Passenger Trains > Bit of a technical problem Tuesday night on Metra BNSF

Door was cranky, decided not to close.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-metra-door-open-20130206,0,1054398.story



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/13 16:00 by TipsyMcStagger.

They do it all the time. They just finally got caught.

I can just imagine the bureaucratic knee-jerk new guidelines being implemented now. "Conductor shall walk length of both sides of train to inspect & ascertain all doors have shut & are secured with a sufficient safety device prior to train movement"...

TS2010 Wrote:
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> They do it all the time. They just finally got
> caught.


Yup. First time I've seen a news story for it.

Here's one from Caltrain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_78QFM8cjjA

Those rules were prompted by the 1995 incident in which violinist Rachel Barton was caught in the door of a moving UP North Line train and was dragged, causing her to lose part of a leg. A jury awarded Barton $29 million.

I saw Ms Barton play with the Reno Philharmonic last year... excellent violinist. In that near death tragic event in '95, she was detraining at Winnetka and got her Stradivarius violin caught in the doors. In a moment of panic and desperation, she tried to save the violin and was dragged over 100 feet severing part of her leg before passengers on the platform were able to pull her out and save her from being killed.

As a result, all UP ETT SI for the Chicago Terminal Metra Ops are very clear on how you may proceed--not on a "door light" as was done for years and years. Crew must ascertain by visual inspection that all passengers are clear of the doors before highballing the train.

Since the incident of this thread occurred on the BNSF, I have no knowledge of their special instructions or if Metra has "system" special instructions that apply there as well.

BTW... Ms. Barton's RR settlement was a record breaking number for the time. It may still stand as an all-time record RR case jury award, even surpassing the one that led Grisham to write "Runaway Jury."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/13 20:56 by IC_2024.