NB Coast Statlight hits an abandoned car (7/19, 7/20)

According to a post made by CHP Redding that was shared to the Amtrak Coast Starlight Facebook group, they are requesting help in looking for the suspects responsible for leaving a car (based on the post, looks like it is rather a pickup truck) on the tracks in Cottonwood, and yesterday morning at 4am, a northbound Coast Starlight, obviously an hour late, hit that abandoned car, and lost two more hours in the progress. The same thing happened again this morning about the same time. This has affected 14 (18) and 14 (19), and from what I hear, the train did not sit at the KFS train depot for that long. There are some questions that should be answered, and here they are:

1. Is my account of this incident accurate?

2. If not, how accurate (or inaccurate) is my account of the incident?

3. Is it common for the CS to run late by an hour between RDD and CIC, for the Northbound run?

1: No.

2: 11(18) hit a pick up truck and 14(19) hit a car.

3: Departing CIC

3a: Departing RDD during the same time period.

Local news story regarding the sudden trend of stolen vehicles being left on the tracks to intentionally be hit by the Coast Starlight: https://krcrtv.com/news/shasta-county/train-collides-with-pickup-truck-two-days-in-a-row

Blackwolf said:

Local news story regarding the sudden trend of stolen vehicles being left on the tracks to intentionally be hit by the Coast Starlight: https://krcrtv.com/news/shasta-county/train-collides-with-pickup-truck-two-days-in-a-row

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I just read the article. It is a disturbing article. Talk about the criminality. Meanwhile, 14 (20), according to Status Maps, is due into K-Falls at about 8:43am, or 36 minutes late. Judging by the evidence, it looks like 14 (20) made it thru.

Blackwolf said:

Local news story regarding the sudden trend of stolen vehicles being left on the tracks to intentionally be hit by the Coast Starlight: https://krcrtv.com/news/shasta-county/train-collides-with-pickup-truck-two-days-in-a-row

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Yikes. It'a weird world out there.

Ugh, I have worried about this exact scenario. Too many psychopaths out there who get their jollies harming others. I wonder if the person who parked these cars was hiding somewhere nearby to watch the results. Horrible.

CHP Redding posted this on their Facebook page ...

https://www.facebook.com/chpredding/photos/a.427025844147991.1073741832.173925086124736/867105450140026/?type=3&theater

Seems like Amtrak should have surveillance personnel to help with this situation.

Would PTC identify these events in time to prevent?

As of right now, no.

Takes all kinds, I guess..............

Obviously I have no way of knowing this, but it would surprise me greatly if the perp(s) was intentionally trying to cause an incident with the Coast Starlight. To them, it's just a set of busy tracks and any old train would accomplish their goal of smashing up a stolen vehicle. The CS passes through in the middle of the night, but so do lots of freights. It would take a certain amount of knowledge about railroad operations and how to check Amtrak train status, etc, in order to specifically target the CS. Possible, yes. But I'm guessing it's just Amtrak's dumb luck.

I'm grateful that there were no injuries and hopefully they catch the crook(s) and charge them appropriately.

fairviewroad said:

how to check Amtrak train status

I'm grateful that there were no injuries and hopefully they catch the crook(s) and charge them appropriately.

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I have it from a very good source that the CHP investigation is taking a good hard look at this exact element.

Blackwolf said:

fairviewroad said:

how to check Amtrak train status

I'm grateful that there were no injuries and hopefully they catch the crook(s) and charge them appropriately.

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I have it from a very good source that the CHP investigation is taking a good hard look at this exact element.

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As they should.

anumberone said:

Seems like Amtrak should have surveillance personnel to help with this situation.

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I doubt there's much of a budget for remote surveillance personnel. That being said, if anyone was using Track-A-Train to help plan or execute these events it might be possible to follow a digital paper trail to a unique identifier.

Paul CHI said:

Would PTC identify these events in time to prevent?

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PTC is mainly about keeping trains from accidentally impacting each other or from moving too fast through a given area or condition by way of forced spacing and speed controls. It is not designed to prevent criminal mischief or terrorism.

LookingGlassTie said:

Takes all kinds, I guess..............

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This doesn't sound like a joke to me. As more and more hardware is lost to grade crossing collisions it becomes harder and harder to maintain current service levels. Not to mention that a slightly larger and heavier vehicle and/or better positioning is probably enough to derail the Coast Starlight and harm many innocent people indiscriminately.