Michigan Service 355 derailment in New Buffalo, MI

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Thirdrail7 said:
https://www.abc57.com/news/amtrak-train-hits-vehicle-derails-in-new-buffalo
NEW BUFFALO, Mich. - Amtrak reports that at approximately 10 p.m. Thursday, a train struck a vehicle and derailed in New Buffalo.

Officials say a Wolverine Train 355, traveling from Pontiac, Michigan, to Chicago, struck a vehicle obstructing the tracks.

There were approximately 218 passengers onboard, with no reports of injuries
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Reports noted that a tow truck was attempting to remove a vehicle from the tracks. Every crossing is posted with instructions about how to contact the rail company. It is baffling that a tow truck driver or dispatcher -- both with cell phones--failed to call the rail line that there was a call at a rail crossing. Maybe MDOT's rail folks can connect with local law enforcement agencies to circulate contact information with crossing locations and contact numbers. For tow truck firms, having a notification protocol is a way to avoid liability. The point is to try to do the right thing and knowing how to do it.
 
Here is a video of the actual crash taking place at the grade crossing.... (will not work if access to Facebook SDK is limited to Facebook windows only in your browser)



It looks like it was a case of a confused driver who turned his truck onto the tracks and got stuck and then while a tow truck was called apparently no one called the railroad, and whatever the much vaunted intrusion detection system if any, is installed at the crossing, was eluded by the stuck truck.

But still apparently in forty minutes between when the confused driver of the truck turned onto the railroad track and the time at which the crash occurred neither the truck driver, nor the tow truck operators nor the police officers thought of informing the railroad about the obstruction on the track.
 
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jis said:
But still apparently in forty minutes between when the confused driver of the truck turned onto the railroad track and the time at which the crash occurred neither the truck driver, nor the tow truck operators nor the police officers thought of informing the railroad about the obstruction on the track.
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One big issue is that very few people actually know about the little blue railroad crossing emergency phone number signs. They’re not something people have a reason to look for under normal situations, and thus can easily go unnoticed. Even if people happen to see it, it’s only for a quick glance and thus they probably don’t know what it’s for (they’re probably likely to think it’s some internal railroad sign).

I would hope police departments have a process in place to inform the railroad in such circumstances, but if they did, it clearly wasn’t followed here (noting, importantly, that having a procedure and following a procedure are two different things).
 
I live relatively close to the area and deep in a random facebook restaurant supposedly the local PD who were already on scene called CSX (which has a crossing nearby of the same road on the line used by the Pere Marquette) but no one bothered to call Amtrak! Also I'm curious is the number to call Amtrak in Michigan the same as you would call like near the New London Amtrak station since their both Amtrak owned and controlled lines?
 
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The police were apparently on the scene already directing traffic since the truck had been stuck on the grade crossing for 45 minutes. I assume something like a police dispatcher tried to call the railroad. Something about this crash in particular just feels so preventable.
 
SubwayNut said:
The police were apparently on the scene already directing traffic since the truck had been stuck on the grade crossing for 45 minutes. I assume something like a police dispatcher tried to call the railroad. Something about this crash in particular just feels so preventable.
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Certainly does. In a better system, there would be feedback to the responders on scene, and if they didn't receive it they'd lay flares a mile out. What do I know.

At Ashland VA, the CSX crew is often there before 45 minutes to inspect the track a tow truck has just pulled a car off. The yard is only 20 minutes away though. That's from my memory of the railcam. The Amtrak train, if present, has left by then, with the conductor inspecting? It's a well-oiled process at Ashland.
 
SubwayNut said:
The police were apparently on the scene already directing traffic since the truck had been stuck on the grade crossing for 45 minutes. I assume something like a police dispatcher tried to call the railroad. Something about this crash in particular just feels so preventable.
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Apparently the police picked up a number from an adjacent grade crossing which happened to be a CSX one instead of the number posted at the crossing where the truck was stuck, and called CSX. Of course nothing came of that call since the CSX dispatcher probably looked at the location of CSX trains and decided that it was a crank call or something. It would require a level of clairvoyance on their part to figure out which grade crossing of which other railroad the actual incident was at, sitting in Jacksonville or wherever that portion of CSX is dispatched from

Bottom line is that the system is fragile and not foolproof, specially when combined with apparent inadequate training.
 
I feel like there not that many Railroads in the country and there should be a national emergency line for these types of calls.

I work in the general area and we were talking about the derailment at work. One of my colleagues at work was like, I should put the emergency number in my phone in case I see anything. I had to tell him that every railroad has its own different emergency number with I feel contributed to this derailment.
 
Ow, yeah it looks like the people on site reported a car on the tracks at Lakeside Dr but there are two crossings, one by Red Arrow Hwy (CSX) and at Pulaski Hwy (Amtrak). The dispatcher picked the wrong one.
 
This whole thing sounds like something between the Three Stooges and the Keystone Kops. There is a sign on the crossing warning posts at the crossing with a phone number to call if there is a problem AT THAT CROSSING. First person aware of problem, CALL THAT NUMBER, that is, the one found at the crossing. Not some number found somewhere else. How could it be any simpler?
 
George Harris said:
This whole thing sounds like something between the Three Stooges and the Keystone Kops. There is a sign on the crossing warning posts at the crossing with a phone number to call if there is a problem AT THAT CROSSING. First person aware of problem, CALL THAT NUMBER, that is, the one found at the crossing. Not some number found somewhere else. How could it be any simpler?
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As I noted earlier, how many people even know to look for that sign in the first place? Looking at the picture posted, I see four signs:
One is a crossbuck that says railroad crossing. Most drivers have probably seen that and can read it at a reasonable distance.
One says Stop On Red Signal. Fairly straightforward, one of the simplest rules of the road out there.
One sign says “high speed trains,” kind of posted in the ground as if it were advertising a yard sale.
Then there’s this blue sign with text so small that nobody who wasn’t specifically looking for it would ever even know what the sign was for in the first place.

Right, couldn’t be simpler.
 
GDRRiley said:
Dispatching center error played part in Amtrak collision and derailment in Michigan - Trains

Dispatch was having issues trying to figure out which crossing it was and so they called the wrong railroad. Emergency crews just need to get in the habit of calling the number themselves.
Wow amtrak makes this clear View attachment 34702
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911 dispatch should have told the caller to find the blue sign at the affected crossing and call that number instead of relying on a computer.
 
The signs at the rail crossings in my area show the same phone number for CN with different DOT numbers. Amtrak's Michigan Blue Water run on these tracks, I take it CN informs Amtrak if there happens to be a problem at these crossings?
 

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