Passenger dies after exiting train en route

[TampAGS]

The following are excerpts from the original article in the Topeka Capital Journal, linked below.

Man found dead on train tracks By James Carlson July 1, 2009 - 2:17pm A man was found dead Tuesday morning on train tracks an hour northeast of Wichita after somehow exiting the moving locomotive.

...

The unidentified man was a passenger on the train from Chicago to Los Angeles. It stopped in Lawrence, Topeka and Newton. It was sometime around 1 a.m. when the train passed through Florence, but Magliari said it didn't make any stops.

...

Source: The Topeka Capital Journal - http://www.cjonline.com/news/state/2009-07...on_train_tracks

Ok, granted, I'm not an authority on Superliner cars, but how is it possible for someone to exit the Southwest Chief in the middle of its journey?

 

[GG-1]

The following are excerpts from the original article in the Topeka Capital Journal,

Ok, granted, I'm not an authority on Superliner cars, but how is it possible for someone to exit the Southwest Chief in the middle of its journey?

Aloha

Sure was a sloppy story, first they did not know how a passenger left the locomotive??? Guest we must wait for a real newsperson

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Ok, granted, I'm not an authority on Superliner cars, but how is it possible for someone to exit the Southwest Chief in the middle of its journey?

There are two latches on the lower vestibule door of a Superliner. You undog them and pull the door towards you.

Alternatively, a absent minded conductor may have forgotten to lock the rear-most door on the last coach car. That would be grounds for a lawsuit, by the way.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

I thought the story so bad I called the paper, the editor promised to send me an update as soon as she could. She also agreed the word "Locomotive" was inappropriate.

Lets see what happen's

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

The two dogs are not hard to open, if they were more difficult to open-- imagine the chaos that would happen in an emergency. They open easily--

What I wonder is how people took that long to notice, aren't there running indicator lights next to the door that glow green or yellow depending upon whether the door is secure? If a conductor looked down the consist, he should be able to see that the door was open.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

They DID edit the story, to say it was a passenger on an Amtrak but that Amtrak says they don't yet know how he exited the train. The engineer on a freight saw him on the tracks in the morning and reported it. No mention of his exiting from a locomotive any more. Probably a good thing you contacted, them Eric......

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Come to think of it, somebody could have come across the open door and just closed it without thinking. I have done that once or twice with windows-- see it open, assume a pax wanted fresh air, and closed it up.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

The two dogs are not hard to open, if they were more difficult to open-- imagine the chaos that would happen in an emergency. They open easily--
What I wonder is how people took that long to notice, aren't there running indicator lights next to the door that glow green or yellow depending upon whether the door is secure? If a conductor looked down the consist, he should be able to see that the door was open.

The lights indicate status of the brakes and not if a door is open/closed. And since the doors open in, it would be hard to see if one comes open "in flight."

 

[sky12065]

Alternatively, a absent minded conductor may have forgotten to lock the rear-most door on the last coach car. That would be grounds for a lawsuit, by the way.

Given the body was found on the tracks, I would guess that your suggestion of the rear-most door would be the most likely probability!

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

The two dogs are not hard to open, if they were more difficult to open-- imagine the chaos that would happen in an emergency. They open easily--
What I wonder is how people took that long to notice, aren't there running indicator lights next to the door that glow green or yellow depending upon whether the door is secure? If a conductor looked down the consist, he should be able to see that the door was open.

The lights indicate status of the brakes and not if a door is open/closed. And since the doors open in, it would be hard to see if one comes open "in flight."

The bright light may have been a clue--

Either way... he could have jumped/fallen off the train at a low speed, survived the impact, and crawled back onto the track. I find it hard to believe that nobody noticed that the rear door was open, the conductors should have at least done rounds back to the end of the train.

 

[sky12065]

If a conductor looked down the consist, he should be able to see that the door was open.

Not if the door was the rear one of the last car on the consist! And could you say the same if the open door was unexpectedly and for whatever reason on the opposite side from the one use at the stop you're referring to?

 

[amtrakwolverine]

maybe what happend was the person could have been drunk or under the influence and forgot that there was not another car and opened the door that leads inbetween cars and fell out the back of the train. so the person could have a sleeper but could have been coach sense sometimes sleepers are on the front.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

Smoke break.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Smoke break.

He undogs the door to have a cig? You're kidding me... how stupid.

You could at least just leave the door closed and "only" open the window.

 

[the_traveler]

Smoke break.

He undogs the door to have a cig? You're kidding me... how stupid.

You could at least just leave the door closed and "only" open the window.

Stupidity is not just the domain of Amtrak. I have heard of airline passengers who went to the lav - and opened up the exit door!

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Smoke break.

He undogs the door to have a cig? You're kidding me... how stupid.

You could at least just leave the door closed and "only" open the window.

Stupidity is not just the domain of Amtrak. I have heard of airline passengers who went to the lav - and opened up the exit door!

That's actually not possible on a pressurized aircraft. The way the doors are set up, they are sealed so tight when the plane is in flight, Hulk Hogan couldn't undo the latch.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Smoke break.

He undogs the door to have a cig? You're kidding me... how stupid.

You could at least just leave the door closed and "only" open the window.

Stupidity is not just the domain of Amtrak. I have heard of airline passengers who went to the lav - and opened up the exit door!

That's actually not possible on a pressurized aircraft. The way the doors are set up, they are sealed so tight when the plane is in flight, Hulk Hogan couldn't undo the latch.

Im no expert on airliners but I wonder how DB Cooper got out with the $$ over Washington?Also in Mexico Ive

ridden planes that the back exit Will Open to load the plane/unload and actually saw a flight crew member

have to close the door in flight because it wasnt closed? :lol:I have seen doors and windows open on

trains Ive ridden, in FTW the conductor left the rear door open after backing out until we got to Dallas!!

(A Superliner and I was in Roomette #5 watching him back the train of course! :lol:

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

maybe what happend was the person could have been drunk or under the influence and forgot that there was not another car and opened the door that leads inbetween cars and fell out the back of the train. so the person could have a sleeper but could have been coach sense sometimes sleepers are on the front.

That doesn't make sense. In order for that to happen the bars on the last door would have to be undone, and the dogs. A drunk pax couldn't have done that without somebody noticing.

I still maintain that if the crew had accidentally left the door open-- then SOMEBODY would have noticed. The conductors should have been doing rounds down the consist-- if one of them missed the fact that the last door was open then they deserve discipline.

But I go with the smoke break theory. Much easier for one of 10 side doors to be open than the one back door.

The fact that he was found on the tracks doesn't prove anything either way-- Is that portion of the route double-tracked? If so, then he opens the door that is on the side of track two, falls out on to track two.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

im not talking about the door to exit the car ALC. im talking about the 2nd story door that everyone uses to in between the cars. after all one has to press were it says press to open and the door opens all by itself. on the back of the car HERE those bars are spaced far enough apart that the person could slid himself/herself down. maybe it was suicide.

 

[Amtrak901]

what a bazaar story

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

im not talking about the door to exit the car ALC. im talking about the 2nd story door that everyone uses to in between the cars. after all one has to press were it says press to open and the door opens all by itself. on the back of the car HERE those bars are spaced far enough apart that the person could slid himself/herself down. maybe it was suicide.

Um, yeah I know. I was talking about that door. Read my post carefully and you will see that I said the "one end door" and compared it to the "10 side doors".

That door can't be opened by just pressing it like any other door. It is protected by two bars that are sturdy enough to prevent somebody from simply taking them off. In addition the door itself should be sealed so that the only way to open it is to either get a conductor to do it or use the emergency manual system. A drunk guy can't walk there, press a button, and fall off a train assuming all normal safety operations were in place.

As for a man squeezing between them, good luck. He had to have been hell bent on doing it, and nobody seems to be talking suicide.

And even if I accept your postulation of suicide (which for the time being I do not) then why not use the side door? You'd kill yourself just as easy and only have to undo two dogs holding the thing in place.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

Here's an item; a comment from a reader, on this page;

This good and kind man was in Topeka visiting his three sons and family. He was retired from the railroad and was taking the train home to California. He had Epilepsy and on rare occasions would become confused. No one who knew Fred would believe anything "intentional" happened, but it is extremely likely he became disorientated and opened the wrong door. To "no.one.truth"and "Liberty76"; Your grotesques commits has caused pain to the family. So please keep your speculative idiocy to yourself. Thank you.

Apparently a response from a family member, as you can see.

 

[cbender]

Im no expert on airliners but I wonder how DB Cooper got out with the $$ over Washington?Also in Mexico Iveridden planes that the back exit Will Open to load the plane/unload and actually saw a flight crew member

have to close the door in flight because it wasnt closed? :lol:I have seen doors and windows open on

trains Ive ridden, in FTW the conductor left the rear door open after backing out until we got to Dallas!!

(A Superliner and I was in Roomette #5 watching him back the train of course! :lol:

The DB Cooper incident occurred on a 727, which were originally equipped with rear exit stairs that could be opened. After the incident these were mostly removed and sealed up. Doors on modern aircraft are of the plug design that are designed to be unopenable in flight. Older aircraft did not always use such designs (e.g. DC10 cargo doors (AA96), 747 cargo doors (UA811) ).

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Here's an item; a comment from a reader, on this page;

This good and kind man was in Topeka visiting his three sons and family. He was retired from the railroad and was taking the train home to California. He had Epilepsy and on rare occasions would become confused. No one who knew Fred would believe anything "intentional" happened, but it is extremely likely he became disorientated and opened the wrong door. To "no.one.truth"and "Liberty76"; Your grotesques commits has caused pain to the family. So please keep your speculative idiocy to yourself. Thank you.

Apparently a response from a family member, as you can see.

Hmm.. if he was indeed confused and disoriented, it seems less likely that he would be able to undog the rear door-- and rather opened the trackside side door to his car on the lower level.

I am still willing to bet this part of the route is double-tracked.

 

[the_traveler]

Even if he was confused and disoriented, it does not seem likely that he would

1. Walk from the upper level down the stairs to the lower level
   
2. Fumble with the latches
   
3. THEN open BOTH the door and window to try and go between cars!
   

I find that hard to believe! :blink:

And if he did "leave" by the side door, don't you think someone (at sometime) might have noticed a door open? :huh: I doubt he closed it behind him!