Carolinian 80(9) Grade Crossing accident

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jis

jis

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Apparently a grade crossing accident involving the Carolinian.

http://www.wral.com/train-accident-reported-in-halifax-county/14502409/

Halifax County, N.C. Authorities are responding to a train accident in Halifax County near U.S. Highway 301 and N.C. Highway 903.

Ted Camarata, a passenger on the train, said the train is the Amtrack Carolinian heading from Raleigh to Philadelphia, but authorities have not confirmed that information. Camarata sent photographs that appear to show at least one derailed car.

Authorities have closed N.C. Highway 903 and U.S. Highway 301 in both directions at the location of the accident, and a detour has been set up.
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The Daily Herald in Roanoke Rapids reported that the train collided with a transfer truck, and the train's engine was on its side.
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Oy... Not good. :/
 
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Looks like the truck was an oversize, heavy load (large trailer, six axles). Maybe bottomed-out on crossing and was stuck?
 
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Looks like scratch one baggage car.....

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Also looks like someone's house just got decimated.....

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Will take a while to clear up this mess..

It is pretty much in the town of Halifax between Petersburg and Rocky Mount. Will affect all Atlantic Coast Service.
 
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Wonder what the speed of the train was. Usually they end up much further from the intersection than this one did, yet fast enough to knock everything apart and over.
 
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A, stuck, bottomed out heavy load trailer could sure cause the engine to derail.

As close to the crossing as the engine is, it looks like the train slowed a fair amount before the impact.

Here is the crossing on Google Maps:

Right click, choose "What's here" and then Street View at upper left, and you can have a look around, including looking back up the tracks to get an idea of the sight line the Engineer had.
 
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Video HERE of the actual impact. Video is sideways, but still viewable.

Scroll down to the "Remy" tweet.
 
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Boy the Cardinal is really having some bad luck. I'm taking the Silver Star Friday down to Tampa. Hope things are cleared up by then.
 
OK, as expected the entire Atlantic Coast Service is now in Service Disruption, except 90, which is about to arrive into Rocky Mount. Presumably it will terminate there since it has nowhere to go, with passengers bustituted to Richmond. I am almost certain that 91 will be held in Washington. 89 will probably have to go back to Petersburg or Richmond. Wonder if they will bus bridge Richmond to Rocky Mount.

Guest said:
Boy the Cardinal is really having some bad luck. I'm taking the Silver Star Friday down to Tampa. Hope things are cleared up by then.
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Cardinal? What does Cardinal have to do with the Carolinian? Cardinal doesn't come anywhere near where this incident took place!

Anyway, from the video it seems that the baggage car is not as damaged as it originally looked from the photo.
 
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What's it going to take in order to end the callous, reckless disregard for railroad crossings? Jailing the drivers and their employers? Massive fines? They just cannot be educated.
 
I think the speed limit for that train in that area is 79 m.p.h. This is the main line: The route of the A-Train, the Silvers, etc., plus heavy freight traffic.

There is NO convenient detour around this. I wonder what will be the impact on these other trains. The technical term for this is "Cluster-[fill in the blank]".

The Roanoke Rapids newspaper's unattributed story refers to the derailed baggage car as the second car. They must think the locomotive is a car.

Be very wary of reports from unidentified writers who are not informed about their subject.

Ryan, maybe they just decided not to go to Charlotte or New York today. On a whim. Ya never know.

Note: This crossing was "protected" by gates and flashers and presumably bells. Maybe the truck bottomed out. That's poor planning.

As they say, you can't fix stupid.

Tom
 
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Ooops! CNOC forgot to update 90's status to "Disruption". It still says that it expected in Persburg on time, even though it is sitting at RMT at 0mph. 89 is sitting at Petersburg at 0mph. 79 must be there somewhere between Richmond and Petersburg. It is not visible on real time status map as far as I can see.
 
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Looks like another baggage car and (potentially) a valuable GE Genesis bite the dust.

Glad no one is seriously hurt. It will be a great day when all major grade crossings are eliminated. You can't fix stupid, but you can make it so that stupid is less able to put others at risk.
 
Another trucker endangers hundreds of people. When are they going to require brains to get a trucking license?
 
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I've got a bedroom on the Auto Train on Wed. Do you think I should plan on driving?
 
John Bobinyec said:
FriskyFL said:
What's it going to take in order to end the callous, reckless disregard for railroad crossings? Jailing the drivers and their employers? Massive fines? They just cannot be educated.
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Can't be done. The better way is to close the crossings and provide other ways around them.
jb
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Or elevate and grade separate the entire line, from Miami all the way to DC.
Yes, that'll work.
 
That's a 70 mph curve on what is otherwise 79 mph for passenger trains.

I would guess there are 250 grade crossings between Richmond and Jacksonville. Closing or bridging over them all would be an impossible expense.

As busy as this line is, I suspect it will be open with 12 hours. There is a siding just north of the crossing that can temporarily hold the damaged equipment.
 
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Why does it feel like I shouldn't photograph p42s? This is the third one that I have photographed only to hear several years later that it wrecked and rolled over!! The numbers have been 187, 185, and 60.
 
Truck had apparently spent 15 minutes trying to make the turn there and had a state trooper on scene and not one freaking person thought to call the railroad or 911 and tell them that the crossing was blocked?!
 
Yes, Paulus. I find it astounding that the truck had been stuck for quite some time (the local TV report said 30 minutes), and no one thought to notify the railroads. It was stuck on RR tracks!! Geez.

Thank goodness there were evidently no life threatening injuries, but I'll bet the train crew has some psychological pain.
 
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