OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
A Ventura to Los Angeles Metrolink Train has derailed after hitting "something" at a crossing. Cars are on their sides and several injuries reported from first KNBC reports.
In the aerial footage I saw on KABC-7, it looked like a "utility" type pickup. Mention was made of a truck pulling a trailer rather than a "big-rig" type unit. The trailer itself being left smoldering at the crossing.The text says truck was a tractor-trailer, and the announcer on the TV segment said "pickup." Hard to tell from the video which it was, as there isn't much left.
Metrolink spent millions developing and purchasing the Hyundai Rotem "Guardian fleet" with promises that they had technologies that would "absorb, balance and dissipate energy away from the passenger occupied area" and "keep the train safely aligned" in a crash.Considering what their past wrecks looked like, I can imagine Metrolink is incredibly relieved this was a largely Rotem train.
Here's the exact link: https://twitter.com/ABC7JulieSone/status/570302208815853569Some info from the twitter:
https://twitter.com/ABC7JulieSone
The engineer (unsurprisingly) is one of the 4 critically injured. Hopefully the fancy energy management did its job and helped.
An investigator tells The Associated Press the commuter train accident northwest of Los Angeles occurred after a truck became stuck on the tracks.
The investigator says the driver is not from the area and made a premature right turn. His box truck, with a trailer, was struck by the train at 5:45 a.m. Tuesday in Oxnard.
From Google street view, the truck would have turned right onto the tracks where the silver tanker truck is.The driver, a 54-year-old Arizona native, was hauling a 12-foot trailer and was southbound on Rice Avenue and wanted to turn right onto 5th Street when he turned right onto the railroad tracks instead and got stuck, said Oxnard police assistant chief Jason Benites.
On Metrolink, the Conductor is normally in the passenger part of the consist. He may pay a "visit" to the cab but, not often that I observe on my daily Metrolink commute on the Ventura County line. I'm sure you know that the media generally doesn't know the difference between engineer and conductor.I have a feeling the conductor was in the cab with the engineer. This often seems to happen in push mode of the cab is modern and large. It could also be usual press confusion.
Yes, his workstation is there at the door where "PNA"s (Persons Needing Assistance) enter or exit the train. If he was there, he would have been in the cab car (if not walking the train) but, not necessarily in the cab itself.I listen to the last conference… NPR screwed up, it was the engineer who was injured (most of my colleagues in the media do not realize that the term conductor and engineer are not interchangeable).
As an aside, on Metrolink trains the conductor has a workstation in the lower level of the cabin car. It's where they keep their orders and other documentation. Of course that doesn't mean that's always where the conductor is.
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