NS Derailment near Anniston, AL (5/19)

Please allow a brief "fair use" quote from It's a mess': Cargo train derails in Pell City:

The derailment happened about 6 p.m. in the 5000 block of Cogswell Avenue, which is the portion of Highway 78 that runs through the city, near the Citgo service station. Pell City Police Chief Paul Irwin said as many as 30 trains cars went off of the tracks, crashing into one another.

"It's a mess,'' Irwin said.

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19(19) AND 20(20) are expected to be impacted.

The quote that the rest of the train carried on for at least another mile before railroad staff realised is obviously wrong... at least if the continuous brake pipes were connected correctly... It might take that long to stop following a pipe seperation anyway?

Ed.

I live about 3 mi from here. Preliminary reports have NS train 154 doing 55mph when the train separated after picking a switch. The head end of the train did continue for a good distance before the brakes stopped them after the lines separated. It appears Amtrak is busing passengers between Birmingham and Atlanta and turning the trains there for today. They hope to be able to get through tomorrow but it's not clear if the track will be reopened by then.

Yeah-I am on 19 now, left NYP over 4 hours late yesterday, (still are) and everyone gets off in ATL. Guess I'll Uber over to the airport and get a rental there and drive to Birmingham. I'm batting about .600 over the past couple years. I think this is the 4th trip that cancelled, didn't make it to the end, or was so late I had to bail and fly. Maybe I'm just bad luck.

Shortline said:

Yeah-I am on 19 now, left NYP over 4 hours late yesterday, (still are) and everyone gets off in ATL. Guess I'll Uber over to the airport and get a rental there and drive to Birmingham. I'm batting about .600 over the past couple years. I think this is the 4th trip that cancelled, didn't make it to the end, or was so late I had to bail and fly. Maybe I'm just bad luck.

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*** makes note to ask Shortline if he's going to be on any trains I'm contemplating booking *** :hi:

Lol. Don't worry, I think you'look be safe. This is the last time I bother with a train for a very long while. Just not worth the headache. I have some credit that expires in a year or so, may use that, but I'm sticking with flying from now on.

Do stil want to ride the Canadian, -and that new luxe train in Japan. But Amtrak just isn't doing it for me anymore.

I'm on the Crescent this morning headed towards to NYC (Train #20). We departed New Orleans on time this morning. We were told that there would be a bus bridge from Birmingham, AL to Atlanta, GA. The claim is that the bus bridge will not result in any delays.

I will try to share an update about the bus bridge logistics.

Train 19 stopped in Birmingham. The onboard staff did not know where to meet the busses, and there was no one on the platform to direct passengers. I wondered around for a while and found the buses. We loaded on 19th st under the rail underpass. This was a poor choice for a loading area due to rail station construction. The sidewalks were narrow and the there were Jersey barriers in the street. The loading process blocked all southbound traffic under the bridge for about 1 hour

We first had to wait for the busses to unload. This process was chaotic The checked baggage was mixed in with the carry ons under the bus. When the passengers unloaded, the checked bags were left siting on the sidewalk. No one seemed to know what to with them. Pedestrians were just walking by and could easily grab any bag. I think Amtrak staff had to hand carry the checked bags between the train and the busses, but I couldn't see what happened from my seat position.

Both busses were filled to capacity. The air conditioning was not adequate. People were sweating and complaining the entire way. Amtrak put a few cases of bottled water on the bus, but didn't make an announcement. Eventually, a passenger noticed and went down the aisle passing out water. The Amtrak crew was on the back of the bus, but they appeared to be off duty for the trip

The derailment was not Amtraks fault, but I felt that the bus bridge should have been better coordinated.

And that, is why I rented a car, and drove the rest of the way to Birmingham, when they kicked us all off in Atlanta today.......