# Somebody missed a signal!



## GoldenSpike (Dec 10, 2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9_g1NuoT6s

Note crewmember on other unit jumping (left side) moments before impact.

(Failed to list this under non-Amtrak posts).


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## Acela150 (Dec 10, 2009)

I've seen this before. The guy who jumped should have done what he was taught to do. RIDE IT OUT!


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## amtrakwolverine (Dec 10, 2009)

the engine in the camera was the one that ran the light correct. some reports say its the train with the camera.


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## ALC Rail Writer (Dec 10, 2009)

Acela150 said:


> I've seen this before. The guy who jumped should have done what he was taught to do. RIDE IT OUT!


Collision was imminent, the oncoming train was going to fast to stop and his train was too close to the switch for clearance. It may have saved his life. Riding it out would not have done anything to change the outcome, except maybe tacking on his death.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Dec 10, 2009)

Acela150 said:


> I've seen this before. The guy who jumped should have done what he was taught to do. RIDE IT OUT!



eh... for what purpose? Assuming he or the engineer made an emergency brake application, there is nothing more they can do. Its a split second decision with no pretty out come. He took a rough fall off that engine, it however saved his life. No reason for him to die if he did all he could.


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## PetalumaLoco (Dec 11, 2009)

Long Train Runnin said:


> Acela150 said:
> 
> 
> > I've seen this before. The guy who jumped should have done what he was taught to do. RIDE IT OUT!
> ...


Well we really don't know (or at least I don't know) what happened after the camera shut down, the wreckage could have fallen on him.

Oops, reading accident report...

No fatalities. He made the right choice.

From the wreck diagram, he was damn lucky.


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## Phila 30th St (Dec 11, 2009)

According to that accident report, missing that signal was a $5 Million mistake. Glad I can't make mistakes like that in my job!


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## anir dendroica (Dec 11, 2009)

Yeah, looking at the accident report, the engineer of the oncoming train thought the signal at the beginning of the siding changed from yellow to green as he approached, so he maintained a 40 mph speed. When he (or the conductor) saw the red ahead, he put the train in emergency but still was traveling at 22 mph at the time of the collision. All crew members jumped and survived. The train with the camera was moving at 38 mph through the 40-mph rated turnouts. Both crew members rode it out and survived.


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## GoldenSpike (Dec 11, 2009)

PetalumaLoco said:


> Long Train Runnin said:
> 
> 
> > Acela150 said:
> ...


Thanks for providing the link for the report. I wondered where it took place.

Interesting findings:

(1) Train #1 failed to comply with a signal. I wonder if it was the one at the start of the video.

(2) The Conductor of train #2 had cocaine in his system.


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## AAARGH! (Dec 11, 2009)

GoldenSpike said:


> Interesting findings: (1) Train #1 failed to comply with a signal. I wonder if it was the one at the start of the video.
> 
> (2) The Conductor of train #2 had cocaine in his system.


It was the conductor of train *#1* that had cocaine in his system.


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## GoldenSpike (Dec 11, 2009)

AAARGH! said:


> GoldenSpike said:
> 
> 
> > Interesting findings: (1) Train #1 failed to comply with a signal. I wonder if it was the one at the start of the video.
> ...


That's what happens when they put 1 and 2 next to each other on the keyboard <_< .


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## George Harris (Dec 11, 2009)

I don't have a link handy, since I downloaded this report quite a while back, but that everybody survived is not a given in this sort of situation. Hunt up this one and read the details:

Accident No.:..........DCA-04-FR-006

Location:................Carrizozo, New Mexico

Date:.....................February 21, 2004

Time:.....................7:54 a.m. mountain standard time1

Railroad:................ Union Pacific Railroad

Property Damage:...$1,964,543

Fatalities:....................2

Injuries:.....................0

Type of Accident:.....Collision

Here is the basc information:



> SynopsisAbout 7:54 a.m. on Saturday, February 21, 2004, Union Pacific Railroad (UP) eastboundfreight train AMLKS-18, consisting of 2 locomotives and 78 empty multi-level cars, struck a westbound UP freight train, GLPNEP-16, consisting of 4 locomotives and 93 loaded covered hopper cars. The westbound train was struck about 25 hopper cars behind its locomotives, resulting in 11 derailed cars (the 26th through the 35th). The striking train had two locomotives, and its first 11 cars derailed as a result of the collision. Both crewmembers of the striking train were killed. The crewmembers of the westbound train were unharmed. Diesel fuel released from the ruptured tanks of the striking train’s locomotives caught fire, which was extinguished by the local fire department. There was no evacuation of the area. The estimated damage was $1,964,543.
> 
> The Accident
> 
> The accident occurred at milepost (MP) 825.8, at the east turnout switch to a siding from the single track mainline at Carrizozo, New Mexico. The westbound train was moving on a diverging approach signal into the siding from the mainline. Before the eastbound train struck the westbound train, it had traveled past a mainline advanced approach signal, an approach signal, and a stop signal. . . . At the time of the collision, the eastbound train was traveling about 36 mph, and the westbound train was traveling about 23 mph.


Given the similarities in speed and that both men in the locomotive of the train moving at 36 mph died from hitting the side of a grain hopper at a very low angle, jumping in advance of the collision makes a lot of sense to me.

The conclusion of the report was that both men in the cab of the train that over ran the signal were asleep.


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## DET63 (Dec 17, 2009)

GoldenSpike said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9_g1NuoT6s
> Note crewmember on other unit jumping (left side) moments before impact.
> 
> (Failed to list this under non-Amtrak posts).


Was this in a cornfield (hence a "cornfield meet"  )?


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## alanh (Dec 20, 2009)

AAARGH! said:


> GoldenSpike said:
> 
> 
> > Interesting findings: (1) Train #1 failed to comply with a signal. I wonder if it was the one at the start of the video.
> ...


The camera was in the train identified as #2 in the report. Train #1 was supposed to stop on the mainline, let train #2 go into the siding, and then proceed. Instead, train #1 overran the switch and hit train #2 as #2 was pulling into the siding.
The first signal we see is yellow over yellow, which means approach medium (approach next signal at no more than 40mph and prepare to enter diverging route). The signal at the siding is initially red over green, which is diverging clear -- it's clear to divert into the siding. It changes to red over red (stop!) at 0:39 once the other train gets too close to the switch.

The report says train #1 passed a flashing yellow over red (also approach medium) but didn't slow down from 44mph. The signal at its end of the siding was solid yellow over red, approach, (slow to 30mph, prepare to stop at next signal). The train continued at 43mph until about 1000 feet from the other train when they applied the emergency brakes. Their next signal, of course, was red (stop).


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## DET63 (Dec 21, 2009)

It looked to me like the train holding the main was able to stop short of the switch, but not short of the fouling point.


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## alanh (Dec 21, 2009)

According to the report, it was still going 22mph when it hit train #2. Train #2 had only slowed a few mph because they didn't realize the other wasn't stopping until the double red dropped.


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