North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Carolinian Service

Keeter said the tractor-trailer had been trying to negotiate the turn for about 15 minutes, and a state trooper was there to help.
"It wasn't so much they got stuck (on the tracks)," she said. "They could not make the turn. They were too long."

From http://www.wral.com/40-hurt-when-amtrak ... DJpduQO.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

pumpers wrote:Did the trooper or the trucker call 1-800 - ...., or tell the supervisor to call the RR? We shall see how much is true... Could be a double Darwin award winner.
JS

From the WRAL story (http://www.wral.com/40-hurt-when-amtrak ... DJpduQO.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Lt. Jeff Gordon with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said the 164-foot-long truck simply needed more time to maneuver the turn. The trooper who was trying to help the driver asked that Amtrak be notified, he said, but it was a matter of minutes before the train arrived.
Read more at http://www.wral.com/40-hurt-when-amtrak ... tYLZqsw.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So yes, the trooper did call the railroad, but it wasn't soon enough.

It only says "asked that Amtrak be notified", nothing about a call actually made, or anything about the railroad that Amtrak was operating on being notified.

JimBoylan wrote:It only says "asked that Amtrak be notified", nothing about a call actually made, or anything about the railroad that Amtrak was operating on being notified.

Well yes, but I interpret "asked that Amtrak be notified" as satisfying pumpers' question as to whether the trooper either called or told someone to call the railroad, and thus acted properly and should be absolved of blame. Logically I would assume he called the railroad, whose number is posted at the crossing, and asked them to notify Amtrak.

Some more details would be nice, but we probably won't know exactly what happened until the NTSB report comes out in many months (if they investigate at all).

deathtopumpkins wrote:

JimBoylan wrote:It only says "asked that Amtrak be notified", nothing about a call actually made, or anything about the railroad that Amtrak was operating on being notified.

Well yes, but I interpret "asked that Amtrak be notified" as satisfying pumpers' question as to whether the trooper either called or told someone to call the railroad, and thus acted properly and should be absolved of blame. Logically I would assume he called the railroad, whose number is posted at the crossing, and asked them to notify Amtrak.

Some more details would be nice, but we probably won't know exactly what happened until the NTSB report comes out in many months (if they investigate at all).

NTSB was already on site this afternoon.

One would think that any trucking company putting something 164 feet long on the road would have completely vetted whatever route it was planning to take.

I'm surprised that a locomotive came off on the losing end in a collision with a pre-fabricated structure being handled.

I think on this incident there will be a lot of blame to pass around; some of it may even land on law enforcement for their handling at the scene (a phone contact is posted at every grade X-ing nowadays).

Mr. Glenn K, I doubt if any jurisdiction would allow an oversized load of that size to move without a permit. Many will require an escort.

The linked news accounts mention a permit, but a state police quote claims no obligation to notify the railroad in advance. The cell phone video in one of the links shows that the front of the locomotive rose up in the air, possibly climbing over the flatbed of the trailer.

Oversize loads generally require additional permits and insurance. The small upside of this accident may be that the insurance on the truck is current and large.

JimBoylan wrote:The linked news accounts mention a permit, but a state police quote claims no obligation to notify the railroad in advance. The cell phone video in one of the links shows that the front of the locomotive rose up in the air, possibly climbing over the flatbed of the trailer.

I noticed that as well. This appears to have been a lowboy trailer which obviously caught the pilot of the locomotive. A standard height trailer would have probably just been pushed out of the way. I'm not sure what the MAS is on that stretch of track, and despite the engineer probably only having 1000-1200 feet of visibility due to it being on a curve, I'm guessing that the train was already in emergency as it appeared to be slowing in the video.

^ based on riding through there a bunch I believe the incident occurred in 79mph territory.

Bob Roberts wrote:^ based on riding through there a bunch I believe the incident occurred in 79mph territory.

70 mph curve nearby according to a report on another board, but either way, between 70 and 79 so he was likely moving at a good clip.

In most cases,the route is vetted before the "high-wide" load permits issued,police,utility companies are
sometimes involved due to clearance issues,that would include CSX if the gates had to removed to allow the load to cross.

Not much coverage of this outside the corridor the route travels through. Hope the crew especially engineer is OK. Shame to waste a locomotive, hope it can be repaired.

I just saw, online, that service has been resumed and no charges have been filed against the truck driver. There were also no serious injuries. But once again, the media has some of the nomenclature wrong. Two reports gave both the truck drivers name, and the conductors name. I imagine the conductor was back in the train; they should have given the Engineer's name. And one report says that two 'compartments' derailed. Someone (Amtrak, OL, DOT/FRA) needs to put together a glossary of rail industry terms and distribute it to the press. At least, so far, I haven't read that the conductor was blowing the whistle.

EDM5970 wrote:At least, so far, I haven't read that the conductor was blowing the whistle.

You can hear it clearly in the cell phone video of the crash linked in one of the stories above.