Police Activity 8/16 on #5

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Ted Bell

Ted Bell

Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Messages
166
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
We're on the California Zephyr #5. We've been stopped on the tracks east of Fernley Nevada for about 2 hours due to "police activity". Anybody know what's going on?
 
Not sure in this case but "police activity" is often a euphemism for "somebody got run over

by the train." (Or, somebody got run over by a freight train somewhere ahead of you)

Let's hope that's not the case and that you get back on your way shortly.
 
Yes, in my experience "police activity" usually means "most passengers don't want to know what really happened"
 
FWIW, according to the Blue Book, the "police activity" announcement refers to police on the train. Given your location, it's a logical bet that the Reno cops got onboard and found someone running drugs.

The "someone got hit by the train announcement" is "Ladies and gentlemen, an incident has occurred involving

the train that does not affect your safety. At this time we are required to wait while officials complete their investigation. We will update you on the delay in 15 minutes. Stations ahead are being notified. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
 
Ryan said:
FWIW, according to the Blue Book, the "police activity" announcement refers to police on the train. Given your location, it's a logical bet that the Reno cops got onboard and found someone running drugs.
The "someone got hit by the train announcement" is "Ladies and gentlemen, an incident has occurred involving

the train that does not affect your safety. At this time we are required to wait while officials complete their investigation. We will update you on the delay in 15 minutes. Stations ahead are being notified. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
Click to expand...
Thankfully, I've never (to my knowledge) been on a train that's hit someone. I'm only basing the "police activity" comment on Amtrak's various Twitter feeds. Here's a recent example from a few days ago:

Train 500 disruption due to police activity continues between Oregon City & Portland Thank you for your patience.

(What happened was the train had struck and injured a trespassing pedestrian. )

I know I've seen that terminology before when referring to grade-crossing incidents. But no, I can't say for sure whether that's how it's

communicated to people on the train (or whether that's what happened in this case.)
 
I've also have seen it used if the tracks are close for some reason temporarily. Such as if a suspect is near the tracks and they don't want him/her to escape via a train going thru that area. Or if police officers are on the tracks searching for a suspect. Or maybe if there's a fire near the tracks, and they have to stop train traffic.
 
Ryan said:
FWIW, according to the Blue Book, the "police activity" announcement refers to police on the train. Given your location, it's a logical bet that the Reno cops got onboard and found someone running drugs.
The "someone got hit by the train announcement" is "Ladies and gentlemen, an incident has occurred involving

the train that does not affect your safety. At this time we are required to wait while officials complete their investigation. We will update you on the delay in 15 minutes. Stations ahead are being notified. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
Click to expand...
At lot of people seem to run drug on the CZ through RNO. I've heard of many cases. Not so great for me with the knowledge of suspicous passengers on Amtrak as well around RNO.
 
For what it's worth, a few weeks ago I called USA-RAIL to see what had happened to a train I was waiting for, the answer was "police activity." A little later I learned that it had struck a pedestrian. So it does seem like it's the new term for trespasser incident.
 
Swadian Hardcore said:
Is this a suicide or an incident? It's so barren out around Fernley than this is almost certainly suicide.
Click to expand...
You can't say that for certain. If someone had to walk from one side of the tracks (or road) and a train (or car/bus/truck) comes round the corner, would that be a suicide too?
Remember that in the desert, it's hard to judge distances. I lived in the desert for 6 years. Once I saw a car coming on a 2 lane road, so I did not want to pass the car in front of me. I finally saw the opposing car go by - over 10 minutes after! When I first saw it, the car was 30 miles away!

If someone is walking along the tracks with headphone on, music turned up loud and a train appears behind them and they do not hear it, is that a suicide? Stupid yes, suicide probably not.
 
the_traveler said:
Swadian Hardcore said:
Is this a suicide or an incident? It's so barren out around Fernley than this is almost certainly suicide.
Click to expand...
You can't say that for certain. If someone had to walk from one side of the tracks (or road) and a train (or car/bus/truck) comes round the corner, would that be a suicide too?
Remember that in the desert, it's hard to judge distances. I lived in the desert for 6 years. Once I saw a car coming on a 2 lane road, so I did not want to pass the car in front of me. I finally saw the opposing car go by - over 10 minutes after! When I first saw it, the car was 30 miles away!

If someone is walking along the tracks with headphone on, music turned up loud and a train appears behind them and they do not hear it, is that a suicide? Stupid yes, suicide probably not.
Click to expand...
I know, I live here too. But this guy should have been more careful, he died for nothing. We could also wonder what he was doing walking in the desert in the first place.
 
West of Hazen, NV, #5 does travel alongside a highway with some housing developments close by. I have often seen pedestrians in that area near Fernley, NV. So it would not surprise me if this police activity delay involved some pedestrians near the railroad tracks. And it may or may not have had anything to do with the tracks per se, but, as others have noted, the train may have been intentionally stopped for safety reasons.
 
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