truck vs. train, deadly accident, Churchill County, NV

leannamarie · Jul 1, 2011

2 separate lawsuits have been filed already, one from the Amtrak employee and one from Amtrak itself.

Sad_Panda · Jul 1, 2011

Uh.....

Nine months before Fridays deadly crash between a truck and an Amtrak passenger train on U.S. 95, another truck, with brakes smoking, stopped just short of slamming into an Amtrak train at that same site, but the federal agency that regulates highway-rail crossings did not know about that near miss.

Jack Rice, an Amtrak engineer piloting the train heading west at 7 a.m. Sept. 14, 2010, said it was one of four or five close calls he experiences every year at that U.S. 95 crossing.

Its one of the bad ones, he said Wednesday of the intersection.

He said he spoke this week with a National Transportation Safety Board official in the area investigating Fridays crash, which killed six people, and was told that investigators will likely recommend changes on U.S. 95 near the crossing. Officials with the NTSB could not be reached Wednesday, but have said it could take a year to release a full report on the crash.

They havent made any final decisions, Rice said. But theyre thinking of slowing the traffic down (on U.S. 95), maybe to 40 mph near the tracks (instead of the current 70 mph).

Officials also might recommend adding flashing warning lights farther back from the crossing that would let drivers know theyre approaching a rail crossing, Rice said. The large white X painted on the road just before the crossing is useless and difficult to see, he said, especially in winter when theres snow on the ground.

Warren Flatau, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, which regulates highway-rail grade crossing safety, said his agency was not aware of the September incident.

Ensuring the safety of railroads is a top priority for the Federal Railroad Administration, Flatau wrote in an email. FRA routinely examines accident/incident history and reporting as part of its routine oversight of railroad regulatory compliance, and we are looking into the information provided.

It is premature to make a determination at this time regarding the accuracy of reported accidents, he added.

Statistics provided by the agency showed that no accidents or incidents had been reported at that intersection during the last 20 years. The crossing has gates and red lights with bells.

Federal regulations require all railroads companies to report in writing within 30 days all events that occur between trains and vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles or pedestrian at a highway-rail grade crossing, according to the Federal Register.

An Amtrak spokeswoman did not immediately respond with comment.

The Nevada Highway Patrol responded to the September crash, and cited David Leroy Fyfe, 56, of Shelley, Idaho, the driver of the 2005 Kenworth truck, for failure to use due care.

Sun in his eyes

Early that September morning, Rice, an Amtrak engineer for 40 years, was approaching the railroad crossing on U.S. 95 when he looked up to see the driver of a semi pulling a flatbed loaded with blue pipes slamming on his brakes as he headed straight toward the crossing.

Rice hit the trains emergency brakes, he recalled Wednesday, and braced for a collision he knew would likely kill many people.

But instead of smashing into the passenger cars as happened in last Fridays crash that killed six and injured dozens of passengers the trucks driver was able to steer to the right and instead plowed into a guardrail that ran next to the tracks.

He had the sun in his eyes and when he realized what was going to happen, it was almost too late, Rice said of driver. He saved everybody when he went off the highway and into the dirt.

The truck knocked down the overhead towers at the crossing and slightly damaged three passenger cars. The tower did not break the train windows, however, and no one was injured, Rice said.

But the near-miss at that railroad crossing is a common occurrence, Rice said. With a speed limit of 70 mph on the road and a lot of truck traffic between Interstate 80 and Fallon, it was only a matter of time before a major crash would occur, he said.

Among the people killed in Fridays crash was Amtrak conductor Laurette Lee, 68, who had been with the company for more than 20 years.

In September, Lee was sitting in the same seat she sat in during Fridays crash, and braced herself as she watched the truck approach, Rice said. On Friday, Lee likely didnt see the truck coming because it approached from the other side of the train, Rice said.

Also killed Friday were the truck driver, 43-year-old Lawrence Valli, and train passengers Francis Knox, 58; her granddaughter, Karly, 18; both of Seward, Neb.; and Cheuy Ong, 34, of West Jordan, Utah.

The sixth deceased victim had not yet been identified as of early Wednesday evening. Two of the injured passengers remained hospitalized.
Click to expand...

*grabs popcorn* This just keeps on getting weirder and weirder.

So Amtrak employee and Amtrak sue a trucking company who had an accident at a at-grade crossing in which they have five near misses each year but don't file the paperwork or tell the NSTB that they have AT LEAST 5 near misses each year, also when questioned about who was on the train Amtrak shrugs it's shoulders and goes "LOL we don't know"

STexan · May 29, 2014

Was doing a little research at NTSB and was wondering what the accident investigation results were of this

http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/summary/HAR1203.html

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