CONO 59 (7/13) collision with 18 wheeler

[afigg]

Here is one reason why it is difficult to keep equipment in good working order. The southbound #59 City of New Orleans hit a 18 wheeler hauling asphalt at a grade crossing in Amite LA on July 14. No one on the train was injured, the truck driver was hospitalized. The truck was totally destroyed and the engine 809 and lead Superliner car suffered noticeable damage. Perhaps we should consider placing airbags on the front of the diesel locomotives with a proximity detector that is active at speeds above 20 mph.

Action News with close-up photos: Amtrak, 18-wheeler collide; Truck driver failed to yield at crossing, says Sheriff.

WAFB 9 with more but small photos: Highway 51 has re-opened after train collision.

Can't tell from the photos exactly which Superliner it is, but it and the engine will be out of service for a while.

 

[offroad437]

The damaged engine and car are in Nola's yard. The engine is already in the shop getting a new nose. They have a shop here that fixes the engines but the car I guess will have to go else where for repair.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Not good! Looks like it's the transdorm which is in short supply! Maybe Beechgrove can rebuild/rehab it IF there is any money left in their Budget?? Of course the same thing applies to the P-42 which run on the Texas Eagle and CONO as a Single Engine LD Train!

Edited; Good news on the P-42, we posted @ the same times!

 

[Cali]

I think there were a couple of collisions on the Texas Eagle last month too. I wondered back then how Amtrak can afford all of these accidents. I mean, the cost of fixing the trains must be enormously costly. I don't know much about metallurgy, but that transdorm looks pretty wrecked and I wonder if it'll be worth fixing.

Also, why did the transdorm suffer so much damage? I suspect the trailer of the truck probably swung around and hit the side of the transdorm as the train rammed through it, but I'm also not a physicist, so that's just a random guess. Anyone with more knowledge care to share?

It's good no one was on the bottom level of that transdorm... I'm traveling on the TX Eagle later this year in the transdorm myself!

 

[afigg]

I think there were a couple of collisions on the Texas Eagle last month too. I wondered back then how Amtrak can afford all of these accidents. I mean, the cost of fixing the trains must be enormously costly. I don't know much about metallurgy, but that transdorm looks pretty wrecked and I wonder if it'll be worth fixing.

Also, why did the transdorm suffer so much damage? I suspect the trailer of the truck probably swung around and hit the side of the transdorm as the train rammed through it, but I'm also not a physicist, so that's just a random guess. Anyone with more knowledge care to share?

It's good no one was on the bottom level of that transdorm... I'm traveling on the TX Eagle later this year in the transdorm myself!

Since the driver has already been cited for failure to yield, Amtrak will certainly be seeking payment for repairs to the locomotive and Superliner and the cost of the buses, etc from the truck owner insurance company. The total tab to Amtrak may exceed the maximum amount on the truck's policy, but Amtrak's legal department will be looking to get as much as they can. Because the collision also took out a telephone pole and power lines, cutting power to at least 140 homes, there will be multiple parties seeking payment for damages.

The news story states that the locomotive hit the driver's side door, so it hit the cab car which likely caused the trailer to swing around with the end of the trailer hitting the Superliner, What appears to be the red trailer and the knocked over telephone pole visible in the photo below of the wide debris field of the truck. The CONO was not at a slow speed when it hit the truck.

 

[NE933]

I hope nobody was sitting next to the gouged out Superliner window.

 

[fillyjonk]

Yipes. I'm glad no one on the train was hurt and the truck driver wasn't killed. Kind of a scary photo of that transdorm.

 

[Newbie_Emily]

if the truck driver is an independent driver, his truck may not carry enough insurance to cover the damages(plus other losses suffered by Amtrak and/or employees/passengers) if that's the case, the truck driver's only recourse is to start a bankruptcy process immediatly

 

[NE933]

if the truck driver is an independent driver, his truck may not carry enough insurance to cover the damages(plus other losses suffered by Amtrak and/or employees/passengers) if that's the case, the truck driver's only recourse is to start a bankruptcy process immediatly

If that happens I hope they fail and is denied the request, if the driver caused that truck to foul the tracks and collide with the train. If that's so, an indictment rightfully falls onto their laps and should be grabbed for all losses to replace train equipment, fix power lines, etc. If I sound harsh, I'm rightfully so. It's not up to bankruptcy courts to fish through who pays for mistakes like this.

 

[Newbie_Emily]

if the truck driver is an independent driver, his truck may not carry enough insurance to cover the damages(plus other losses suffered by Amtrak and/or employees/passengers) if that's the case, the truck driver's only recourse is to start a bankruptcy process immediatly

If that happens I hope they fail and is denied the request, if the driver caused that truck to foul the tracks and collide with the train. If that's so, an indictment rightfully falls onto their laps and should be grabbed for all losses to replace train equipment, fix power lines, etc. If I sound harsh, I'm rightfully so. It's not up to bankruptcy courts to fish through who pays for mistakes like this.

that's exactly what bankruptcy laws are for.... to protect those who can't pay. The alternative is for the truck driver to commit suicide(which happens in most country without bankruptcy protection for these thing). the truck driver most likely did not cause the accident intentionally. the only time that a U.S. bankruptcy court will refuse to discharge debts like this is when the truck driver was convicted of DUI.

 

[jis]

How does one go around a crossing gate unintentionally?

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[afigg]

if the truck driver is an independent driver, his truck may not carry enough insurance to cover the damages(plus other losses suffered by Amtrak and/or employees/passengers) if that's the case, the truck driver's only recourse is to start a bankruptcy process immediatly

If that happens I hope they fail and is denied the request, if the driver caused that truck to foul the tracks and collide with the train. If that's so, an indictment rightfully falls onto their laps and should be grabbed for all losses to replace train equipment, fix power lines, etc. If I sound harsh, I'm rightfully so. It's not up to bankruptcy courts to fish through who pays for mistakes like this.

If the truck was driven and owned by an independent driver, his commercial insurance nor his personal wealth is not likely to cover the extent of the damage and loss from the accident, whether the driver files for bankruptcy or not. In that case, Amtrak and others who incurred losses will get as much as they from the insurance policy and any other pockets they can go after.
However, if you read the news links, this was a truck hauling asphalt with the collision occurring at the "Diamond B Construction rail road crossing". That suggests that the truck was hauling material for a construction company and may have been a construction company truck. In that case, there should be a larger insurance policy limit and more assets to go after to recover the losses. Amtrak has a legal department to handle these things and they will recover what they can.

Unfortunately this happened to the CONO which is the only Chicago LD train that has had decent On-time performance in recent months with a 80% OTP in June. The CONO (7/13) in the collision was remarkably on time for an LD train until the truck got in the way.

* Train 59 of 07/13/2014.
* THIS TRAIN EXPERIENCED A SERVICE DISRUPTION.
* City of New Orleans
* +---------------- Station code
* |    +----------- Schedule Arrival Day 
* |    |  +-------- Schedule Arrival time
* |    |  |     +----- Schedule Departure Day
* |    |  |     |  +-- Schedule Departure Time
* |    |  |     |  |     +------------- Actual Arrival Time
* |    |  |     |  |     |     +------- Actual Departure Time
* |    |  |     |  |     |     |     +- Comments
* V    V  V     V  V     V     V     V
* CHI  *  *     1  805P  *     805P  Departed:  on time.
* HMW  *  *     1  854P  *     854P  Departed:  on time.
* KKI  *  *     1  923P  *     923P  Departed:  on time.
* CHM  *  *     1  1034P *     1034P Departed:  on time.
* MAT  *  *     1  1113P *     1113P Departed:  on time.
* EFG  *  *     1  1137P *     1137P Departed:  on time.
* CEN  *  *     2  1225A *     1225A Departed:  on time.
* CDL  2  121A  2  126A  141A  150A  Departed:  24 minutes late.
* FTN  *  *     2  314A  *     342A  Departed:  28 minutes late.
* NBN  *  *     2  356A  *     424A  Departed:  28 minutes late.
* MEM  2  627A  2  650A  616A  650A  Departed:  on time.
* GWD  2  853A  2  900A  853A  900A  Departed:  on time.
* YAZ  *  *     2  951A  *     951A  Departed:  on time.
* JAN  2  1112A 2  1120A 1048A 1120A Departed:  on time.
* HAZ  *  *     2  1155A *     1155A Departed:  on time.
* BRH  *  *     2  1216P *     1216P Departed:  on time.
* MCB  *  *     2  1240P *     1240P Departed:  on time.
  HMD  *  *     2  128P              CT
  NOL  2  332P  *  *                 CT

 

[Green Maned Lion]

if the truck driver is an independent driver, his truck may not carry enough insurance to cover the damages(plus other losses suffered by Amtrak and/or employees/passengers) if that's the case, the truck driver's only recourse is to start a bankruptcy process immediatly

If that happens I hope they fail and is denied the request, if the driver caused that truck to foul the tracks and collide with the train. If that's so, an indictment rightfully falls onto their laps and should be grabbed for all losses to replace train equipment, fix power lines, etc. If I sound harsh, I'm rightfully so. It's not up to bankruptcy courts to fish through who pays for mistakes like this.

NE, you seem like an educated man. Remember the phrase "You can't get blood from a stone."?

 

[NE933]

The needs of protecting a bankcrupt truck company are subordinate to those protecting train passengers. My feeling is understandably biased because I am a train passenger, a frequent one, but I don't drive 18 wheelers. It is the burden of the truck company to give warnings of inattentive driving around railroad tracks, and to foot the bill for the consequences; it is the burden of the truck driver to know how to operate his or her vehicle safely (and statistics are revealing glaring contraindications in grade crossing behaviors); and finally the railroads have the burden of installing lights and gates, and being adequately insured against the brainless numbnut drivers who are not acting responsably. That in mind, if this driver did not slow down, or deliberately tried to beat the train (the locomotive camera will reveal that), then bankcruptcy seems to me like a fitting and just conclusion.

 

[NE933]

NE, you seem like an educated man. Remember the phrase "You can't get blood from a stone."?

Yes, but my emerald colored cat, be not deceived: truck companies have lucrative hauling arrangements, and in some ways victimize drivers with incentives to carry more, faster, quicker, and the guy at the top makes out big. Stone, you say? A spongey loot stash is more like it.

 

[neroden]

We had an extreme bad-truck-driver crash in Ithaca not long ago (look it up) which killed a woman and demolished the front of a building. It is certain that the costs will vastly exceed the insurance limit for the trucking company, and presumably the company will have to sell off all its assets and declare bankruptcy, and the driver will too, and it probably *still* won't be enough to cover the costs. (The driver was criminally charged, by the way.)

In this case, it seems very likely that the asphalt truck was owned by a construction company. Depending on how big a company it is and how well insured it is, Amtrak may soon own the entire assets of that construction company.

 

[tp49]

Depends on whether the driver in question is considered an agent or an independent contractor...

 

[neroden]

Joint & several liability.

 

[tp49]

Not applicable if you can establish the truck driver is an independent contractor and after seeing the company's website, if in fact the truck was operating one of the listed runs, I would strongly suspect they don't employ their own drivers and may not even have their own trucks. This is assuming facts not in evidence of course. Establishing that relationship is the key. If no agency relationship, then no joint and several liability under Louisiana law and probably a judgment-proof defendant in the truck driver.

 

[user 1215]

How does one go around a crossing gate unintentionally?

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

From the photos and the news reports, it looks like this was Anderson Rd between Amite and Independence, LA. It's a non-protected crossing into a dirt, gravel, asphalt yard.

Google Street View looks like it's actally only a YIELD sign to come off the highway and into the business, though coming out there is a stop sign with the crossbucks.

Visibility seems to be pretty good in both directions from either side of the track.

 

[FormerOBS]

Neroden:

Let me be a Devil's Advocate for a minute (no offense intended to member "D.A.").

I agree that Amtrak might be entitled to own the entire assets of the asphalt company. But why doesn't Amtrak own the entire assets of the barge company that derailed the Sunset Limited into Big Bayou Canot?

 

[andersone]

GML - not to be the quotation police but isn't it "blood from a turnip?"

 

[neroden]

Neroden:

Let me be a Devil's Advocate for a minute (no offense intended to member "D.A.").

I agree that Amtrak might be entitled to own the entire assets of the asphalt company. But why doesn't Amtrak own the entire assets of the barge company that derailed the Sunset Limited into Big Bayou Canot?

Apparently it had enough money to pay out all the claims. Warrior & Gulf Navigation is still operating. It must have been a very large company, or had a huge insurance policy. It looks like it was very large, operating across a dozen states with lots and lots of boats. It seems to be pretty litigious, also, trying to get out of paying its fair share in case after case over the decades. W&GN raised spurious counterclaims against Amtrak which were all rejected at summary judgment in 2000.

I find that it paid out $1.4 million to settle only one of the 47 deaths. But it had profits in the tens of millions every year. I haven't found the final settlement of the main Amtrak v. W&GN case (there are so many cross-claims I'm having trouble even finding the right case title to search for), but frankly it looks like they had deep pockets and were able to simply pay off all the damages they owed.

Most local companies aren't that big.

 

[Railroad Bill]

GML - not to be the quotation police but isn't it "blood from a turnip?"

Yes, we farm boys from Ohio know about turnips. :giggle: Those "easterners" are always concerned with stones, sponges, etc

 

[Bob Dylan]

GML - not to be the quotation police but isn't it "blood from a turnip?"

Yes, we farm boys from Ohio know about turnips. :giggle: Those "easterners" are always concerned with stones, sponges, etc

How you gonna keep'em down on the farm once they've seen Cleveland! LOL (of course Cleveland, which is on the way back, is better than Newark, Jersey City,Atlantic City, Camden etc etc! )