Auto Train Derailment - Auto Racks (3/29)

Nothing moving south of DC.

ANY NEWS.

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Saw on FB that the autotrain derailed ?3? cars about 2 hours south of Petersburg.

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Yeah, it's a rough night/morning in the southeast (copied from my own Facebook post):

98(28) and 52(28) at this moment are both stopped just North of Rocky Mount, 53(28) is moving just South of Rocky Mount but was stopped for a while, 97(28) is stopped near Skippers, Virginia (near VA/NC border), 92(28) is showing service disruption but moving, 91(28) is about 2 hours behind schedule but moving. 20(28) is about 5+ hours behind schedule due to a freight train hitting a trespasser.

Per TO -- 2 autoracks on 53 derailed. All autoracks were decoupled and engines, passenger cars, diners and lounges continued south.

Grandpa D said:

Per TO -- 2 autoracks on 53 derailed. All autoracks were decoupled and engines, passenger cars, diners and lounges continued south.

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That is going to make for an interesting arrival in Sanford - passengers and no cars.

Okay, so either the autoracks are still sitting there and completely blocking the tracks or there is track damage north of RMT. Whichever it is, a lot of people are in for a very long day.

So right now, 53 is what, about 5 hours or so into the 19 hour trip? So they won't be getting to Sanford until late tonight - what on earth is Amtrak going to do with those passengers who won't have their cars? What a nightmare...

Edit to add: Oh, and if the passengers have baggage inside their car, they won't have baggage either!

My train 79 southbound from WAS to CYN was canceled at 2:36 this morning. Train 91 is still theoretically on schedule for the same route this afternoon (I have doubts), but it sold out between when I got that notification and when I gave up on getting a phone agent.

This will be the third of three consecutive WAS to CYN trips I've taken where I had to switch to a last-minute Greyhound bus due to a train cancellation...

"Free" rental cars for everyone on arrival in Sanford?? This is utterly perplexing. How on earth do passengers get comp'd for failure to deliver their vehicles on arrival at end points on the Auto Train?

This report says 4 auto racks derailed.

http://abc11.com/amtrak-derails-in-halifax-county-no-injuries-reported/3277504/

As of 09:30 it appears 97, 98, and 52 are sitting still near the derailment site. 92 has departed Selma and will be near the derailment site in an hour. 79/80 are annulled between Raleigh and DC; 89/90 are annulled between Savannah and DC. 53 is near the NC/SC border. 52 and 53 of the 29th are annulled.

Is it possible the passengers of 97 were bussed? I saw it was stopped adjacent to highway 301 in Pleasant Hill, NC for quite a while before continuing south toward the derailment site. I'm not sure if it would still be showing on the map if the passengers got off the train.

Edit to add: The post on TrainOrders just noted that passengers of 97 are still on the train, just waiting for the track to clear. The derailment sight is just to the north of Enfield, according to that post.

Fred Frailey from Trains Magazine is on 97

It appears 98 is moving well northbound and has cleared the derailment site, 52 is approaching the site as we speak. 92 will be coming through the area shortly.

97 is not moving yet, but my guess is that it will be once 92 comes through.

92 and 52 have cleared the site. 97 now on the move. Will be about 13 hours late at Rocky Mount and may lose additional time account NB CSX trains clogging the road.

First picture of the scene I've seen - http://www.witn.com/content/news/Amtrak-Auto-Train-derails-north-of-Rocky-Mount-478290813.html

Not sure how fast the train may have been going, but if the cars stayed upright, MAYBE there's not a huge amount of damage to the vehicles inside the cars. Keeping my fingers crossed for that.

chrsjrcj said:

Fred Frailey from Trains Magazine is on 97

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oh great... he'll report on everything Amtrak did wrong with a title like "Why Auto Train spells the END FOR AMTRAK" in the next issue.

chrsjrcj said:

Fred Frailey from Trains Magazine is on 97

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And he’ll complain in his column about it. I honestly can’t stand the guy.

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I saw that the Auto train was moving except there were no autoracks. My thought is: Will the passengers have to stay overnight at the Sanford terminal till the autoracks arrive at that time being?

CHvision said:

I saw that the Auto train was moving except there were no autoracks. My thought is: Will the passengers have to stay overnight at the Sanford terminal till the autoracks arrive at that time being?

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That's what I'm thinking happened, they probably just asked everyone to stay on the train and sleep there. I can't imagine they either put everyone in a hotel or provided them all with rental cars. I would love to know how much and what kind of compensation was offered to the passengers, some of whom undoubtedly lost money on other plans they might have had for yesterday and last night.

Anyone know when (or even if) the autoracks arrived in Sanford?

The derailment may just be one symptom of trying to run an underfunded passenger rail network. There is only so long you can maintain reliability on high mileage equipment

lo2e said:

First picture of the scene I've seen - http://www.witn.com/content/news/Amtrak-Auto-Train-derails-north-of-Rocky-Mount-478290813.html

Not sure how fast the train may have been going, but if the cars stayed upright, MAYBE there's not a huge amount of damage to the vehicles inside the cars. Keeping my fingers crossed for that.

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That's my thought too. The rail cars are still upright. To me, that means there might not be a lot of major damage to the private vehicles inside.

People here are asking about what will the passengers do, without their cars? IMHO, it would be far worse to hand the keys back to a passenger, and tell them that theirs is the third pile of twisted metal.

dlagrua said:

The derailment may just be one symptom of trying to run an underfunded passenger rail network. There is only so long you can maintain reliability on high mileage equipment

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So are you saying it was an equipment failure that caused this derailment?

jb

I was wondering whether the "underfunded passenger rail network" included both the underfunded CSX tracks and the underfunded Amtrak equipment, since at present there is no way for anyone to know for sure which of those or possibly some third factor was the primary cause. But then he did say "may be" Of course anything "may be" including a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil.

Ironically the auto racks are among Amtrak's newer pieces of rolling stock.

lo2e said:

.....MAYBE there's not a huge amount of damage to the vehicles inside the cars. Keeping my fingers crossed for that.

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Are the cars strapped down or blocked somehow in the auto racks or just reliant on friction and gravity?

Don Newcomb said:

lo2e said:

.....MAYBE there's not a huge amount of damage to the vehicles inside the cars. Keeping my fingers crossed for that.

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Are the cars strapped down or blocked somehow in the auto racks or just reliant on friction and gravity?

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The answer to your question is of interest to me since I am considering an Auto Train trip. I would think that the automobiles would be fastened in some fashion that would keep them in place during the journey.