Western Railroad Discussion > Ventura line Metrolink and truck collide train has dera

News to follow. The train is on the ground and on its side at least three cars.
It appears from the aerial footage the rail cars are all Rhodium cars, except for one which may have been the cab car.

South east of Oxnard CA. at Rice road.

This is on the Union Pacific Coast line.

http://abc7.com/



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/15 06:58 by czuleget.

czuleget Wrote:
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> News to follow. The trail is on the ground and on
> its side at least three cars.
> It appears from the aerial footage the rail cars
> are all Rhodium cars, except for one which may
> have ben the cab car.

Train was four cars in push mode. First car was new Rotem Cab Car (now facing backwards), second was older Bombardier car (on its side, sideways to the tracks) and last two where new Rotem cars.

Not good. The line will be down for at least 2 days with clean up and track repair. Train 102. Metrolink doing buses to LA. Tracks are wood ties. So far no deaths reported.

Posted from iPhone

Judging from the location of the train in relation to the grade crossing, I would say the engineer had time to plug the train. So it may have been slowing down a lot by the time it hit the truck.

Hope the engineer is okay. Hell of a ride. Really disturbing that such a relatively small truck derailed the cab car. Reminds me of the Glendale incident. No doubt the discussions that came up in this thread back in 2005 will resurface.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,858339

I think the part of the truck that's visible in the news video is the overturned tractor; the rest of it, which burned, is on the road at the grade crossing. Even though the theory has its detractors, I'd think a 200-ton locomotive in the lead would fare better in a situation like this than a 60-ton cab car. Simple physics.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/15 07:50 by CPR_4000.

Apparently a "city utility truck" as described by the media.

Interesting from KABC-7:
"The vehicle caught fire after the crash, but the driver managed to flee the scene, Oxnard fire officials said.
The driver was located a couple miles down the road unharmed and was taken into custody by Oxnard police, fire officials said."

I wouldn't be suprised if Amtrak 11/14 detour over Tehachapi today

PeaBock619 Wrote:
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> I wouldn't be suprised if Amtrak 11/14 detour over
> Tehachapi today


Yea, thought of that although if they let 11 come down to Santa Barbara, they could do a "bus bridge" for 14 tomorrow morning

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> I think the part of the truck that's visible in
> the news video is the overturned tractor; the rest
> of it, which burned, is on the road at the grade
> crossing. Even though the theory has its
> detractors, I'd think a 200-ton locomotive in the
> lead would fare better in a situation like this
> than a 60-ton cab car. Simple physics.

...or maybe not so simple. I had a train with a couple of SD60s hit a car at 40 mph and turn over both units. It really depends upon how the vehicle was hit, where which debris landed, and what the debris took out on the way by.

TAW

Push mode should not be allowed where a route has grade crossings.

Normanroger Wrote:
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> Push mode should not be allowed where a route has
> grade crossings.
Good luck. Metrolink would never pay for wye turning the train

Posted from iPhone

CPRR Wrote:
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> Normanroger Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Push mode should not be allowed where a route
> has
> > grade crossings.
> Good luck. Metrolink would never pay for wye
> turning the train
>
> Posted from iPhone

There is already a wye on the west end of the VC line at Montalvo with CTC interlockings on all three sides.

The Metrolink spokesman said that if they were to have locomotives on both ends of the trains, it would require at least 20 more locomotives. They have already spent millions of dollars on the so-called "crash resistant" Rotem cars. It is also interesting that the push-pull concept has successfully worked for decades in other states but, for some reason, they don't work in California. Maybe a simpler answer would be for people to quit driving onto the tracks!!!! IMHO

Maybe a simpler answer would be for
> people to quit driving onto the tracks!!!! IMHO

There you go.

FrensicPic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PeaBock619 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wouldn't be suprised if Amtrak 11/14 detour
> over
> > Tehachapi today
>
>
> Yea, thought of that although if they let 11 come
> down to Santa Barbara, they could do a "bus
> bridge" for 14 tomorrow morning

Report I've heard is that 11 was stopped in the Bay Area, and passengers bussed to their stops at points south. Expect that passengers on today's 14 will be bussed to the Bay Area and that 11 will turn in the Bay Area and become tonight's 14.

Normanroger Wrote:
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> Push mode should not be allowed where a route has
> grade crossings.


I completely agree,

gmojim

Commuter trains in Chicago have been running in push mode for..........what 50 years,without as many incidents as Cally.

Sounds like a Cally driver issue.........

DSMTM Wrote:
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> Commuter trains in Chicago have been running in
> push mode for..........what 50 years,without as
> many incidents as Cally.
>
> Sounds like a Cally driver issue.........

I commuted to college for 4 years on the Erie Lackawanna, half the time in push mode. NEVER any incidents, and there were more grade crossings back then.