Western Railroad Discussion > Can a person be sucked under a train?

Three days ago there was a post about a teenage girl being hit and killed by a train in Martinez, CA. Today I was reading about the incident on other media outlets and there were several reports that this girl was "sucked under the train" and killed. Not just hit and killed, but sucked under. Now, I'm no physicist, but it seems unlikely to me that a person could be sucked under; disoriented and lose balance probably, but not sucked under. So, do any of you have any valid evidence that a moving train could create enough vacuum to accomplish this? The train was a BNSF freight train going east. What is the speed limit at Martinez for freights anyway?

Dick

This was tested out my MythBusters a couple of years ago. They were unable to make the sucking myth happen.
Roger Beckett

Dyson powered, I bet.

The person would need to be pretty close and the train moving at a pretty good clip to create the amount of negative pressure needed. Having been on the platform when a NE Corridor Amtrak passed at max speed I could feel it exert some pull on me even though it was not on the closest track to me.

Probably not altho I got sucked into railroading years ago.

A few years ago, a European railroad (I forget which but I think it was France), was conducting tests to see if MOW personnel could work within ten feet of trains passing at speeds in excess of 100 mph. They had them tethered, just in case, but I believe they were able to do it ok.

I don't know the detains of the Martinez case, but you don't need to be in the gauge. Just leaning over into the fowl to pick something up & getting you're head hit by the loco plow is enough to prove fatal. Was the girl killed in the gauge (i.e. between the rails), or in the fowl?

-Des

2ebright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Three days ago there was a post about a teenage
> girl being hit and killed by a train in Martinez,
> CA. Today I was reading about the incident on
> other media outlets and there were several reports
> that this girl was "sucked under the train" and
> killed. Not just hit and killed, but sucked under.
> Now, I'm no physicist, but it seems unlikely to me
> that a person could be sucked under; disoriented
> and lose balance probably, but not sucked under.
> So, do any of you have any valid evidence that a
> moving train could create enough vacuum to
> accomplish this? The train was a BNSF freight
> train going east. What is the speed limit at
> Martinez for freights anyway?
>
> Dick

i once found myself in the unfortunate situation on Amtrak's NEC where i was in a position in the 6 foot between 2 high speed Amtrak trains passing each other at a closing speed of 225-250mph ... needlees to say i made my body slither like a snake ... with my head down buried with my face in the ballast hoping nothing would catch any of my clothing ... no suction involved just a whole lotta swift air flowing over me and nothing but brown in the underwear dept ...

I've been between my stopped freight train and a 70 mph amtrak. If anything the wind from the front of the amtrak blew me further away from it, rather then being sucked under

I was at Bowie, Maryland on the east platform doing a little photography while waiting for the next MARC train to Baltimore. Three track mainline and I was on the east platform. AN Amtrak train came by on the closest track. I had to grab my bag as the train ran by me doing 125 MPH. Had I not grabbed it it would have been sucked under the train. I moved the bag after that.


Chris

up833 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This was tested out my MythBusters a couple of
> years ago. They were unable to make the sucking
> myth happen.
> Roger Beckett


This was done in New Mexico on the Rail Runner at max speed for the line. No results, except is did blow a baby stroller away if I recall correctly.

Mike

4451Puff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't know the detains of the Martinez case, but
> you don't need to be in the gauge. Just leaning
> over into the fowl to pick something up & getting
> you're head hit by the loco plow is enough to
> prove fatal. Was the girl killed in the gauge
> (i.e. between the rails), or in the fowl?
>
> -Des

She would have to be playing chicken with the train to be in the fowl, but that could put her in the foul zone!

Rob

Posted from iPhone

I don't think a person could be sucked under but in the days of US Mail mail bags thrown off passenger trains at speed on occasion would be sucked back under the train. Then it was pick up the pieces.

A freight train won't suck you under. You may get disoriented and venture too close, however. Then you could be caught on an appliance and dragged under, or you might get injured or killed by the impact of an appliance or lading.

This Martinez girl was not stuck by a freight train. She was struck by two BNSF light engines. The girl was between the rails, retreiving her dropped cell phone. Front of locomotive struck her in the chest at a speed of about 8 MPH, killing her instantly. No "suction" involved.

" This Martinez girl was not stuck by a freight train. She was struck by two BNSF light engines. The girl was between the rails, retreiving her dropped cell phone. Front of locomotive struck her in the chest at a speed of about 8 MPH, killing her instantly. No "suction" involved."

It looks like major media like United Press Intl. and Huffington Post got the facts way wrong. Not a surprise to me. Thanks for posting the facts.

Dick

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 2ebright Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Three days ago there was a post about a teenage
> > girl being hit and killed by a train in
> Martinez,
> > CA. Today I was reading about the incident on
> > other media outlets and there were several
> reports
> > that this girl was "sucked under the train" and
> > killed. Not just hit and killed, but sucked
> under.
> > Now, I'm no physicist, but it seems unlikely to
> me
> > that a person could be sucked under;
> disoriented
> > and lose balance probably, but not sucked
> under.
> > So, do any of you have any valid evidence that
> a
> > moving train could create enough vacuum to
> > accomplish this? The train was a BNSF freight
> > train going east. What is the speed limit at
> > Martinez for freights anyway?
> >
> > Dick
>
> i once found myself in the unfortunate situation
> on Amtrak's NEC where i was in a position in the 6
> foot between 2 high speed Amtrak trains passing
> each other at a closing speed of 225-250mph ...
> needlees to say i made my body slither like a
> snake ... with my head down buried with my face in
> the ballast hoping nothing would catch any of my
> clothing ... no suction involved just a whole
> lotta swift air flowing over me and nothing but
> brown in the underwear dept ...


YIKES....!!!! Now THAT IS scary........!!!!!! May I ask what you were doing prior to these Amtrak trains coming??

I was once talking with a teenager who told me how his father's Z28 he was driving was sucked into the side of a train pulling out of the yard while he was waiting at the crossing.

Yeah, sure.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

If the conditions are right for the creation of a vortex (not that uncommon), a person standing near a fast-moving train may indeed be blown back towards the train after an initial push away. There is no "suction" involved, it's just the direction of the air flow in a trailing part of the vortex.

Ray

---

2ebright Wrote:
>
> It looks like major media like United Press Intl.
> and Huffington Post got the facts way wrong. Not a
> surprise to me. Thanks for posting the facts.
>
> Dick

Huffington Post does not do any original reporting for this type of story. They just use what they get from another source.

I wouldn't call UPI a major anything. UPI is now a tiny fraction of what it once was and is owned by the Unification Church (Moonies). That affiliation doesn't do much for their credibility. I doubt any worthy news organization uses their product.

I don't know how it happened, but a young woman in Longmont, Colorado a few years ago was attempting to climb on a moving train and ended up having her legs amputated at or just below the knee IIRC.