Holbrook accident

a train hit a car today in Holbrook the engine was 1058 and the control car was 1527 but the looks of the video, the control hit the car (engine had markers on)

here is the story:

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO18164/

I feel bad for the driver, especially he was an elderly driver, I wonder if he may have hit the gas pedal and confused it for the brake.

It was a terrible accident, and I really hate to turn this, but it makes me laugh at WHDH's report a few months back about the locos in push mode, having the control car being a 'kill car' (or something) when it struck another train or car. Well this proved it wrong

However , from what they said, the gates were down and working , and when I saw it @ 5pm (the news), they made it seem like he went off the road, and then onto the tracks.

Kill cars are better known as "Coffin Cars". See that thread which I'll bring up.

its a good thing that this train didn't derail ,(as in all cases, no one likes a derailment) becasue of the control car leading, cause then it would have gotten more people saying that control cars are bad and then they would try to get the MBTA to put loco's on both ends and not have control cars at all

One cannot but help noticing the comment about maximum speed of the train, which seemingly has no relevance to the incident.

UKrailwayman wrote:One cannot but help noticing the comment about maximum speed of the train, which seemingly has no relevance to the incident.

Lawyers will pay attention, sadly. The SJC (the state supreme court) just ruled this week that the family a girl on bike killed several years ago can sure the MBTA, Amtrak (then the operator), and the engineer involved when their daughter rode around lowered gates and was struck. One of the two reasons cited for allowing the suit to proceed: the train was doing 78 mph in 70 mph territory.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegio ... eid=135177

Ahh, that was it, coffin cars, thanks on the clarification!

But that girl you speak of , just really strange, you can wander onto a railroad crossing (i dont know if there were / were not gates, assuming by 70mph speed limit, there were, but not too sure) possibly circumvent the flashing signs , get hit by a train, then be able to sue the MBTA for 'user error'

Hate to be so bleak about it, but its the same issue of the burglar breaking into a house, hurting himself, then suing the homeowner, and winning.

Thats america for you!

And not to mention, I think a train is quite a bit harder to keep a steady speed when its going 70, vs a car.

Still all tragic accidents, but when do you hear of a car hit by a train (or person) and people killed, due to the gates not working correctly? And on the same note (I know im all over the place), the whole train whistle rule, its very strange, simply put, im a 2 miles or so away from the closest CR crossing, and at night, with the right wind, I can hear the whistle clear as day, so im assuming many people just drown it out, sad!

Of course, now I'm dragging us off-topic, but the other part of the Abington case I found interesting is the second reason the court found the defendants (T, Amtrak, engineer) liable was that the engineer did sound the horn at full intensity, and only for 1/8 of a mile before the xing, instead of 1/4 mile. Just strikes me as odd considering that the state and municipalities on so much of the Northside seem to have no problem with near total horn bans up there, but here you get taken to court over it.

Still all tragic accidents, but when do you hear of a car hit by a train (or person) and people killed, due to the gates not working correctly?

I believe CSX just had a major lawsuit in NY state in the last couple years about this...but my memory is fuzzy.

To the Holbrook accident...as we've all said before, it's really sad that this happened but it is a little odd that he was stopped on the tracks and in the wrong lane.

I live just down the street from the holbrook T station and i was in disney world when it happened. I know this is off topic but why do the t trains go slow before coming into the Holbrook station(outbound) is it because of the wetlands? Also the location where the guy got killed is dangurous because it is on a curve, nice place for MBTA and CSX shots tho.

Because of the crossing right at the station, the signal for southward
moves (to Middleboro) remains at stop until the train leaves the
station (it will then display a permissive signal). Unfortunately, this
means outbound/southbound trains get an "approach" signal at
Braintree and run reduced speeds to Holbook. All because the
town doesn't want the road to be tied up while T trains make their
station stop southbound.

d

that is the same situation with trains coming into Framingham (eastbound trains)