Amtrak passenger train on its side

I read 3 dead. One in the truck, two on the train.

Do they still have a fireman in the cab these days?
 
Wow...my condolences to the families of those who were lost and injured in the crash. I'll betcha that truck drive drove out in front of the Southwest Chief while the gates were down. Look, listen and live, words to live by!
 
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Supposedly an unprotected public crossing (!?) I'm expecting that to be contradicted tho, and if not WTF are they thinking.
 
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All the reports indicate that the crossing was unprotected - no gates, no flashing lights, no warning bells. One of the fatalities was in the dump truck that was on the tracks.
 
Unprotected crossings aren't unheard of in the rural midwest... it just hasn't been worth the money for an amount of road vehicles daily in the single digits. This might change that.
 
One report says it was a gravel road with a steep incline on the crossing, thinking maybe the truck grounded and got stuck, that could explain parked?
 
The affected train was eastbound Southwest Chief #4.

Unfortunately, the toll has risen to 4 deaths (one in the truck) and at least 150 injuries.

One report states that the train was traveling at 90 MPH at the time of the collision, at a crossing with only crossbucks.

Apparently, the crossing is on a steep embankment and had visibility issues and has been on a waiting list for upgrades for the last 3 years.

I firmly believe that every crossing that trains are going that fast through should have gates and lights, regardless of the amount of road traffic.

Matt
 
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Totally agree but as many YouTube videos show gates, lights, bells do not stop idiot road users.
 
I am curious. Most railroads have guidelines in long and short horn blasts when approaching a crossing. Do the distances vary by speed? On the one hand, too far away might not be heard. On the other hand, too short before the crossing could men not enough reaction time. I would hope that at 90mph it would be putting up a good racket upon approach.
 
Sad accident...looked very rural and was 3 miles from the nearest town of 1000 ppl. There's just a lot of unprotected crossings in very low population areas... and there's a lot of very low population areas across the center of U.S. Hopefully there will be more advances in remote detection devices.

Apparently, a troupe of Boy Scouts helped evacuate fellow passengers.
 
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