Western Railroad Discussion > Midland, TX Tragedy and Quiet Zones

FRA rules state you must start blowing your horn for a crossing between 15 and 20 seconds before you occupy a crossing, except in quiet zones where everything "appears" normal. The problem is everything appeared normal right up until was too late. The truck started onto the crossing 12 seconds before impact. The engineer took three seconds to respond by blowing the horn. In the next four seconds he realized that there was no chance of the truck clearing the crossing and dumped the air. Had the engineer blown the horn 18 seconds before occupying the crossing, would the truck driver have entered the crossing? It's a question we'll never know the answer to, but it does beg questions of how safe quiet zones are. Too bad the poor state of journalism will never ask the questions that need to be asked.

Copied from earlier thread.
21 SBI (Seconds Before Impact) the south traffic light went green (to clear crossing).
20 SBI Crossing bells and lights start.
20 SBI lead truck had rear of trailer clearing south track.
13 SBI Gates start down.
12 SBI Accident Truck STARTS across north track.
09 SBI Horn starts on loco.
07 SBI Gates hit trailer.
05 SBI Train goes into emergency and completely stops 75 seconds later.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/12 03:09 by funnelfan.

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FRA rules state you must start blowing your horn
> for a crossing between 15 and 20 seconds before
> you occupy a crossing, except in quiet zones where
> everything "appears" normal. The problem is
> everything appeared normal right up until was too
> late. The truck started onto the crossing 12
> seconds before impact. The engineer took three
> seconds to respond by blowing the horn. In the
> next four seconds he realized that there was no
> chance of the truck clearing the crossing and
> dumped the air. Had the engineer blown the horn 18
> seconds before occupying the crossing, would the
> truck driver have entered the crossing? It's a
> question we'll never know the answer to, but it
> does beg questions of how safe quiet zones are.
> Too the poor state of journalism will never ask
> the questions that need to be asked.
>
> Copied from earlier thread.
> 21 SBI (Seconds Before Impact) the south traffic
> light went green (to clear crossing).
> 20 SBI Crossing bells and lights start.
> 20 SBI lead truck had rear of trailer clearing
> south track.
> 13 SBI Gates start down.
> 12 SBI Accident Truck STARTS across north track.
> 09 SBI Horn starts on loco.
> 07 SBI Gates hit trailer.
> 05 SBI Train goes into emergency and completely
> stops 75 seconds later.


Since according to the NTSB the crossing lights and bells began 7 seconds before the driver began to cross the tracks, and the gates started down before he started to cross the tracks, it seems pretty unlikely that blowing the engine's horn earlier or more often would have made a difference. When the crossing bells began the engine was about 2000' away, so I'd guess that the for the driver the crossing bells at that moment might have been louder than the horn would have been. When the driver started to cross the tracks the engine was still almost 1/4 miles away (where the whistle post typically is located.) So even if it wasn't a quiet zone, the horn might not have sounded until the driver started across the tracks:

FRA Train Horn Rule Fact Sheet

http://www.fra.dot.gov/Pages/1773.shtml

"Sounding the Locomotive Horn: Under the Train Horn Rule, locomotive engineers must sound train horns for a minimum of 15 seconds, and a maximum of 20 seconds, in advance of all public grade crossings, except:

If a train is traveling faster than 45mph, engineers will not sound the horn until it is within 1/4 mile of the crossing, even if the advance warning is less than 15 seconds."

---

Quiet zones aren't a problem. We have several on my routes, and they are safer than the average crossing because they have lights/gates/median protection.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/12 02:33 by darkcloud.

Well there are other related questions, like if the driver was so close to the crossing that he could not see the lights when they started. And with the noise of the parade and truck, could he even hear the bells inside of the truck, and would he have distinguished them from the noise of the parade? Somehow the cab of the truck got by the gate, but the gate must have presented a real problem to the people on the flatbed trailer, and is the most likely reason the driver just didn't "gun it" to clear the crossing. These are the questions I would like the media to ask.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Understand where you are going Ted but these are questions that the inquiry should ask not the media. The media are not trained accident investigators and will only muddy waters when they try to report technical issues that they can't be expected to know about. Railroading is not an easy subject for a layman and news reportage has to be fairly instantaneous - the two don't go together well.

Seven seconds is an eternity when it comes to seeing flashing lights start and getting a vehicle stopped in time, and once the vehicle gets out onto the track there's no amount of whistle blowing that is going to make it move faster. I really don't think it matters if the engineer was blowing his whistle or playing a kazoo. The quiet-zone element is a red herring. If I were covering this accident I probably would ask that question anyway, but I don't think the answer makes much difference.

Common sense goes along way when crossing railroad tracks. Some people don't have it.

PT Smith

darkcloud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> funnelfan Wrote:

> > 13 SBI Gates start down.
> > 12 SBI Accident Truck STARTS across north
> track.

The bells & lights usually start operating a couple of seconds before the gates start moving down.

RailNet802, over

Back to the whole breakdown of responsibility, I sometimes observe that people with the best of intentions, as in this case of volunteering to show support for our troops, feel that their good works benefit from a sense that they can do no wrong, that they (with or without religion) will be taken care of. In this state of mind routine discipline and precautions may be ignored. For example, and I do not know these suppositions to be true at Midland, with someone who volunteers to drive a truck or a police department that contributes a police escort and waives a parade permit requirement, or rubber-stamps it. Not saying that anyone did anything intentionally wrong, just that the excitement of doing something "good" could blind good people to routine chores of their tasks.

railstiesballast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Back to the whole breakdown of responsibility, I
> sometimes observe that people with the best of
> intentions, as in this case of volunteering to
> show support for our troops, feel that their good
> works benefit from a sense that they can do no
> wrong, that they (with or without religion) will
> be taken care of. In this state of mind routine
> discipline and precautions may be ignored. For
> example, and I do not know these suppositions to
> be true at Midland, with someone who volunteers to
> drive a truck or a police department that
> contributes a police escort and waives a parade
> permit requirement, or rubber-stamps it. Not
> saying that anyone did anything intentionally
> wrong, just that the excitement of doing something
> "good" could blind good people to routine chores
> of their tasks.

"No good deed goes unpunished"

SOB

railtiesballast is correct - This accident started to happen way before the parade began
with poor planning and folks not thinking things through. During the parade itself they
were probably caught in the euphoria of the moment. That no one thought about the possibility
if a train coming is a shame, and one that is hard to comprehend given that the possibility of
a 60 MPH stack train is not something that the City doesn't know about.


Here in my small town of Argyle, TX pop 2500 the traffic signals work in conjunction with grade crossing gates,
turning traffic lights green on the grade crossing road a couple seconds before the lights and gates are activated.
We don't have quiet zones and the trains even still can sneak up on one if the radio is playing loud or kids
hollering in the back seat....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/12 08:54 by ArgyleEagle.

It goes beyond whether or not anyone would have heard the horn being blown for THAT crossing if a QZ was not in effect. I don't know how many crossings there are there, and how far into the QZ that crossing is. BUT, without a QZ, someone might have heard the train blowing for crossings maybe a minute or so before it got to that particular crossing, and maybe more people could have a better chance to get off the float, or get some kind of warning to the driver if he didn't hear it. I always believed blowing the horn clear loud & long was a message being sent to pedestrians & drivers way beyond the crossing I happen to be blowing for.

Who notified the railroad that there would be a parade for the Veterans and asked that protection be provided to stop and hold traffic until all crossings within the parade route were passed over and protection was no longer needed? I would like to have a dollar for every parade or special movement of equipment over grade crossings that were made in the cities of Lancaster or Palmdale over the years that I was the Trainmaster over the district. "We" (Roadmaster and myself) would arrange to hold ALL traffic west of Lancaster and east of Palmdale until whatever events taking place were over and done with, including clearing of crowds watching the events. Evidently this was not taken into consideration at Midland, and it will fall into somebodies lap. I just wish that it had been considered beforehand, this was a totally unnecessary accident,and good people paid the price for someones stupidity and lack of common sense.

My thoughts only,

SOB

I guess the people of Midland got so caught up in the celebration, they forgot that those intermodal trains come through that city at 60 and 70 mph everyday. Somebody drop the ball or someone forgot about protecting the crossing. I just pray and hope it never happens again.

kd0086 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I guess the people of Midland got so caught up in
> the celebration, they forgot that those intermodal
> trains come through that city at 60 and 70 mph
> everyday. Somebody drop the ball or someone forgot
> about protecting the crossing. I just pray and
> hope it never happens again.


Yeah, everyone in town is to blame because ONE person decided to not comply with the working safety features of crossing lights, bells, and gates. Surely they should have predicted every random bad decision ever made.

They live in Texas, so now doubt they're to blame for killing JFK, too. Sheesh.

Were the locomotive's headlights and ditch lights visible to the truck driver if he looked both ways before entering the crossing?

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

At 20 seconds of crossing signal visual and audible warning (red flashing lights and bell) with the locomotive speed at 62 mph (90.9 feet per second) would place the locomotive about 1818 feet away from the crossing.

When the semi-tractor/trailer combination entered the crossing 8 seconds after the 20 second warning began, the gate had just started to come down and it was then 12 seconds before impact. That would place the locomotive about 1090 feet from the crossing. Even in a Quiet Zone, the engineer still sounded the horn attempting to warn the motorist, 3 seconds after the vehicle entered the crossing.

Had the locomotive engineer induced an emergency air brake application instantaneously, when the vehicle entered the crossing at 12 seconds prior to impact, the collision would have still occurred as the train did not come to a stop for over a minute, after going into emergency.

There is a round yellow advance warning sign prior to the crossing, along with a "Do Not Stop on Tracks" sign on the signal masts. There is a parade permit protocol, but they have not determined if it was followed.

The train crew members are "unwilling participants" once the motorist makes the decision to occupy the track, regardless of the reason. Very sad, but true. It is a high price to pay for all involved.



Had there not been anything in front to impede the vehicle, the length of it alone may have required longer than 12 seconds for it to clear the crossing, given creeping vehicle speeds due to passengers seated on folding metal chairs on a flatbed trailer.

In a previous post on this subject I posted a link to the accident reports for this intersection. Ten since 1979. The last one was 1997. Not a real consistently dangerous crossing in the past 15 years.

John

No I am not blaming the people of Midland. I guest what I am trying to say is that someone on the parade committee should have recognized the crossing needs to be protected to prevent that type of tragedy. Maybe they did and got caught up in the celebration and forgot. That still does not excuse the truck driver but what cause him to try to cross those tracks ? Only he knows.

We need to keep pushing the states, the municipalities, and the railroads to eliminate grade crossings.

Walter Johnson

An attorney for one of the injured veterans seemed to indicate in an interview this morning (Monday) on NBC's "Today" show that he is looking to the railroad for liability, saying the 20-second lead for activating the grade crossing barriers was not sufficient. He cited the deadly Fox River Grove school bus/METRA collision back in 1995 as an example.
He said the system was designed to activate 30 seconds before a train reaches the crossing and he intends to explore that further.
Searching for the deepest pockets, perhaps??