Western Railroad Discussion > zephyr hits semi in nevada

cbs news just reported that the zephyr collided with a semi near trinity, nevada. at least 2 dead, many injured.

Technically the semi hit the train, it struck the side of the crew dorm. I'm now hearing up to four fatalities from the latest press conference.

Cross referenced to the passenger board:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2498553
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2498638

Photo over on Altamont Press Discussion Board

looks like that several cars are on fire look nasty

Gary Wamhoff
Laramie, WY

That crossing is on 95 between 80 and Fallon and wide open in both directions, how does one run into the side
of train out there??

Drivers are more likely to fall asleep or become inattentive on long stretches of highway in the middle of nowhere than in urban areas.

Brake failure, fatigue, drunk driving, any other number of possibilities. We may never know.

Tragic.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/11 17:33 by MaximumRails.

The best chronology for this incident seems to be on the Reno Gazette Journal

http://www.rgj.com/article/20110624/NEWS/110624012/Two-confirmed-dead-dozens-injured-after-Amtrak-train-collides-gravel-truck-near-Fallon?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|FRONTPAGE

Fallon area newspaper

http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20110624/NEWS/110629924/1055&ParentProfile=1045





Images

http://www.nbcchicago.com/traffic/transit/124511984.html

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8213323

http://www.mynews4.com/story.php?id=45897

http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Amtrak_Most_Injuries_are_Non-Life_Threatening_124516054.html

That map is from the Reno Gazette Journal.

This seems to be the best series/source of photo online right now.
http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=J7&Date=20110624&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=106240803&Ref=PH


On Google Maps

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fallon,+NV&hl=en&ll=39.894987,-118.751221&spn=0.27552,0.617294&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.368578,79.013672&z=11

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Over the course of my career as an engineer for the BNSF, I've had more near misses with commercial truck drivers than any other group of vehicles. Perhaps we are looking at a flaw in training for commercial truck drivers. I read a comment on one of the related links suggesting Amtrak sue the trucking company for damages. I agree, Amtrak should go after the responsible trucking company and take them to the cleaners. Such recklessness should be punished severely. Truck drivers need to get the message to never try and beat a train at a grade crossing.

The Reno Gazette Journal has quoted a UP spokesperson that the railroad anticipates running detours through the Feather River Canyon and the Winnemucca Sub for freight traffic. It is my speculation that the NTSB will want the accident scene in place/intact until their investigation is finished, however long that may be. After that, the wreckage will have to be removed from the track.

This brings the question: will Saturday's 5/6 be detoured or will Amtrak run a bus bridge from Reno to Winnemucca?


Here is a link to some very close amateur video, posted around 1830.

http://www.rgj.com/videonetwork/1021508459001/Footage-of-the-smoldering-Amtrak-train-cars-

graybeard1942 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This brings the question: will Saturday's 5/6 be
> detoured or will Amtrak run a bus bridge from Reno
> to Winnemucca?


I'm going to guess that until the line is reopened 5 and 6 will be turned at Winnemucca with a bus bridge. This will have the dual benefit of giving the Reno crews some time off to recover, and so Amtrak can scramble some equipment into place (remember, one whole train set is now out of service).

Let the NTSB do there job. There's too many variables right now.
You never know, The driver could of had a heart attack or stroke
just before the collision. My father had a stroke while driving his
car, he plowed into three parked cars before coming to a stop. He didn't
remember a thing. So, you just don't know until the medical reviews come
back. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved. Dan Tracy

I'm not sure whether the direction of the hit was north or south but if it was south consider that
the driver would have had debark I-80 west, make the turn onto 95 and accelerate down the long
straight to the track. Highly unlikely that he fell asleep in that direction. Northbound there isn't
much after leaving Fallon so it would be more likely but again the crossing is well marked and
very hard to miss.

rehunn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not sure whether the direction of the hit was
> north or south but if it was south consider that
> the driver would have had debark I-80 west, make
> the turn onto 95 and accelerate down the long
> straight to the track. Highly unlikely that he
> fell asleep in that direction. Northbound there
> isn't
> much after leaving Fallon so it would be more
> likely but again the crossing is well marked and
> very hard to miss.

From the photos now posted to Reno newspaper websites (www.rgj.com), it appears the truck was northbound, it was empty, and it hit the fourth "car" back...it is actually the second car as the media seems to count the engines as "cars". It appears that two cars were totally gutted by the fire. Tragic all the way around. My prayers go to the families of those who died today.

As mentioned above, the Reno Gazette Journal continues to update the story about every hour or so. This link is to a series of interviews with the survivors conducted both in Fallon and in Reno. Overall, it would seem that this could have been a much worse tragedy. The big plus was probably the present of the heavy firefighting equipment that responded from Fallon NAS. In one clip, I saw one piece of equipment (not fully visible) flooding the burning cars with AFFF foam. Fallon shut down all air operations while its crash rescue rigs were at the scene. Fallon also supplied two Blackhawk SAR helicopters to transport victims to Reno's medical center.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20110624/NEWS/110624012/Survivors+of+Amtrak+train+crash+in+Nevada+share+their+stories

5 die, many hurt as semi hits Bay Area-bound train

"The rig's driver and a train conductor were among the five confirmed dead as of late Friday. Scores of victims were sent to hospitals with injuries, while as many as 45 remained unaccounted for, federal officials said."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/24/BAJI1K2ENG.DTL#ixzz1QGGkOeuE

This is going to start moving to the top of the major news queue in a hurry.

stampedej Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Over the course of my career as an engineer for
> the BNSF, I've had more near misses with
> commercial truck drivers than any other group of
> vehicles.

Same with me during my 30 year career with SP and Amtrak. While firing the Starlight between Oakland and San Luis Obispo early in my career we were almost derailed on two separate occasions when we hit truck/trailers on rural grade crossings in the Salinas Valley. A truck load of lettuce also drove right into the side of our train in an incident similar to the one today, fortunately at slow train & truck speed with no deaths. Two of our ex SP Coast Division engineers and friends were killed when a trucker with a load of Hershey's chocolate syrup drove right through the gates and crashed into an Amtrak San Joaquin train near Stockton. I lost track of all the close calls I had with incompetent and inattentive truckers. I'm not condemning truck drivers in general at all, some are excellent drivers but there is a sizable minority that shouldn't even be driving cars, let alone be anywhere near heavy equipment The bar seems to have been continually lowered over the years too. You don't need to be a locomotive engineer to verify that, just take a ride in your car on the Nimitz from Oakland to San Jose!

About two years ago I was driving to the San Francisco Bay Area from Colorado and camped for the night at this very same crossing (well away from the tracks). There were few trains and few vehicles, with good visibility for miles in all directions. I noted all the warning lights at this crossing and wondered if so many lights were necessary. What I remembered most was a tanker truck heading south which came to a complete stop at the crossing before proceeding. I thought at the time that the truck driver was excessively cautious as it was obvious that there wasn't a train or even another vehicle around for miles.

I find it hard to imagine how this accident could have happened or what more realistically could have been done to prevent it. A rule requiring all trucks to stop at the crossing would be unenforceable.

My thoughts go out to all those affected by this accident.

HAZ-MAT trucks are required to stop at all railroad crossings, unless the crossing is marked as exempt. keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/11 01:31 by rdmstr.