Tragic Crash

From AOL newsfeed:

"Two Union Pacific train crew members were killed and two others were injured when two freight trains collided head-on in northeast Arkansas early Sunday, Arkansas State Police said. The collision happened about 3 a.m. in Hoxie, a small town about 90 miles northwest of Memphis Tennessee. A resulting fire took about seven hours to extinguish, according to Union Pacific spokesman Brandon Morris.

Authorities asked about 500 people within 1½ miles of the collision to leave their homes following the crash because of the fire, the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office said. Most were allowed to return home by midmorning Sunday, according to county Emergency Management Director Buddy Williams.
"The fire involved diesel and also there was a tank car that ruptured and it contained an (unknown) alcoholic beverage," Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokesman Kendell Snyder said. He said there were no other leaks.
"We don't know the cause of the accident. We have no idea why these trains were on the same line," Williams said, noting no local residents were hurt.
It's at least the second head-on collision involving UP trains since 2012, when two collided in the Oklahoma Panhandle that June, which killed three crew members and injured a fourth.
The names of those killed and injured on Sunday were not immediately released by Union Pacific.
"We're still conducting an investigation, we haven't made any notifications," Morris said. He did not know where the trains had originated or where they were headed.
It was not immediately known how many cars the two trains were pulling, Morris said, but he said there were no other cars leaking any materials.
Morris said the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified and will take over the investigation.
U.S. highways 67 and 63, main arteries through Hoxie and the adjacent town of Walnut Ridge, were closed for several hours Sunday. Highway 67 at the intersection with U.S. Highway 230 will likely remain closed for up to three days while the wreckage is removed, Arkansas State Police said."

Deepest sympathy to all impacted...

 

Just heard this a few minutes ago on the TV news. Wow. Sounds horrible!

Hoxie- My memory says this is old Mopac territory.

 

Matter of fact, there was a Hoxie sub within the Arkansas Division.

 

Hard to imagine how this could happen. Story here.

Charlie

 

Anyone heard further updates about this tragedy?

 

Usually by now there are at least some rumors. So it has been more quiet than in the past. Crew fatigue? How are you folks doing these days for getting rest? Have they changed the rules enough to really reduce that issue? I hope!

 

Here's a week ago from Business Week:

HOXIE, Ark. (AP) — An important highway in northeast Arkansas could stay closed into next week as crews clean up the wreckage left from a head-on train collision, a highway official said Wednesday.Two railroad workers were killed and two others were injured when the Union Pacific freight trains crashed.
Railcars tumbled across the area near Hoxie and forced the closure of U.S. 67 so crews could clean up the mess.

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman Randy Ort said the highway would probably reopen this weekend but could be closed into Monday.
"The railroad's got quite a cleanup going, Ort said.
The Union Pacific rail line runs parallel to the highway, where traffic is being detoured.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Terry Williams said the agency would have more information available in a week or two when a written report is completed.
Investigators at the scene want to find a data recorder from a signal that was plowed under by the errant railcars. The signal would have given a final instruction to the southbound train and could reveal whether it was told to stop or go.
A Union Pacific spokesman didn't return phone and email messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Union Pacific is among railroads under a congressional deadline to put a new safety system in place that would prevent the worst collisions and derailments.
Congress ordered the industry to have the system in place by the end of next year, but industry representatives said the system would only be 20 percent deployed by the deadline. Known as positive train control, the safety system uses GPS, wireless radio and computers to help prevent human error.
Bob Chipkevich, who served as the NTSB's director of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations in Washington, D.C., for nine years and now works as a consultant, said the system was installed years ago along the northeast corridor.

"Once GPS was developed and perfected, it became useful on a national basis. You don't need to install transponders all along the track," Chipkevich said.
The system keeps track of where trains are and how fast they are going as a way to head off collisions and speed-related derailments.
"It (the positive train control system) knows the speed limit. Data is fed into a computer for traffic control signals, what the speed is for a zone, if there is a caution and then a stop," he said.

The system factors in the length and weight of the train, whether it is on an uphill or downhill slope and determines whether the train needs to brake.
"The technology is there. It has existed for several years," Chipkevich said.

Going by the timeline, something official should be out soon.