Man survives strike by Amtrak train going 110 mph

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(1) Can Amtrak trains even travel at 110mph?

(2) What kind of headphones was that young man wearing? I want to get a pair of those as well... They must be great for noise-cancellation, since he was unable to hear train horns. :)

(3) Which Amtrak train was it?

(4) Was the locomotive damaged at all?
 
Yes Amtrak trains travel 110mph in certain areas. Up here in the Northeast where I live they can go 150mph. It was a Michigan Service Train, and by the time and direction I would say it was Train 365, the Blue Water. And I am sure that the locomotive had little or no damage.
 
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On much on the NEC, the "average" speed of all Amtrak trains is 110 MPH. This includes both regionals ad LD trains. Acela trains operate faster. In parts of MI and the Talgos in the northwest also operate up to 110 MPH.
 
I seriously doubt that the train was going 110 mph when it struck Mr. See. It it had been at 110 mph, he would be very dead. Splat might be the descriptive word for an impact at 110 mph.

There is a lot of sloppy journalism these days. The writer may have been told that this was a 110 mph Amtrak train - which of course travels at 110 mph for only short portions of its route at present - and assumed that it was going at 110 mph where Mr. See was walking down the tracks. The article states that the brakes were applied, so it the train was going 60 or 70 mph and the brakes were applied far enough in advance, the train might have been slowed to 20 or 25 mph when it hit him.
 
the_traveler said:
On much on the NEC, the "average" speed of all Amtrak trains is 110 MPH. This includes both regionals ad LD trains. Acela trains operate faster. In parts of MI and the Talgos in the northwest also operate up to 110 MPH.
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No the "average" speed, using the normal meaning of the term "average" is not 110mph on the NEC. It is much lower.
Also Talgos in the northwest are neither certified to operate at 110mph, and nor do so. Their maximum speed is 79mph. There is no signaling system in place to support speeds higher than that on that route.

Having said that, it is also true that network wide more than half the Amtrak trains that operate each day run at speed of 100mph or higher on at least some part of their journey. All of those trains, except the Michigan and Lincoln corridors are in the Northeast, and not just the NEC. It is just a testimony to what vast proportion of Amtrak trains run in the Northeast. For example, all LD trains that operate to New York run at 100mph or more at least part of their journey. The only LD train that runs to Boston operates at 100mph or more on part of its journey between Albany and Hoffmans (west of Schenectady).

afigg said:
I seriously doubt that the train was going 110 mph when it struck Mr. See. It it had been at 110 mph, he would be very dead. Splat might be the descriptive word for an impact at 110 mph.
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Indeed, except for an extremely rare very glancing blow that throws the person off the ROW, usually the consequence of getting hit by a train at 110mph are injuries, the nature of which cause the railroad to be shut down for a couple of hours while the nature of the injury is assessed and the remains are carefully collected and the place is hosed down. We see such things happen with annoying regularity on the NEC unfortunately.
 
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Hmmm. Walking down the RR tracks with earphones on. Why do I think it might have more to do with the liquid ingested than the noise cancellation qualities of his earphones that kept him from noticing that a train was barreling down the tracks? (You'd think he would have noticed that the track bed was shaking.)

Glad it all worked out, though.
 
Reno89502 said:
Yes Amtrak trains travel 110mph in certain areas. Up here in the Northeast where I live they can go 150mph. It was a Michigan Service Train, and by the time and direction I would say it was Train 365, the Blue Water. And I am sure that the locomotive had little or no damage.
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The link said the train was coming from Pontiac so it would be 351 The Wolverine.
 
Naw, this has to be bogus! I don't think the train was actually running 110. I think maybe it was cleared for 110 but slowly accelerating.
 
Sandy McBride said:
(1) Can Amtrak trains even travel at 110mph? Yes, Acela Express hits speeds of 150MPH everyday and Regionals at 125MPH everyday!
(2) What kind of headphones was that young man wearing? I want to get a pair of those as well... They must be great for noise-cancellation, since he was unable to hear train horns. :) Does it really matter??

(3) Which Amtrak train was it? A Michigan Service Train.

(4) Was the locomotive damaged at all? The Trespasser received more damage then the locomotive! :)
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JayPea said:
The article stated the engineer was braking. I hope it wasn't slowly accelerating! :eek:
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What I mean is that it could have been coming out of a station, siding, or some other stopped position in an 110 mph segment. The engineer was probably accelerating towards 110, then saw the guy and braked fast enough to prevent his death.
 
They, whoever THEY are, say only 1 in a million pedestrians survive being hit by a train... there's your one... doesn't really matter how fast the train was going, it'll be another 1,000,000 strikes until the next time somebody lives to tell about it... STAY OFF THE TRACKS
 
Michael061282 said:
They, whoever THEY are, say only 1 in a million pedestrians survive being hit by a train... there's your one... doesn't really matter how fast the train was going, it'll be another 1,000,000 strikes until the next time somebody lives to tell about it... STAY OFF THE TRACKS
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I know! So this person should be charged with trespassing, just like how some pet owners unleash their dogs in specifially prohibited areas. You think he's a good boy, but next thing you know, someone's dead.
 
He was walking east of the trailer park near the Michigan state line. Depending on how close he was to the state line, he was about six miles east of the station stop at Michigan City and about four miles west of the New Buffalo stop (the stop prior to Michigan City on the WB Wolverine). I would guesstimate he was close to halfway between the two, which are only separated by about ten miles of track.

According to the time table, it takes approximately ten minutes to travel those ten miles, so easy math puts the train at an average speed of 60 mph. That's average, though. It could have gone 110 mph for a few miles and then 10-20 mph for a few miles.

Either way, the man is very, very lucky. Even if he had been hit at 35 mph, that's a lot of train pushing against skin and bone. I'm glad he wasn't hurt worse (or killed), and I hope the crew is okay. I've read stories about people falling from crazy heights and surviving with just a broken leg or wrist, and this guy could have been in that 0.00001%. I hope he doesn't do it again.
 
Michael061282 said:
They, whoever THEY are, say only 1 in a million pedestrians survive being hit by a train... there's your one... doesn't really matter how fast the train was going, it'll be another 1,000,000 strikes until the next time somebody lives to tell about it... STAY OFF THE TRACKS
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Pish Posh. Not that I'm suggesting anyone play the odds, but to say "only 1 in a million survive" is clearly hyperbole. In fact, here in Oregon in JUST THE PAST YEAR there have been at least two (that I'm aware of) case of pedestrians surviving a hit by an Amtrak train.

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/09/18-year-old_hit_by_amtrak_trai.html

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Pedestrian-survives-Amtrak-train-crash--219303061.html

Obviously neither of those trains was going anywhere near 110 mph but since you didn't qualify your statement, apparently speed doesn't matter.

By your math there have been at least 3 million pedestrians killed by trains (in the world? in the United States?) since last September since we

now have three documented cases of a pedestrian surviving getting hit by a train. I'm sure we'd all be aware if a bloodbath like that had occurred.

Of course I agree that staying off the tracks is a good idea.
 
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Mark Twain said it Best; "There are Three Kinds of Lies, Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics!" It's still Miraculous that that Idiot Survived no matter the True Odds? (I don't think Vegas would book this Prop Bet! ;) )
 
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I can speak from (lots) of experience.

1. I operated these trains on this line.

2. I operated most of the test trains for the 110mph speed.

3. There is a blind spot of several feet in front of an Amtrak P 42 loco.

4. My "GUARANTEE" to all of you is this. If the man was hit as 110mph, directly, he would be dead. PERIOD.

5. My assesment, he heard the train just before impact, and moved just enough to be struck a glancing blow. In that range, he

could not be seen by the engineer.

6. p.s., then engineer applies the brakes, accelerates the train etc. etc., not the conductor.

7. The speen on the Amtrak line in N.W. Indiana is 110mMPH, minus timetable speed restrictions.
 
I don't know the criteria off hand, but in the area where this happened looks to not be 110 MPH territory - not to say that there isn't Wolverine territory that is NOT 110, I don't think this stretch is. This incident was about 6 miles East of the Michigan City station. There appears to be a yard of sorts - at least something that would necesitate slower speeds for about a mile from the Station Eastward. I don't think that a "short" train like the Wolverine needs much more than a mile or so to slow down, so I guess that the train was going max speed until it slowed before hitting the man. So what is the max speed at this point? It would appear to be 79 MPH - still fast enough to seriously maime someone or kill them. I say 79 because the ROW is in a fairly populated area, doesn't have a fence, and the grade crossings are around 2 miles apart and are only single arm gates. I would imagine that there would be much greater safety barriers if the speed in that area were any higher. Just guessing. Just my opinion...
 
Once again, the speed on the Amtrak line, froml Porter, IN. to CP 147, (just west of Kalamazoo, MI.) is 110mph, except for timetable restrictions etc.
 
Dave R said:
Once again, the speed on the Amtrak line, froml Porter, IN. to CP 147, (just west of Kalamazoo, MI.) is 110mph, except for timetable restrictions etc.
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That doesn't mean the train always goes 110, though. I've been on that train a bazillion times, and we're slowed roughly 50% of the time.

Here's my response from a while back:

He was walking east of the trailer park near the Michigan state line. Depending on how close he was to the state line, he was about six miles east of the station stop at Michigan City and about four miles west of the New Buffalo stop (the stop prior to Michigan City on the WB Wolverine). I would guesstimate he was close to halfway between the two, which are only separated by about ten miles of track.
According to the time table, it takes approximately ten minutes to travel those ten miles, so easy math puts the train at an average speed of 60 mph. That's average, though. It could have gone 110 mph for a few miles and then 10-20 mph for a few miles.
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(It could also be schedule padding.)
 
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