PAR employee loses arm

From the Times Union:

Times Union wrote:A 22-year-old Pan Am Railways worker had to be flown by helicopter to Albany Medical Center Hospital Thursday after his arm was severed by a freight train, Glenville police said.

Police Chief Stephen Janik said the probe into the freak accident, which occurred shortly before 5 a.m. Thursday, is being handled by Pan Am police.
. . .
The chief said the victim, a Mechanicville man, was working near one of those switch boxes when he apparently slipped on ice and one of his hands ended up on the track and was run over by the steel wheel of the slowly approaching train.

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Holy moly that doesn't sound good

Indeed. Sending my thoughts and prayers to the employee, his family, and the other RR employees who were no doubt affected by the incident.

Life changing accident for sure..thoughts are with him and his co-worker, who was most likely the one to make the discovery

From The Daily Gazette:

The Daily Gazette wrote:A railroad worker who lost his arm in a December accident in Glenville is now suing his employer, claiming negligence.
. . .
Larson, working as a conductor for Pan Am Railways, lost his left arm below the shoulder after being knocked from a locomotive by an object believed to be a tree limb during a Dec. 15 snowstorm, according to the suit.

Larson is claiming negligence in clearing the area of objects that could pull individuals from trains, failing to warn him of dangerous conditions and failing to suspend operations due to poor weather conditions and visibility, the suit reads.
. . .
According to the lawsuit, Larson worked that night out of Rotterdam Junction. As the train approached the switch from the Scotia Yard to the main line, Larson gave a countdown of cars to signal the engineer to stop the engine. Conditions included darkness and heavy snow with large snowflakes offering "extremely poor" visibility, the suit reads.

Larson had proper contact with the locomotive and a lantern through his left arm. The train traveled about 7 mph at a slight curve. The object then knocked Larson from the locomotive, resulting in his amputated arm, the suit reads.

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Nothing in the rules about suspending ops due to poor weather. Clearing the right of ways of dangerous things ie tree limbs however is covered under FRA regulations.

Based on your experience working on the railroad: how does ST usually handle situations in which visibility is extremely poor, such as a blizzard or extremely dense fog? I've often wondered about that when I've been driving and suddenly found myself unable to see more than one car-length ahead. It's scary enough in an automobile; I can't imagine what it's like when you're operating a train that takes 1/2 a mile to stop or, worse, you're hanging off the side of a boxcar.

No change to operations where ABS or Form D in use.

In the yard obviously things slow down. Restricted speed you're supposed to be able to stop within 1/2 range of your vision. If you can't see a 100 feet then things come to a crawl obviously.

newpylong wrote:No change to operations where ABS or Form D in use.

So here's a scenario that always comes to my mind when the fog is super thick and I can't see a damned thing: Let's say you're the hogger on an eastbound Downeaster; you're somewhere between Dover and Wells, the speed limits are in the 70-75 range, you've got plenty of grade crossings to deal with, and you can't see those grade crossings until you're almost right on top of them (and the fog or blizzard is also making it impossible to see familiar landmarks, mileposts, etc). How do you know when to start your horn/bell sequence? And do you just cross your fingers, hold your breath, and trust/hope/pray that there isn't a car stuck on the crossing?

Beats me to be honest. Though I've never heard of any slow downs due to that. Most engineers know the physical territory well enough to know where certain features like grade crossings are just by the curvature of the track, etc.

WAZE for trains maybe? ;o)

Most crossings on the Downeaster route have a whistle post sign to indicate where to start the horn at track speed.

Right, I'm just thinking those whistle posts could be hard to see in a driving blizzard or really dense fog.

If a bad blizzard is predicted they tend to cancel some jobs ahead of time. Can't really do anything about sudden squalls or fog, except maybe give the crews a heads up if you know about it.

In this modern era most all of the mile posts ,whistle boards and speed limit/restriction signs are highly reflectorized. so even in the densest fog or blizzard the engineer will get a brief glimpse of these cues. Also the engineer is qualified on physical characteristics which encompass location of all signals, rules in effect for the track being occupied, electric locks, hand throw switches, mile post location of interlocking's, movable bridges, speed limits and permanent speed restrictions etc. Once the engineer passes all of these exams the RR feels confidant enough to turn them loose. When running over a certain territory, after awhile, the engineer gets a sense of timing in his head. Leave station A and arrive station B in 10 minutes run time. When visibility is poor, it's almost like a countdown clock reeling off, you just know how much time elapses before the next grade crossing, the next speed restriction and when to start braking for the station ahead. Most engineers only run over a certain territory their whole career, after 20 years of that it is so ingrained they probably could run the whole trip blindfolded as long somebody in the cab could call signals.