Today Amtrak 5 was involved in an accident in Northern Nevada. The loacation: out in the middle of nothing. This location is a grade crossing, with plenty of signs. Single track all around. No way for UP trains to reroute around it. From the reports it sounds like the engineer saw the truck and "hit the brakes hard". 3 dead, including 1 Amtrak conductor. ABC World news had a witness that said "it looked like the driver tried to run the crossing" Our thoughts for the families of those lost, even the family of the driver who should have known better.
News reports I read said two dead including the truck driver and 20-some injured. The truck drove into the fourth car on the train.
Pics and more info can be found here: More Fatalities, Several Injured in Train Versus Truck Collision
That is tragic, at least for Amtrak, its employees, and its passengers. This is not a benevolent thing to say, but in a way I'm glad the truck driver perished because it saves us taxpayers a lot of money wasted for trials, lawyers, etc.
It looked like a clear view in all directions. Crossing gates were working, the train had already entered the crossing. I'll be interested to hear word on the cause. Sounds like either an extremely negligent truck driver... perhaps a level of alcohol in the blood... maybe even suicidal? Is suppose I cant rule out mechanical failure on the truck either...
Well this is just ridiculous! http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20110803/NEWS/110809972/1055&ParentProfile=1045 Apparently the trucking company, that owned the truck that smashed into the train thinks the crash is Union Pacific/Amtrak's fault. Thankfully this article had the sense to include some preliminary facts of the accident: Another article I found omitted these facts and took on a tone that implied the accident was the railroads fault. :thumbs_down:
