BART train derails in Northern California; 3 injured

[DET63]

A BART train derailed in Concord, Calif., on Sunday, injuring three people and disrupting service on the route.

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[George Harris]

It is 11:15pm Pacific time, and they have managed to get the second car away from the derailment point, presumably able to roll on the tracks.

 

[DET63]

Slow speed derailment outside Concord BART Station Sun., Mar. 13, 2011. Source: BART

I have to take the BART to classes tomorrow. I have a test.

 

[George Harris]

Excellent picture DET33.

The TV news report, with an aerial view at the beginning:

abclocal.com/kgo/story?section=resources/traffic&id=8010868

Based on this visual, only the last three cars derailed, possibly only cars 8 and 9 of the 10 car set. The train, which was westbound, was in the process of going from the normal westbound main to the normal eastbound main. It appears that back end of the eighth car / front end of the ninth car derailed at the diamond in the middle of the crossovers. The why? I will not guess.

As of 11:00 pm tonight the site is still not cleared. I am certain that there will be a fairly thorough investigation. I am equally certain that a lot of people will pontificate at length presenting authoritative sounding pronouncements that will be somewhere between partly and completely wrong.

At this point it appears that the site will not be cleared and the track back in service in time for the morning rush hour.

 

[DET63]

Regular BART service resumes through Concord StationUpdated: 4:01 am

Regular BART service has resumed through the Concord BART Station following a slow speed train derailment on Sun., March 13.

Link (as of 6:17 am PDT)

 

[PRR 60]

Pure speculation, but with part of the train on one track, part on the other, and some in the middle, it looks like the train picked the point of the facing point turnout (the turnout was not closed tightly enough to prevent one or more wheel flanges from sliding inside the tapered rail that moves resulting in that portion of the train heading the wrong way). It is kind of like a model railroad when you throw a switch while a train is passing over the switch.

Good work by BART to clear the train and repair the track and power for the morning rush.

 

[George Harris]

Pure speculation, but with part of the train on one track, part on the other, and some in the middle, it looks like the train picked the point of the facing point turnout (the turnout was not closed tightly enough to prevent one or more wheel flanges from sliding inside the tapered rail that moves resulting in that portion of the train heading the wrong way). It is kind of like a model railroad when you throw a switch while a train is passing over the switch.

looks more likely that it was at or near the diamond. Cars 1 thorugh 7 and car 10 were on the track.

 

[PRR 60]

Pure speculation, but with part of the train on one track, part on the other, and some in the middle, it looks like the train picked the point of the facing point turnout (the turnout was not closed tightly enough to prevent one or more wheel flanges from sliding inside the tapered rail that moves resulting in that portion of the train heading the wrong way). It is kind of like a model railroad when you throw a switch while a train is passing over the switch.

looks more likely that it was at or near the diamond. Cars 1 thorugh 7 and car 10 were on the track.

Check the aerial shots in this video. It looks like the trailing truck of the 8th car picked the switch. See what you think.

KGO Video

 

[DET63]

Two pictures of the derailment site, taken after the mess was cleaned up and trains were back to running normally.



FYI, the first picture was taken from a BART train as it was leaving the Concord station, while the second was taken from near the end of the platform.

Assuming that the pylons mark where the derailment occurred, it appears the train had been "wrong-way" running on track C1 and was crossing over to track C2 as it was leaving the station.

 

[PRR 60]

One other theory being kicked around is that the switch was thrown while the train was still crossing. That happened a few years go on PATCO (NJ). It was also a low speed derailment during a cross-over move. The train was half way through, the switch was thrown, and the back of the train went the other way. That is the quick route to the unemployment line for the dispatcher.

 

[DET63]

Wouldn't there be some sort of interlocking mechanism to keep the switch from being thrown while the train was occupying that block?

 

[Green Maned Lion]

It is generally assumed that trained professionals (no pun intended) are capable of doing the particular jobs they are handsomely paid to do without nannies making sure they don't make basic mistakes.

 

[DET63]

I would think that interlocking systems were designed to fulfill the "nanny" role. I suppose some do so better than others.

 

[train person]

It is generally assumed that trained professionals (no pun intended) are capable of doing the particular jobs they are handsomely paid to do without nannies making sure they don't make basic mistakes.

People make mistakes. Things like interlocking ensure that mistakes don't end up in dead people, although that particular line of logic might be lost on some.