CZ Train Truck Collision In Nevada (2011)

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WOW, this is terrible. Suffice it to say there will be a very big investigation into how this happened.

I hope all the passengers and crew come out ok from this, but it looks like that will not the case. I expect quite a few law suites to come from this, hopefully none of them will be aimed at Amtrak.

As for the train, I don't expect those two cars to ever see service again.

The Superliner equipment is just getting whittled down bit by bit
 
If the truck hit the train, I would think the truck would have the liability

and should cover the associated damages. I would also think Amtrak would have

uninsured insurance to cover non-recovered losses.
 
Yikes. The first commenter on that article pretty much sums up my reaction-how anyone fails to see a train in Churchill County is completely unclear. There's nothing for miles around besides these tracks. I'm thinking the driver had a medical event or was otherwise...hampered. I'll leave it at that.
 
wow . I can t say much more ,but wow . :eek:

I ride the CZ Very often .

what is so flammable in those cars . . that is NOT a small fire .

HEP Arcing ? or compressor "Freon" . luaggage is not That bad is it ?

Peter
 
From the Chicago Tribune website:

Marianne Tidwell, a Chicago resident, said her daughter is an attendant on the train and was standing near a coworker who was one of the people killed in the crash.

"She called me and said that the train had been hit," said Tidwell, another of whose daughters is a Tribune reporter. "It was a very bad accident, and her coworker was dead. She was just talking to her.

"I told her bad things happen to good people."
Click to expand...
Here is a link to the article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-2-killed-when-amtrak-train-from-chicago-hits-semi-20110624,0,2226228.story

My thoughts and prayers are with those who are suffering.
 
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Truck hits train: ABC evening news reports people still trapped. Conflicting reports are seen on the net. Some say a lot of non life threatening injuries. It looks like this is in the open desert, view unrestricted, at crossing of U S Highway 95 and it deffinetly has flashing signals. One report says it has gates. This was a gravel truck and I assume the fire came from the fuel on the truck. Looks like the trucker died, and at least one fatality on the train.

I have to travel the interstate a lot (no passenger trains from here to Nashville) and have had numerous close calls with big rigs, (often they appear to be falling asleep). This guy either was impaired, fell asleep or decided to try to beat the train.

Thoughts, prayers to passengers, crew and their families.
 
I've driven this stretch of US-95 before, and from what I recall the tracks and two lane highway run parallel for several miles before a grade crossing. I find it hard to believe that you can miss an Amtrak train--I saw a UP freight miles away even though it was drizzling!
 
Not 100% sure but from what I found online I think the location of the collision is below. Just cut and paste into Google Maps to see the street view:

39.895526,-118.752551
 
Semi collides with Ill. to Calif. Amtrak, 2 killed

By MARTIN GRIFFITH 

The Associated Press

 

RENO, Nev.

 

Two people were killed and about 20 others were injured in a fiery crash in rural Nevada when a semitrailer collided with an Amtrak passenger train.

 

An Amtrak spokesman says 204 passengers and 14 crew members were aboard the California Zephyr en route from Chicago to Emeryville, Calif., about 300 miles west of the crash site.

 

A Nevada Highway Patrol trooper says the big rig ran into the train around 11:25 a.m. Friday at a crossing on U.S. 95 about 70 miles east of Reno.

 

A spokesman for Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno says two people were in critical condition, four were in serious condition and three were in fair condition. The conditions of those taken to a hospital in Fallon were not immediately known.
Click to expand...
Don't know how up-to-date this is, though. It seems to contradict other reports in this thread regarding the number killed.

On edit: I found a time stamp at the bottom of the article saying it was "Published: Friday, June 24, 2011 16:51 PDT"
 
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According to ABC News at 6:30 PST, "traveling from Chicago to San Francisco" That would make it Train #5 and really going to Emeryville. Also a passanger said, "a coach was hit" Not sure if he is using coach as a class i.e. not a sleeper or coach as an uneducated name of the rolling stock thinking all cars are called coaches.
 
The CZ was hit by a semi hauling two empty gravel trailers. I assume the semi was carrying some diesel. Would that have been enough to cause the fires that destroyed three cars? What caused the fires?

Geeze, if Amtrak cars are that flammable do I really want to ride in one?
 
Anything is combustable, at the right tempreture. From the linens in the trans-dorm to the metal frame of the cars themselves, if it gets hot enough, it'll burn. a couple hundred gallons of fuel from truck is certainly enough to make things pretty dern hot.
 
Even if the signals and gates were malfunctioning and the engineer failed to whistle for the crossing (unlikely to be the case), it still seems odd that the truck driver would have failed to notice the train, which presumably would have been in the crossing for a few seconds before it was struck by the truck.
 
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