Level crossing stupidity...

[Talltim]

Apparently the crew are injured but alive

 

 

[newbryford]

7 minutes ago, Talltim said:

Apparently the crew are injured but alive

 

 

More here:

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2022/dec/20/train-derails-in-collegedale-tfp/

 

[melmerby]

The lead loco took the impact quite well, the damage doesn't look as if it got into the cab.

It cut the concrete beam in two.

[jamie92208]

There is a report about it on the Trains website.

 

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/ns-train-derails-after-hitting-truck-moving-concrete-bridge-beam/#wait_approval

 

Shades of Hixon but fort without the fatalities.  My step mother in law was a junior radiographer  at Stafford  on the morning of Hixon and it still ggets to her.

 

Jamie

[kevinlms]

6 hours ago, melmerby said:

The lead loco took the impact quite well, the damage doesn't look as if it got into the cab.

It cut the concrete beam in two.

Yes, but they might have to recast the concrete beam and build a new trailer for it! At least the bridge contractor will have a valid excuse for the delayed opening of the new bridge.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

Yes, but they might have to recast the concrete beam and build a new trailer for it! At least the bridge contractor will have a valid excuse for the delayed opening of the new bridge.

He'll probably  still get sued for being late though.  This is the US.

 

Jamie

[corneliuslundie]

Surely with such a long load there should have been some special procedure for moving it? At least the railway company should have known about it and given approval for use of the crossing.

And not related to the accident, but that is a very unusual pedestrian crossing (if that is what it is) at an angle to the road. I would have thought that would also be a hazard.

Jonathan

[62613]

20 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

Surely with such a long load there should have been some special procedure for moving it? At least the railway company should have known about it and given approval for use of the crossing.

And not related to the accident, but that is a very unusual pedestrian crossing (if that is what it is) at an angle to the road. I would have thought that would also be a hazard.

Jonathan

Like the company transporting the beam reconnoitering the route for hazards, and informing the relevant authorities of their route and timings, so that they could liaise together? That was one of the recommendations of the Hixon inquiry, and it seems strange that such proceedure aren't implemented elsewhere.

 

Maybe reposition the traffic signals to lessen the chance of such a thing occurring again, as well

 

[SHMD]

1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

Surely with such a long load there should have been some special procedure for moving it? At least the railway company should have known about it and given approval for use of the crossing.

And not related to the accident, but that is a very unusual pedestrian crossing (if that is what it is) at an angle to the road. I would have thought that would also be a hazard.

Jonathan

 

I looked at that too.

 

I came to the conclusion that the bridge was too narrow to have the foot path traverse it without imposing on the lanes.

The footpath also needs to cross the road here and crossing the road - on a long diagonal - must have seemed like a good solution to someone!

 

 

Kev.

 

[melmerby]

3 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Yes, but they might have to recast the concrete beam and build a new trailer for it! At least the bridge contractor will have a valid excuse for the delayed opening of the new bridge.

The irony of it is that the turnpike there is being upgraded to eliminate that rail crossing and it looks like that might have been one of the new bridge beams.

[Michael Hodgson]

 

4 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Yes, but they might have to recast the concrete beam and build a new trailer for it!

Well the alternative of sticking all the bits back together with superglue would probably take even longer.

Would make a good advter though 😆

 

 

For some reason Americans don't desing their long concrete beams to withstand the lateral shear force exerted by one of their freight trains travelling at speed.

[uax6]

Is the cut beam actually holding up the first two locos over that river? 

 

Andy G

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

For some reason Americans don't design their long concrete beams to withstand the lateral shear force exerted by one of their freight trains travelling at speed.

Good job it wasn't a box girder type.

[Talltim]

Some close up pics here 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0SM3AbCNXseVEW9NzA2NTG18G1EN8dqb65v4S6FKPezEVLkCQTkFCaUZQ6RbNbCTZl&id=100012378549560

[F-UnitMad]

3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

For some reason Americans don't desing their long concrete beams to withstand the lateral shear force exerted by one of their freight trains travelling at speed.

Probably find that they don't in the UK either 😉

What they do do in the US is design the front of their locos to withstand collisions as much as possible. UK locos wouldn't have stood a chance.

[Talltim]

4 hours ago, uax6 said:

Is the cut beam actually holding up the first two locos over that river? 

 

Andy G

The leading one certainly https://www.railpictures.net/photo/820065/

[pH]

Looks like bad road design at least contributed to this. From the Trains account:
 

“Chattanooga fire officials say the truck was stopped on the railroad tracks while waiting for a traffic light when the crossing gates activated for an approaching train, and the truck was unable to clear the crossing in time.”

 

I presume the traffic light was to allow a turn on to Tucker Road, or to go straight ahead on TN317. There doesn’t seem to be any advice for vehicles to hold before the crossing if the light is red. (With a slow-moving vehicle, it may have even been on the crossing before the light went red.) I can think of a couple of crossings locally like this, where:

 

(A) - there is another set of lights before the crossing to prevent vehicles entering the crossing if the light at the intersection is going to be red.

or (B) - the traffic light and stop line for the intersection is before the rail crossing. 
 

An aside about the road design - the road over the crossing changes from one lane to two lanes actually on the crossing itself. That seems unusual.

 

There was an incident like this several years ago, where a school bus was stopped on a crossing waiting for the light to change at a road beyond the crossing, and was hit with fatal results.

[kevinlms]

An almost identical crash occurred in Australia where a preserved steam train hit a flour truck stranded on a level crossing - killing 3 on board the locomotive.

 

https://www.jonroma.net/media/rail/accident/australia/rair2002003_001.pdf

[jamie92208]

I think that there was one in France involving a school bus down in the south nearcPerpignan a few years ago. Also with fatal results.  IIRC the authorities closed the railway line for quite some time.

 

Jamie

Edited December 22, 2022 by jamie92208

[Budgie]

This one happened a month ago in Germany. The barriers came down to let an ICE train pass, but after the train had gone they stayed down. A waiting car driver pushed up the barrier himself and then ...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UOrva9rkog

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by Budgie
Copying youtube urls does strange things.

[PhilJ W]

@Budgie no link.

[Budgie]

3 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

@Budgie no link.

That's what comes of being quick off the mark! Reload my message and try again.

[Wickham Green too]

Do they have 'Another Train Coming' notices in Germany ?

[jcredfer]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Do they have 'Another Train Coming' notices in Germany ?

Personally, I would have made the assumption that if the barrier remained down there was another train coming...

 

I would guess that a character, who pushes a barrier out of the way, would not respond any better to an "Another train coming" notice either.  {perhaps that was the intended irony in your comment...}

 

[Wickham Green too]

Partly ................. but someone in authority has seen the need to erect notices, here, pointing out that there's "ANOTHER TRAIN COMING if lights continue to show" ...................................................... so WE are not allowed to use common sense, nowadays, and I wondered if the Germans are.