Grade Crossing Accident involving the Silver Star (7/11/17)

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jis

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Have any of you heard anything further about this accident?

http://wfla.com/2017/07/11/1-killed-during-accident-involving-amtrak-train-pickup-truck-in-highlands-co/

The pickup truck driver was killed and one person on the train was injured.

The track is still blocked more than four hours after the accident, with both 91 and 97 stuck somewhere around Winter Haven.

The location appears to be just south of Sebring station at the point where Rt. 98 crosses the tracks in Lorida FL. Happened around 3pm or so I would guess.

All three trains, 92, 91 and 97 are showing in Service Disruption, so presumably things are bad enough that they expect them to be stuck for quite a while.
 
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Have any of you heard anything further about this accident?

http://wfla.com/2017/07/11/1-killed-during-accident-involving-amtrak-train-pickup-truck-in-highlands-co/

The pickup truck driver was killed and one person on the train was injured.

The track is still blocked more than four hours after the accident, with both 91 and 97 stuck somewhere around Winter Haven.

The location appears to be just south of Sebring station at the point where Rt. 98 crosses the tracks in Lorida FL. Happened around 3pm or so I would guess.

All three trains, 92, 91 and 98 are showing in Service Disruption, so presumably things are bad enough that they expect them to be stuck for quite a while.
You mean 91, 92, and 97? According to transitdocs.com, 91 is moving south at about 15mph.
 
That pickup was totally obliterated. There is nothing left attached to the frame other than the four tires. According to the linked story the truck hit the left side of the train. Based upon a quick look at the damage it appears it struck the rear truck of the loco and ricocheted down under the lead Amfleet. To hit the side of a train with the gates down...Texting? Drunk? Medical Emergeny? HOT(stolen)?
 
What ever the reason, the truck was moving at a pretty good clip before slamming on the brakes. At least 70 feet of skid-marks, probably more, in that photo.
 
I have 2 friends who are aboard the south bound 97 Meteor and are still waiting near Sebring to go south to Miami. The southbound 91 Star is waiting behind them however according to my latest communications the 91 Star is being moved up to the Meteor and it sounds to me like the Star and Meteor just might be couple together to run as one extra long combined train once they are cleared to travel south.

Keep in mind that I'm not there however I am receiving text communications from 2 people who are aboard the southbound 97 Silver Meteor.

Whether the southbound Star and Meteor are ultimately run as a combined train is still only speculation but as I hear more I will let you know.
 
It was the northbound 92 (Silver Star) that was involved in the pickup Truck accident which may have been an attempted suicide. According to my latest information at 10 pm Central and 11 pm eastern time (which is from an Amtrak agent) the northbound 92 is now moving north and the southbound 97 Meteor and 91 Star are in Sebring and seems that they will be coupled into a large "super train" and proceed south. The Estimated Time of Arrival In Miami for the 97 is between 1 and 1:30 am, eastern time or at least 7 hours late.
 
92 is on the move but it has to set out the damaged car. It will undoubtedly lose more time.
 
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92 is setting out the damaged coach just north of Sebring right now. Will be on the move at maximum authorized speed once complete. No Tampa bypass last I heard.
 
Why did 92 lose 9 hours? What took so long?

jb
I'm going to go ahead and assume because of how bad the incident was, and clean up/removal of debris, plus the investigation of course. And with having a vehicle go under one of your train cars you might want to do a total train inspection to make sure it's even safe for passenger transportation. Then on top of all that..during a fatality they need to replace the operating crew, so you need to have one that's actually available and has time to work, and then get them from their crew base to the site where the train is so stopped.
 
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If you think that the northbound 92 is late the south bound 97 (Silver Meteor arrived Miami arrived after 4 am this morning and and was over 9 hours late ,while the south bound 91(Silver Star) which ran coupled to the Silver Meteor was over 10 hours late into MIami.

So Amtrak LKL from what you are describing that the "Amtrak Coach" was set out it sounds to me that the driver of the pickup truck had deliberatly drove into the side of the train which sounds to me like a probable suicide. If the driver had tried to beat the train then it may have been the locomotive that was damaged and not the coach.

That makes sense as I have 2 good friends who were aboard the south bound Meteor (97) and from what they had heard aboard their train the driver had driven into the side of the northbound train. Perhaps by now some local news media might have better information.
 
If the driver was trying to commit suicide why were there skid marks?

Remember, the CZ accident in NV involved the transdorm & a coach and that was not attributed to suicide.
 
I see that the grade crossing accident occurred on a single track mainline. I wonder if there is space to double track that mainline so that it would be possible to move trains in the opposite direction with out having 9 and 10 hour delays. It only makes sense to have it double tracked for more expeditious movement of the trains. Considering that the Florida Market is a growing and a potentially lucrative market. I can't help but wonder if that section railroad was ever double tracked as I understand that some railroad's had eliminated multiple track mainlines in an effort to save money as the railroads had been heavily taxed for their property. I really don't know if this was the case there however as Florida is not known for high taxes.



It is a fact however that the railroads were taxed heavily for years while the governments (both local and federal) put money into the highway and airway system in this country.
 
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I see that the grade crossing accident occurred on a single track mainline. I wonder if there is space to double track that mainline so that it would be possible to move trains in the opposite direction with out having 9 and 10 hour delays. It only makes sense to have it double tracked for more expeditious movement of the trains. Considering that the Florida Market is a growing and a potentially lucrative market. I can't help but wonder if that section railroad was ever double tracked as I understand that some railroad's had eliminated multiple track mainlines in an effort to save money as the railroads had been heavily taxed for their property. I really don't know if this was the case there however as Florida is not known for high taxes.



It is a fact however that the railroads were taxed heavily for years while the governments (both local and federal) put money into the highway and airway system in this country.
It wouldn't have cut down on this delay by much. When there is a fatality, all tracks are usually pulled out of service while the investigation is on-going. Only once the investigation is finished, and wreckage has been started to be cleared may another train pass by.
 
If the driver was trying to commit suicide why were there skid marks?

Remember, the CZ accident in NV involved the transdorm & a coach and that was not attributed to suicide.
One thing that we know for sure is that the driver had been driving irresponsibly to be able to drive into a speeding train at a railroad crossing.
 
Can you please stop bolding your entire post? If some portion of your post needs extra attention then only bold that one specific part rather than the whole entire post. Thank you.
 
From the photos he was hauling a trailer full of junk. Inattention and an overload for the truck brakes may be all it took.

Calling it a suicide without any first hand knowledge is kinda beyond the pale.
 
From the photos he was hauling a trailer full of junk. Inattention and an overload for the truck brakes may be all it took.

Calling it a suicide without any first hand knowledge is kinda beyond the pale.
I agree. The suicide theory seems to be more or less baseless idle speculation at this point given the information that we have. Why would someone apply brakes leaving 70' of skid marks if they were trying to commit suicide?
 
From the photos he was hauling a trailer full of junk. Inattention and an overload for the truck brakes may be all it took.

Calling it a suicide without any first hand knowledge is kinda beyond the pale.
I agree. The suicide theory seems to be more or less baseless idle speculation at this point given the information that we have. Why would someone apply brakes leaving 70' of skid marks if they were trying to commit suicide?
Maybe we need a new term for inadvertent self removal. Suislaughter? Darwinicide? Whoopsideath?
 
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But judge the camera is wrong. He wasn't distracted or trying to beat the train. He never did that. If Amtrak had not been speeding at 79 MPH he would have been across the RR track and he would not have run into the side of the train, Sounds like the arguments coming.
 
But judge the camera is wrong. He wasn't distracted or trying to beat the train. He never did that. If Amtrak had not been speeding at 79 MPH he would have been across the RR track and he would not have run into the side of the train, Sounds like the arguments coming.
New state law: All Amtrak trains must slow to 20 mph for each and every grade crossing....

[Edit To Add: Some of those drivers would still get hit!]
 
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I wouldn't laugh about the slower speed limits because the enemies or the NIMBYS of the new Brightline system might just use it as an argument against the new Brighline system.
 
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