Passenger Trains > Man Killed in Crash With Amtrak

Here we go again. "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn...?"
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2015/06/01/crash-in-chili/28292465/

The incident occurred about 5:45 a.m. and involved Amtrak's train No. 280 carrying 21 passengers and four crew members en route from Niagara Falls to New York's Penn Station, according to Amtrak. None was injured.

Hysterical, bisased headline by stupid editors: "Police ID man killed in Amtrak collision"

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Hysterical, bisased headline by stupid editors:
> "Police ID man killed in Amtrak collision"

Article clearly states he went around crossing gates.  It was a collision, it was a man and he was killed. 
No idea where this is or what part of the route of the train but I would note the passenger count.

Bob

21 passengers.
Most LD trains are far better performers than their corridor counterparts in parts of their journey.

This in a Niagara Fall to New York City train. It departed Niagara Falls at 3:55AM, and stopped in Buffalo at 4:30AM. It had only made these two stops. I would not expect it to have many passengers at this point, I would expect it to pick up many more later on.
Cheers,
Nick

Posted from iPhone

This is an inherent defect of some corridor trains. They have a terminus where it is practical from a servicing standpoint, not a commercial one, and lack connections at such terminals.
A pair of western Empire trains clearly should terminate at Rochester. The heaviest loaded train in western NY is the LSL.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/15 11:36 by joemvcnj.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> This is an inherent defect of some corridor
> trains. The have a terminus where it is practical
> from a servicing standpoint, not a comemrcial one,
> and lack connections at such terminals.
> A pair of western Empire trains clearly should
> terminate at Rochester. The heaviest loaded train
> in western NY is the LSL.
>

Surely the cost of establishing a crew base -- even an away-from-home one -- and servicing facilities at Rochester would outweigh the modest fuel and work-time savings of doing so.
 

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Hysterical, bisased headline by stupid editors:
> "Police ID man killed in Amtrak collision"

What's biased or hysterical?  Article seems to clearly state what happened and why, even stating the crossing gates need to be respected.

now does the man's estate pay for the damage to railroad property ... extra pay for the crew and all inconveniences the passengers had to endure on missed connections ... these things shouldn't be overlooked just because a careless driver died due to his wreckless behavior and lack of consideration for everyone left to deal with his selfish behavior ...

Posted from Android

I said the headline was hysterical, not the article. Some writers do not get to pick their headline. Yes, it made it look like we had another North Philly situation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/15 11:36 by joemvcnj.

Don't hold your breath on getting headline writers to not use "Amtrak crash" when referring to vehicle or trespasser collisions involving Amtrak trains. In parts of the country that don't have commuter trains, "Amtrak" is shorthand for "passenger train" and brevity remains paramount.

The headline-writing usage that makes less sense to me is "Megabus crash". "Bus" is much shorter and avoids use of the proper name, and there are other bus lines out there that occasionally get into accidents.
 

I'd also point out the quoted passenger was bound for Poughkeepsie, an enroute stop, rather than the terminus.

Condolences to the dead guy's family. That's a stupid and senseless way to die.

I have a minor in Journalism. First rule of any story (besides using proper capitalization, spelling, and punctuation...something often avoided by some here on TOO) to appear in the first paragraph:  Who, what (as in the train number), when, where, and how (as in the idiot ran the crossing gates adn got smaked).  I would have never graduated if I wrote a story like that.

Looking at the pictures he almost made it, but at grade crossing ties go to the train.....   3:55AM, I wonder if ethanol was involved or just poor decision making.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> I have a minor in Journalism. First rule of any
> story (besides using proper capitalization,
> spelling, and punctuation...something often
> avoided by some here on TOO) to appear in the
> first paragraph:  Who, what (as in the train
> number), when, where, and how (as in the idiot ran
> the crossing gates adn got smaked).  I would have
> never graduated if I wrote a story like that.

These are definitely the principles of journalism. Concisely expressed in "don't bury the lede" given the key facts up front.

But TV news works the other way.  With a tease, commercials, then the rest of the story.  Mother watches daughter eaten by alligator.  Man shot in police encounter.  It's only later you read the daughter eating alligator was dining in Indonesia, where these things happen occasionally.  And the guy was shot when his own weapon went off. Which happens in the US quite a bit.

You don't learn these pieces of useful info until after the commercials, or deep in the piece
 

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Hysterical, bisased headline by stupid editors:
> "Police ID man killed in Amtrak collision"

Actually, an excellent headline.  It tells almost everything a reader would want to know in six words:  Police, ID, man, killed, Amtrak, collision - i.e. Who (the police) did What (identify) Who ([a] man) Why (killed) How (collision) with some Detail (Amtrak). This headline gives the gist of what happened, who's involved, what the following story is going to be about, why it is a story, and lets the reader know enough to decide whether (s)he wants to continue reading or skip it, which btw, is the purpose of the headline. Your comment just speaks about you, your opinion, your intelligence and attitude. The headline writers' skill in doing his job is evident in his/her work. 

< Your comment just speaks about you, your opinion, your intelligence and attitude. The headline writers' skill in doing his job is evident in his/her work. >

Yes I does. It means I can interpret a SENTENCE, not simply individual words like an animal.
NO mention in the headline that the man's car was involved and caused the entire mess.
Pure unadulturated bias and stupidity.
"Trespassing car's driver killed by train" is more like it".



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/15 12:06 by joemvcnj.

 21 passengers or not, one thing for certain is that this dead guy won't ever up the passenger count by deciding to ' take the train ' .

"...SMAKED..." and you have a degree in journalism?