UP train hits parade float

[atrainguy60]

A UP train has hit a parade float and killed four people in Midland, Texas during a wounded veterans parade.
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/2 ... ans-parade

[Saturnalia]

Reading some more in-depth articles it's starting to sound like the grade crossing warning devices were ignored.

Nothing for sure though.

[Tom]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... story.html

wth

[Tom]

Reading some more in-depth articles it's starting to sound like the grade crossing warning devices were ignored.

Nothing for sure though.

Were there gates at that intersection? Looks like maybe a traffic signal,

Around here the trains never exceed 10 mph and people still manage to get hit by them.

[AARR]

A preliminary investigation indicates the crossing gate and lights were working, Lange said, though he didn't know if the train crew saw the float approaching.

They were blowing their horn, wouldn't that indicate the crew saw them? Is the reporter thinking the crew could have stopped in time if they had only seen the trailer?

[ConrailMan5]

I would like to say that the uneducated ( about railroad operations ) public sometime exagerates these situations. What happened here was tragic, there is no questioning that. It could have been avoided if someone was paying attention. That track appears to be on a pretty long tangent. I would think that you would be able to see the train coming.

My personal experience with the exageration IS my band teacher at Ypsi. Our 4th of July parade goes through depot town crossing over the Michigan line. He stated that one year A passenger train doing "80" cut through the parade. He says people barely got out of the way in time. He then says the the trains should know that we have a parade and wait for us, not exactly how it works. This I know not to be true. It was a Light power move doing 35-40 MPH, and everyone moved saftely out of the way. The public (and Media's) conceptions are sometimes skewed.

[Racer]

I see two people responsable for this accident. 1st and most responsable should be the City of Midland who planned the parade over the UP trackage. They should have called the railroad and notify them about the parade route where the railroad would do the steps needed to run trains safely over the parade's path (slow orders, flagmen, police, etc.). It sounds like they didn't do anything with the railroad except have the parade route over the crossing. The 2nd person responsable should be the truck driver pulling the float, he should have had better judgement of the clearance between the float ahead and the crossing.

[Tom]

I see two people responsable for this accident. 1st and most responsable should be the City of Midland who planned the parade over the UP trackage. They should have called the railroad and notify them about the parade route where the railroad would do the steps needed to run trains safely over the parade's path (slow orders, flagmen, police, etc.). It sounds like they didn't do anything with the railroad except have the parade route over the crossing. The 2nd person responsable should be the truck driver pulling the float, he should have had better judgement of the clearance between the float ahead and the crossing.

The guy driving the lighter, more maneuverable vehicle had the last clear chance to avoid this accident. There is a common theme, trucks and grade crossings, that will never change.

[railohio]

The 800 pound gorilla in the room right now that nobody is talking about is that the collision took place in a quiet zone and federal law places all liability for incidents within quiet zones on the local municipality.

[Norm]

According to the Midland paper this tragedy occurred on Garfield Rd. just north of Industrial Rd. Zooming in on that location on Bing Maps reveals an underpass for Front St. just north of the tracks. I've spent some time in Midland, and the approaches to the underpasses tend to be rather steep. With other parade traffic ahead of him the driver would not have had any place to go to avoid the train because the banks are steep.

That said, UP does haul a** through town because most of the north/south roads have over/underpasses. Very few grade crossings there. Seems to me one of the parade officials should have been watching for trains and stopped parade traffic.

CORRECTION! The intersection north of the tracks is NOT an underpass. Google has a better view.

[Saturnalia]

I would like to say that the uneducated ( about railroad operations ) public sometime exagerates these situations. What happened here was tragic, there is no questioning that. It could have been avoided if someone was paying attention. That track appears to be on a pretty long tangent. I would think that you would be able to see the train coming.

I heard someone on a little rant this morning about the town should've called the railroads and scheduled the parade around the "train schedule". Earth to reporter: Only Amtrak has a "schedule", and it fails to keep in quite often.

My personal experience with the exageration IS my band teacher at Ypsi. Our 4th of July parade goes through depot town crossing over the Michigan line. He stated that one year A passenger train doing "80" cut through the parade. He says people barely got out of the way in time. He then says the the trains should know that we have a parade and wait for us, not exactly how it works. This I know not to be true. It was a Light power move doing 35-40 MPH, and everyone moved saftely out of the way. The public (and Media's) conceptions are sometimes skewed.

I wonder what he'd say if he saw at 110mph section: 200 mph?

I was at the Alpena 4th of July parade several years ago, and the LSRC cut that parade in half. They were running several hours late, and cut the parade for about 5 minutes.

But yeah, most exagerate. I've had people report to me about a "mile-long train along Chicago Drive", but I check on here and it was only 30 cars.

[CSX_CO]

I heard someone on a little rant this morning about the town should've called the railroads and scheduled the parade around the "train schedule". Earth to reporter: Only Amtrak has a "schedule", and it fails to keep in quite often.

Come on MQT, you know freight trains run on a schedule. Its how the railroads judge how well their operation is running. If the train makes it out on time, and is by the set points on its route, by the scheduled time. That's how they plan for terminal operations, meets on line of road, etc. It may not be 'to the minute' like AMTRAK, but you're guaranteed to see the same train around the same time of day, if its running 'on-time'. I'll bet that train in the case of the UP, that train is through that town within 30 minutes either way each day it runs.

In my experience, when Towns have parades around CSX, they'll contact the railroad, and the railroad will issue a message to the train crews. Sometimes they'll stop traffic for the duration of the parade. Other times when the festivities are taking place around the tracks they'll issue an order to run restricted speed through the area. In one instance in Nappanee, IN I vaguely recall them calling a flagman for the main crossing in town during their town festival. They would rope off the crossing before the train arrived to keep people from going across the tracks. He was a busy guy in the evenings when the B&O came to life. I don't know what the UP's policy is on this sort of thing, so can't comment on what measures they may take.

Practice Safe CSX

[Mr. Tops]

UP typically issues a Form C track bulletin in such an event. What you mention, is protocol for UP, either running restricted speed, "be on the lookout for pedstrians", etc. Sometimes they will have a flagman or just issue an "XH" or an "XS" crossing procedure, requiring trains to not exceed 15 mph until the crossing is occupied, or having to stop & flag, respectively. They can also put a Form B into effect for the hours of the parade and have a track foreman out there, coordinating between train crews and parade personnel.

On halloween, we had a Form C in Momence at Island Park as there were halloween festivities going on there. The tracks cut through the park, but there is a pedestrian underpass. There is also a private crossing for maintenance vehicles, but that is gated - but still accessible by foot. Even though there was not a parade crossing the tracks, the simple fact that there was an organized event going on near the tracks, we still had the Form C issued to be on the lookout, which in so many words is restricted speed.

In the event of fires, where FD hoses may or may not be strung out across the tracks, they will have a track foreman on scene to correspond with the FD and the train dispatcher. This is what happened when a downtown building burnt down in Villa Grove in the summer of 2011. The resevoir that was being used to fill up the tankers was on the opposite side of the tracks from the fire, and numerous trucks were constantly crossing the tracks. Trains were held outside of town by the dispatcher, until the track foreman got the OK from the fire chief. The disptacher would have a small window to run one train. Southbounds, which normally stop on this crossing to change crews, ran through town to the next crossing south to change crews as to not block the crossing.

All of that being said, whatever the event, it is in more ways than one possible to prevent an incident like this from happening. Even if common sense is absent and the truck driver parks his float on the train tracks, had the town taken the appropriate measures to protect their parade participants (and those attending the parade for that matter), a casualty like this could have been averted.

[atrainguy60]

http://news.yahoo.com/west-texas-town-b ... 23963.html

[atrainguy60]

Officials are now saying that the crossing signals activated before the float started crossing the tracks.

http://news.yahoo.com/officials-vets-fl ... 37014.html

[railohio]

Or you can get it right from the investigators: http://twitter.com/ntsb

[Saturnalia]

Or you can get it right from the investigators: http://twitter.com/ntsb

Well, looks like the railroad crew did what they needed to do and the lineside warnings activated correctly. Truck clearly entered the crossing after the gates started to descend. Looks like driver error to me.

Sadly, in this incident, the driver wasn't the one killed.

[Clay320]

NTSB has a Twitter?!

[J T]

uth to change crews as to not block the crossing.

All of that being said, whatever the event, it is in more ways than one possible to prevent an incident like this from happening. Even if common sense is absent and the truck driver parks his float on the train tracks, had the town taken the appropriate measures to protect their parade participants (and those attending the parade for that matter), a casualty like this could have been averted.

And all it would have taken is a simple phone call from the parade organizers to UP to open up the line of communication about the event.

[CSXIndyLine]

While watching the Today show yesterday morning, one of the victims and his attorney were interviewed. From what I heard, the victim is planning on suing the railroad because the grade crossing does not give enough warning to the approaching train.