Passenger Trains > Service Disruptions: Capitol's and Lake Shore's

All four trains are running about 3 hrs late and are listed as having
had service disruptions. Anybody know what the cause is ? TIA

Estimated arrival times. ( Regular scheduled arrivals in parentheses)

At Chicago
# 29 -- ETA 12:07 pm(8:45 am)
# 49 -- ETA 12:35 pm(9:45 am)

At Washington
# 30 -- 4:01 pm(1:05 pm)

At Albany
# 48-- 4:46 pm(arrived Buffalo at 11:37 am vs. scheduled 8:46 am)

At New York
# 48--7:29 pm(6:23 pm)

Somewhere around Cleveland a Norfolk Southern freight had an altercation we a trespasser. It did not end well for him I am told. On 29 now; timing was a perfect storm to catch all four trains.

Posted from Android

Ok, the train that hit the tresspasser needs to fill out reports etc. But is it really necessary to close the entire two track railroad and inconvience others?  Clean up the mess and move on. Sorry but no sympathy for the idiot involved. Only the crew of the train that hit him (or her).

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ok, the train that hit the tresspasser needs to
> fill out reports etc. But is it really necessary
> to close the entire two track railroad and
> inconvience others?  Clean up the mess and move
> on. Sorry but no sympathy for the idiot involved.
> Only the crew of the train that hit him (or her).

As Amtrak euphemistically says on the NEC "Because of the nature of the injuries all tracks had to be taken out of service for a period". :-/

It's easy to complain rather than think that there may be other factures involved. Maybe body parts were scattered over both tracks.  Maybe it took a long time for the Coroner to get to the scene. Maybe the body was still impaled on the front of the unit, something everyone wants to see as they pass by. Even though it might have a tarp over it, it's quite obvious what happened and with this pc country , it would still offend someone. Bottom line is if you  don't know the facts then maybe spewing comments isn't really necessary.



andersonb109 Wrote
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ok, the train that hit the tresspasser needs to
> fill out reports etc. But is it really necessary
> to close the entire two track railroad and
> inconvience others?  Clean up the mess and move
> on. Sorry but no sympathy for the idiot involved.
> Only the crew of the train that hit him (or her).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/15 11:13 by SP4360.

True.  While these incidents have a "sameness" about them, they are in fact are all unique in detail.  Speculation is pretty pointless and the people involved in the aftermath should not be assumed idiots.  Best be thankful you're not personally involved and escape the kind of harsh criticism you yourself would dish out!
SR

it's not the railroad that shuts down the railroad ... it's the firs responders and the commander who takes control of the scene once they arrive and the railroad shut dowm the tracks on their behalf ....

Posted from Android

These are usually considered crime scenes -- even though it may have been the result of inattentiveness or stupidity or...  We can't move a deceased person from a car or a home until the coroner (or ME -- medical examiner) okays removal.  I suspect the same is true for other places as well.  And there may be several needs for the ME over a wide area at the same time.  

Bruce
Columbia, MO

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> . . . is it really necessary to close the entire two track railroad and
> inconvience others?  Clean up the mess and move on.

That's just what they were doing.  Cleaning up the mess to current public safety standards is exactly what requires closure of the entire railroad for hours these days.

Those of us who are old enough remember a different time when moving the trains had priority - leave a crewman behind to talk to the police and the train goes (if safe to do so) as soon as the injured are taken care of.  Usually a 20-minute delay for a garden-variety grade crossing accident unless the motor vehicle ended up wedged under the locomotive.  Interstate Commerce pre-emption of local authorities then; but not any more, apparently.

Railroads and other companies, and even large cities apparently tend to over-react to the potential risks and therefore take the most restrictive path to remedy the situation. 

Consider the major portion of the NEC and all NYC, most NJ, and other transit systems that were shut down before the 'storm of the century' didn't happen.  It seems that the goal of all the "sky is falling" types of responses is to avoid completely, or, at least, minimize any legal actions afterward.  Apparently, it's better to inconvenience any number of people, even millions, to avoid a law suit due to injury or damage.  

In my own experience, a 5 gallon jug of concentrated sulfuric acid got broken in a large package handing facility where I was working and within 15 minutes, it was cleaned up and back to business as usual.  6 years later, working at a railroad intermodal site, a 5 gallon container of an acid/oxidizer in a UPS trailer was leaking on the property.  They shut down the entire rail yard, main line and all, for over an hour and had 30 or more 'responders' there to clean up the site.  Better safe than sorry is always the best policy, but overkill is overkill. 

There have been cases of murder where the body is dumped on the tracks with the hope that it will be assumed to be a suicide or remains so destroyed that cause of death is impossible or at lease hard to determine.

Posted from iPhone

You guys are trying to build a case for general speculation?
When a trespasser is killed it's an ugly, messy situation.  And the details are always unique to the exact event.  The " responders" make the calls I'm sure glad I don't have to make!  Give them a break and be glad you're home cozy with your laptop.

If it takes an hour, it takes an hour.

If it takes 3 hours, it takes 3 hours.

SR Bush-  31yrs Amtrak OBS and I'm here to tell ya: It's always somethin'.  Get over it!

 

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ok, the train that hit the tresspasser needs to
> fill out reports etc. But is it really necessary
> to close the entire two track railroad and
> inconvience others?  Clean up the mess and move
> on. Sorry but no sympathy for the idiot involved.
> Only the crew of the train that hit him (or her).
Several posts hit around this but another contrubutor is LITIGATION!  You can bet that there is a lawyer somewhere who will take a case against the RR where a trespasser with a suicide note in thier pocket is hit.
Tommy

BCutter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These are usually considered crime scenes -- even
> though it may have been the result of
> inattentiveness or stupidity or...  We can't move
> a deceased person from a car or a home until the
> coroner (or ME -- medical examiner) okays removal.
>  I suspect the same is true for other places as
> well.  And there may be several needs for the ME
> over a wide area at the same time.  
>
> Bruce
> Columbia, MO

+1 on that

sometimes the search of the area for remains has coroner / medical examiner teams on the scene for a mile back of where the train ended up. the publicity if a kid walking his dog near the tracks found a piece of bloody pelvis or severed head wouldn't be pretty.

We had a trespasser get hit by a certain west coast outfit and the coroner couldn't find the melon. The train sat for over 3 hours plugging up the line at rush hour before finding it across the street.. How would that have looked in the morning paper, man killed trespassing, melon missing? I didn't bring up the litigation thing because that would have opened up another can of worms here.