too about that. My gut feeling is she's not telling the whole truth and the locomotive mounted camera will prove her story otherwise, which makes me want to believe she was stopped on the tracks at Essex, Pearson, and Railroad Ave. Here's a map to show the locale. The other thing is people do go around those gates all the time since they are troublesome and do go and stay down on their own, but to have gates go suddenly down doesn't add up.

http://binged.it/1Qamar1



Matt3985 said:
When was this troublesome crossing gates installed John and how long was it there?
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The last time I was in that area was in 1998, and there were problems way before then with the same location. There used to be times when the gates would trigger and stay down for no reason, which meant the "T" had to dispatch the local police to guard the crossing until their MOW crew could do some fiddling with the relays. After that they'd play with them by running a MOW truck up and down the line a few times and things would work fine only to be called back again to have to fart around with the cabinet again.

That crossing has been there since the 1840s and used to be double track until 1977/78, when they decided it was the "right thing to do" and single track everything from Frye (Shawsheen) to Wilmington Jct. At the moment, the double track is being restored to the pre-late 1970s configuration with double track, however, with some additional crossovers in Ballardvale just north (west) of the station there.

John
 
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After looking at the location, and seeing there aren't quad gates, it is getting harder to fathom how she got "stuck." If stopped on the track, the gate for the opposite side would clear her lane, and should allow for an unobstructed exit forward. My guess would be she simply played "follow the leader" and went around the gates like everybody else, misjudged the speed of the train, and was the one who got nailed, and now she doesn't want to fess up.

Although I have seen pretty dumb drivers firsthand doing things like this. A driver once went below a gate as it was lowering, then decided to stop right on top of the track in front of the train. After waiting a few seconds, the driver decided to back up and ripped the lowered gate almost completely off. Then the driver went forward again, across the tracks, and away down the road... And some people claim there should be gates at EVERY U.S. crossing... like they solve everyone's problems. Pfff. Seems like there are more issues at the crossings with gates than ones with just standard crossbucks or flashers.
 
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d0g said:
After looking at the location, and seeing there aren't quad gates, it is getting harder to fathom how she got "stuck." If stopped on the track, the gate for the opposite side would clear her lane, and should allow for an unobstructed exit forward. My guess would be she simply played "follow the leader" and went around the gates like everybody else, misjudged the speed of the train, and was the one who got nailed, and now she doesn't want to fess up.

Although I have seen pretty dumb drivers firsthand doing things like this. A driver once went below a gate as it was lowering, then decided to stop right on top of the track in front of the train. After waiting a few seconds, the driver decided to back up and ripped the lowered gate almost completely off. Then the driver went forward again, across the tracks, and away down the road... And some people claim there should be gates at EVERY U.S. crossing... like they solve everyone's problems. Pfff. Seems like there are more issues at the crossings with gates than ones with just standard crossbucks or flashers.
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I was thinking the same on this as well, knowing the intersection and the people in the area. We have to remember that this is yuppy, NIMBY, snootville, Andover, where people think they are better than lowly railroads. They are the same people that complained the trains were blowing the horns for the crossing and setup one of those so-called quiet zones for the 3 crossings in town. There have been more than this incident like this as well at the same crossing when commuter trains have stopped at the nearby station platform and then clipped people that were crossing in front of them. Those are nothing compared to what could have happened to this lady.

Many years ago I was coming up the hill on Essex Street and had to stop at the Essex Street crossing. The one near the Dundee Park entrance across from Railroad Avenue. I was first in line and because the gates went down, I stopped and waited. Being a railfan, this didn't bother me at all, but Miss Snot in her fancy Jaguar couldn't wait and proceeded to go around me. She stopped short just as a freight train came rolling through. It was a good sized one too which made her wait longer than she expected. She ended up whipping her car around, nearly hitting me in the process, and heading down Railroad Avenue out to the lights on Main Street down the other end. The funny thing is if she had waited 20 seconds longer, the train was gone.

So it's people like this that go through gates, after all gates are supposed to make things safer. Yeah if people use them.

John
 
Oh yes, if you are first in line at a crossing and you actually stop, be prepared to catch grief from half of the people behind you. This attitude of "I don't have to stop if I can beat the train" seems to be contagious. And the minute some poor impatient person gets hit, they will try to sue the railroad for some reason by saying "there's no gates there," or "the signals weren't working" or the like. Heard a rumor of a woman with a case like that awhile back.

She was at a T-intersection with a railroad crossing right next to it. This intersection is stoplight-controlled, and the xing signals are tied into the stoplights. A signal activation triggers a red stoplight. There is a prominent "NO TURN ON RED," sign at the intersection, and TWO sets of crossing flashers pointed right at the turn lane she was in. She ended up making a right turn on red, and ended up being nailed by a passing train. Word has it she tried to sue the railroad for whatever reason.

These are the same people you see blatantly running stop signs and red lights. They are a danger to themselves and everyone around them, and should not be given a license. Period. Crossing signals do save lives and I'm sure a vast majority of people heed their warning, but unfortunately, lights, bells, and gates are not idiot proof.
 
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Should change the sign from "stop when flashing" to " heed my warning and I grant you your life, Disobey me, I grant you your DEATH!" or something similar. I know that means nothing to idiots, But, It's in writing as a sort of TOLD YOU SO thingy.


Better yet. actually use rising posts or barricades. The train crew can laugh there @$$es off as they drive by an idiot smeared on them.
 
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maruffijd said:
The train crew can laugh there @$$es off as they drive by an idiot smeared on them.
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Oh they would really now, would they, say you don't, say so !

Yahhh Rrrrright ... Retractable piston traffic bollards on the US highways would cause an accident 24 times each day, that's redidiculous ... the State, County, RR, and installers would get sued so bad, so many times, that they'd never recover

Don't be a train hugger, have you hugged a train today ?
 
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I agree with all that has been said...


Maybe we need something like this. :)

hqdefault.jpg
 
I went to Folkston, Georgia to watch some trains and I caught a guy on a bicycle go around the gates and beat the train across the tracks. I saw the same thing happen here in Dalton, at the busy railroad crossing on Morris Street on the south end of Downtown Dalton. Fortunately the guy made it across the tracks before the train came thru the crossing. My Mom learned quickly that she should be careful when asking "What do want to do for your Graduation Gift?", as I had just graduated from high school at the time. The result was a five and a half hour drive completely across Georgia. But to me, it was worth it.
 
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jordon412 said:
I caught a guy on a bicycle go around the gates
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Unfortunately that happens all too often. I've even seen a mother pushing a stroller with a young child through a crossing with a train bearing down. I was outright horrified. I've even seen people climb up and over stopped trains, and seen a whole family crouch under the train and cross the tracks under it. There is one video on YouTube of a HORDE of marathan runners crossing a set of tracks trying to "finish a marathon." An approaching train is forced to stop so as not to hit a swarm of runners, who do not stop. They are then seen swarming around, under, and even on the train. The conductor even comes out and starts yelling at some point. Never seen so many stupid, stupid people. And to the runners it was an annoyance because "they finished later than they wanted to" according to some news stories. There is even an official in a yellow vest waving runners through right in front of the train, and he appears to have the audacity to wave at the conductor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngYo_wbj2Wc



Morons and trains don't mix.
 
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d0g said:
Unfortunately that happens all too often. I've even seen a mother pushing a stroller with a young child through a crossing with a train bearing down. I was outright horrified. I've even seen people climb up and over stopped trains, and seen a whole family crouch under the train and cross the tracks under it. There is one video on YouTube of a HORDE of marathan runners crossing a set of tracks trying to "finish a marathon." An approaching train is forced to stop so as not to hit a swarm of runners, who do not stop. They are then seen swarming around, under, and even on the train. The conductor even comes out and starts yelling at some point. Never seen so many stupid, stupid people. And to the runners it was an annoyance because "they finished later than they wanted to" according to some news stories. There is even an official in a yellow vest waving runners through right in front of the train, and he appears to have the audacity to wave at the conductor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngYo_wbj2Wc



Morons and trains don't mix.
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I love how the presenter said the train was "barreling" down the tracks, when it couldn't have been doing more than 20.
 
Even though the town in prior weeks had communicated with the RR, and the RR said that no trains would be allowed through the area until the runners all had crossed the tracks ... a yellow vested man waved the OK to the runners to hurry up in front of the train ... The race should have been called off ... and runners ahead should have been made to return to the starting line to begin a second restart of the race

People are just stupid idiotic morons nowadays, running cars past downed crossing gates, climbing over couplers, and sliding under railcars ... I have absolutely no faith in mankind's intelligence anymore !
 
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cascaderailroad said:
Oh they would really now, would they, say you don't, say so!
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I DO say, sir. Loudly, and proudly.


cascaderailroad said:
Yahhh Rrrrright ... Retractable piston traffic bollards on the US highways would cause an accident 24 times each day, that's redidiculous ... the State, County, RR, and installers would get sued so bad, so many times, that they'd never recover
Click to expand...
I am just trying to open the floor to ideas. What ideas/suggestions comes to your mind? I would rather the idiots pay the price without dragging others down. If you are refering to 24 malfunctions in a single day, then, I believe the makers should of made a better "mousetrap."

cascaderailroad said:
Don't be a train hugger, have you hugged a train today ?
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Let's not stoop to uncivilized comments. This only lowers my view of such people. I can and do take comments with a grain of salt if I am in error or lack of knowledge. But this one has no room in my book, So I will play nice and say "I stand by my comments."

Now back to the reason this thread was created.....
 
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