Crashes and near-misses - have you seen one?

[oregon pioneer]

Not only did I see a near-crash last week, I got a photo of it:



I was waiting at Canton Station, just south of Boston, for the commuter-rail train inbound from Stoughton. As the train approached the crossing, with power on the rear end, the signals and bars activated. A white truck (you can see it beyond the raised platform the train is passing as it makes the station) tried to make it through, and only got past the bar on the near side. The bar came down on the bed behind the cab. You can see the people on the platform watching. I heard someone saying "ohmygod, ohmygod." The truck managed to back up till the bar was smack up against the back of the cab, and it was JUST enough. I think the train cleared it by about a foot. When the conductor came to check our tickets, my sister said "How about that truck!" The conductor replied that she had thought they would have to call it in to send someone out and check on the truck, but she was sure they had missed it fair and square.

I have been on a train that hit something before, but never saw the actual incident happen (just the emergency stop and the aftermath, as they hauled the injured pedestrian off in an ambulance, or pulled the elk carcass off the track). How many of you have seen crashes and near-misses, from the train or from the ground?

 

[andrewlhe]

A common solution to this problem is to have a crossing attendant at busy crossings, who will display the signal and lower the bar well beyond the train's arrival. More importantly, call the engineer to have a emergency stop if anything happened that may result in a crash. Last year I took this picture at a rather big crossing right next to Hiroshima station in Japan on a commuter train. The attendant can been seen on the left.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/138022528@N08/cs1Z66

And here is a photo I found on the internet, a North Korean crossing with a manual bar.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/138022528@N08/4r3Fr4

 

[Trainmans daughter]

This happened on our first Amtrak trip somewhere in Iowa. The driver of the van said he drove this route every morning to go have coffee with his brother and had never ever seen a train at this crossing. (No lights, bells, or gate. Only a crossbuck sign). He didn't even look at the track anymore. His luck ran out this particular day, as he ran into the side of the lead locomotive. Well, maybe he still had some luck left because no one was hurt. The abrupt stop of the train was interesting. We were in the diner, and the LSA loudly called out for everyone to brace for an emergency stop.

 

[oregon pioneer]

This happened on our first Amtrak trip somewhere in Iowa. The driver of the van said he drove this route every morning to go have coffee with his brother and had never ever seen a train at this crossing. (No lights, bells, or gate. Only a crossbuck sign). He didn't even look at the track anymore. His luck ran out this particular day, as he ran into the side of the lead locomotive. Well, maybe he still had some luck left because no one was hurt. The abrupt stop of the train was interesting. We were in the diner, and the LSA loudly called out for everyone to brace for an emergency stop.

Did you take that picture from the last car of your train? I do like it when people walk away. As the Canton incident was happening, I could imagine the driver saying "Just let me get away this time, and I swear I will never do it again!" He edged the rear of the cab back against the crossbar as hard as he could, and it was enough. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief not to be witnessing a traumatic incident (except the person on the platform who appeared to not even notice, see photo). It was really a pretty stupid move.

 

[neroden]

In a train for one. Saw a really horrifying near-miss which I've mentioned before -- woman jogging around the crossing gates for a FOUR TRACK LINE, leading two dogs. I was sure I was going to see two innocent dogs killed because their owner was a moron. She made it with about a second to spare. She actually almost got killed by *three different trains* on three of the tracks.

 

[Seaboard92]

I've almost been in a head on on a Deutsche Bahn ICE III. It was fairly late at night last northbound from Leipzig for the night. I was riding in the section behind the engineer by myself. And we depart the station and about a minute later we are in emergency. And I look up and there is a maintenance vehicle (maybe a tamper or something fairly large) on our track. We stopped about five feet short of it. I think the engineer and I both breathed a sigh of relief.

 

[the_traveler]

On the Crescent to the WAS Gathering, my train was involved in a fatal, where the driver drove around a stopped school bus and had a tie with our train. Guess who won?