O-6-O wrote:More info, It gets worse.
http://www.wnyt.com/x2296.xml?ag=x156&sb=x183
I think we need someone who KNOWS crossing protection technoligy
to chime in here.
STEAM ON
/--OOO--~-oo--oo-
We really don't have enough information to speculate on here about what may have happened. One key piece of information I do not see in the news articles is if the warning lights were operating.
It is illegal to drive onto a crossing while the lights are flashing regardless of the position of the gates.
FRA regulations require that the lights be operating 20 seconds before the train reaches the crossing. The gate may not start to drop until at least 3 seconds after the lights begin to operate and must be horizontal at least 5 seconds ahead of the train. So you have 20 seconds warning with the lights but only 5 seconds after the gates are down.
The possibility of the gates being "keyed" up by the other crew add another level of uncertainty to what happened here. This could have prevented the activation until the other train was on the "'island" circuit.
If the gates had been keyed up and/or the other train was so close to the crossing that it obstructed drivers view of other approaching trains the crew probably should have been flagging the crossing.
The story did say that the FRA investigation indicated the crossing protection was working properly.