Texas Eagle hits Semi in Arlington, TX

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dart330

OBS Chief
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Houston, TX
Surprised nobody has said anything about this. The Westbound TE hit a truck in Arlington yesterday at 5pm, had to be towed to FTW by another engine. All passengers going beyond FTW were bussed. Surprisingly the truck driver is still alive, but in critical condition.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/06/29/4070138/amtrak-train-truck-collide-on.html

I haven't checked to see if this is a day with the through cars to to LA, but if it was, how do they handle that?
 
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The new schedule for the TE/SSL has #421 running on Tu/Th/Sun from SAS-FTW so it didnt hurt pax riding West of SAS, just a lousy Bus Ride down IH 35 Parking Lot to Points South of FTW! :angry2:
 
This is tyhe same crossing where there was a problem last winter. Private crossing. I do not believe there are arms on the crossing here.
 
Quoting from the article- "I know the landowner wants a solution, I know Union Pacific wants a solution, and I know the city wants a solution. I don't know what that solution is, but hopefully we can get one soon."






Seriously? Is it that difficult rocket science? The solution is to put a damned gate at the crossing and/or a warning board on both sides asking drivers to use common sense and give trains the right of way.






I thought after that last year's crash they would have woken up from sleep and done something about it, but it seems not. Again, it is Arlington, a city with no interest in public transport, much lesser in trains, so expecting them to do something about a private crossing is too much to ask for.


 
Follow up article on the city looking to improve the crossing where this accident took place.

http://www.star-tele...e-railroad.html
Could be big trouble for Amtrak if there was no horn. Witness was very detailed about how the horn usually startles them but they didn't hear it (could this be an issue of replacing the blaring K5LA horn with that awful noise device that sounds like a dying 1950s city bus?). I can't say I have ever been on a train and noticed the horn didn't blow when it should have.
 
Quoting from the article- "I know the landowner wants a solution, I know Union Pacific wants a solution, and I know the city wants a solution. I don't know what that solution is, but hopefully we can get one soon."







Seriously? Is it that difficult rocket science? The solution is to put a damned gate at the crossing and/or a warning board on both sides asking drivers to use common sense and give trains the right of way.







I thought after that last year's crash they would have woken up from sleep and done something about it, but it seems not. Again, it is Arlington, a city with no interest in public transport, much lesser in trains, so expecting them to do something about a private crossing is too much to ask for.


<br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; ">Read more here:

http://www.star-tele...l#storylink=cpy
Of the three accidents mentioned, only this one had anything to do with a crossing collision so crossing gates would not have changed anything in the other two. Being from Arlington, I hear the public transportation comment often. It's usually as gratuitous and full of derision as it is in your post. One thing I have noticed is that the only people that complain to me about the lack of public transportation in Arlington are the people that would never ride it anyway. If the people of Arlington wanted a bus system, they would make it happen. I encounter people from all over the country that know nothing of Arlington except that Jerry Jones built a stadium there and there is no public transportation. Should there be? In my opinion, yes, at least in the tourist areas (does the trolley count?). I am worn out from hearing from all these car-lovers telling me how evil Arlington is for not having buses when most of them would not step foot on a DART bus in a million years.
 
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Quoting from the article- "I know the landowner wants a solution, I know Union Pacific wants a solution, and I know the city wants a solution. I don't know what that solution is, but hopefully we can get one soon."






Seriously? Is it that difficult rocket science? The solution is to put a damned gate at the crossing and/or a warning board on both sides asking drivers to use common sense and give trains the right of way.




I think you are missing the point. It's not what is the technical solution? It's why won't someone else pay for it? The word "private" was mentioned at least twice; and it appears to be a driveway to a private business. The solution is obvious. I'll bet that most of those involved would preach the get gummit out of the way and let private enterprise do the job sound bite. Only not in this case.
 
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The Driver of the semi died around midnight :(

Surprised nobody has said anything about this. The Westbound TE hit a truck in Arlington yesterday at 5pm, had to be towed to FTW by another engine. All passengers going beyond FTW were bussed. Surprisingly the truck driver is still alive, but in critical condition.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/06/29/4070138/amtrak-train-truck-collide-on.html

I haven't checked to see if this is a day with the through cars to to LA, but if it was, how do they handle that?
 
Surprised nobody has said anything about this. The Westbound TE hit a truck in Arlington yesterday at 5pm, had to be towed to FTW by another engine. All passengers going beyond FTW were bussed. Surprisingly the truck driver is still alive, but in critical condition.

http://www.star-tele...collide-on.html

I haven't checked to see if this is a day with the through cars to to LA, but if it was, how do they handle that?
Quoted from article --- Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said he could not comment about whether a horn was sounded, but he said railroad safety on private roadways is generally the responsibility of the owner of the roadway. Kulm referred questions about the investigation to the Arlington Police Department.

Arlington police officer Zhivonni McDonnell said the railroad is conducting the investigation.

Espinoza, of Union Pacific, said Amtrak is handling the investigation along with Arlington police.

Looks like a whole lot of finger pointing going on. My prayers go out to the truck drivers family.
 
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I still think the larger issue is that people have a sense of complacency when it comes to railroad crossings. Too many Americans see the rails in this country "dormant" on a regular basis, and think nothing will ever happen to them. And most of them are right, nothing will. But, there are too many times I've seen cars and trucks in near miss situations. On my ride to and from work we go through several Quiet Zones that have protected crossings with medians/quad gates. And there are way too many times where our Engineer is getting on the horn in the Quiet Zone because someone is blocking the crossing. People need to slow down, stop, look, and listen. My thoughts go out to the T&E crew who almost made it home with another safe trip on the books.
 
If the land owner wants something done then let the DOT put up crossing gates at the railroads expense. Seams like private land owners think they are above the laws.
 
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If the land owner wants something done then let the DOT put up crossing gates at the railroads expense. Seams like private land owners think they are above the laws.
If it's a private road, then the DOT has no say in things at all. Sure they could try to help mediate an agreement, but the DOT gets no say.

Additionally, there is no reason that it should be the RR's expense. The land owner should pay for things. The RR granted him permission to build a road across the tracks; the RR could just as easily solve the problem by revoking that permission and closing the crossing.
 
If the land owner wants something done then let the DOT put up crossing gates at the railroads expense. Seams like private land owners think they are above the laws.
If it's a private road, then the DOT has no say in things at all. Sure they could try to help mediate an agreement, but the DOT gets no say.

Additionally, there is no reason that it should be the RR's expense. The land owner should pay for things. The RR granted him permission to build a road across the tracks; the RR could just as easily solve the problem by revoking that permission and closing the crossing.
Exactly! I've been involved with getting private crossing permits, and the party requesting the crossing is responsible for everything, most importantly, the safety of the crossing. The railroad can indeed revoke the permit and remove the crossing if the original requesting party violates the permit requirements. Bottom line: The railroad and the state DOT have no financial responsibility for the crossing.
 
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