High Centered Truck Vs. Amtrak Texas Eagle

Dang that thing tore that back axle completely off.

 

"IN TOW" written in masking tape on the back of the cab as it's dragged down the highway by a slightly older Coronado.

 

That's what the driver was doing over there on the other side of the tracks. It looks like he's holding his phone as he sprints across the tracks just before impact.

There's a warning sign on both directions on FM78 before the turn.

Maybe they'll put up a couple of these after this accident.

 

I live around there (5 miles away and my back yard is less than 1/4 mile from the tracks) and drive there. Have gone down that road and across that crossing billoins of times since I was a kid. That crossing is a pain. It has a bad angle and severe dropoff if you are trying to turn right over it going west on Fm78. You have to turn way way wide. Never been a problem for the tons of trucks that live and work out here until recently. They are building lots of homes down that road now and the car traffic has multiplied so bad that you cannot get a truck through that crossing without having a line of a 100 Cars waiting to get out from the other direction. The city cannot blame anyone but themselves. They had a chance to fix the angle 30 years ago when they were paving the then dirt road. Their recent fix was to put up the high center and no thru trucks signs but you don't see them untill you've already crossed. There are lots of trucks and truck business based off of that road.
Funny thing is the guy who posted that video is a commiefornia transplant that is known to complain about the trucks in his way to the city.
About 6 months ago a rancher was killed at his private crossing on the same line down from my property by amtrak when he got his cattle pot stuck on a driveway he knew for 60 years.
Yesterday morning I had passed by there about 25-30 minutes before it happened and had to come to a complete stop from 65 mph because a school bus was stopped on the highway trying to get the flipping cars to move so it could turn there.

 

There usually is.

Check the base of the battery box that supports the gate and flasher signal group. Its a 800 number goes STRAIGHT to hotline dispatch (UP = Cheyenne, east coast most likely either Jacksonville FLA CSX or Toronto CA depending on what line)

If there is a train on that particular track (There is a group of numbers that identify that specific crossing on the same stamping as that 800 number) it will be stopped with a red signal very quickly But it takes a few minutes to trace it down.

In our area there are two trains that matter. Texas Eagle from Little Rock north at midnight more or less and Texas Eagle from Chicago to Little Rock about 12 plus hours after. Those roll at 80 mph. And the crossings we have are beautiful (There is about 10 total) but getting that thing to stop? Not so beautiful.

Our area has many crossings and the Lawmen are intimately familiar with the need to contact Union Pacific asap should a vehicle get stuck. (And some do)

A alternative but MUCH slower path more useful for destroyed gates etc is the webmaster of Union Pacific on his website's home page. He knows to transfer that kind of mail to those who have the authority to come out and fix that.

If you hear engines coming or the horns etc all you can do is get yourself away from there (Towards the train, NEVER AWAY or Down track) If you have someone who is trapped well. They are in god's hands at that point. No sense in having two or more getting chopped up by the train.