Train strikes "lost" car in Bedford Hills - 1/2/08

From EMTBravo:

Date: 1-2-08
Time: 1902
Location: Green Lane (Harlem Metro-North line) crossing near Saw Mill Pkwy.
Frequency: 46.26 ,60 Fire Trunk 16
Units Operating: BHFD apparatus ,Tanker 5, Metro North Fire Car 2642
Description Of Incident: Train hit auto , vehicle on 3rd rail.
Writer: TR54

1908 Car 2031 (IC) reports vehicle on 3rd rail approx 40 feet from crossing. Assesment of injuries on train in progress.

1915 Katonah FD dispatched - re-locate one engine to BH firehouse.

1917 Car Fire extinguished , all units still working.

1922 Katonah Engine 117 relocating

It was train 967, a (diesel) Wassaic train.

No injuries, 250 feet of third rail down on track 1, 967 on the move at 20:15, track 2 back in service at 20:27.

Not a good night to be waiting for a train on the upper Harlem. :(

Jim

That crossing at Green Lane (Bedford) is a well known trouble spot. A few years ago a southbound train struck a truck and trailer at this same crossing. When will people learn that when the gates come down, the red lights start flashing and the bells start ringing it means STOP??

Not the best source, but the Journal News makes it sound like this genius turn right onto the tracks, and got stuck. He got out of the rented car, and it was struck by the train. Here is the link to the article: http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? ... /801030409

Also mentions the driver will be financially responsible for damages to the train and track. At least no mention of injuries, but I'm sure the engineer had a moment of terror seeing that car on the track as they came around the curve. Anyone have any idea how much damage to the train was done? The article only mentions the 250 feet of track that was damaged.

He's lucky he wasn't fried. I love this quote:

Brucker added, "He tried to stop the train by waving his arms, which apparently was not totally effective in slowing the train."

I guess arms don't have dynamic braking? Thankfully, no one was hurt (although some may later show up with a sore neck trying to win the legal lotto).

As for liability, I hope he took the extra coverage on the rental. He wasn't exactly renting from Hertz, though.

Not a scratch on the train!!
And rumor has it that his GPS Told Him to turn right!!

Unreal

Waving your arms at a train doing 60 MPH? Get real!! How'd this guy come up with that idea? From watching too many Keystone Cops movies?

I do wonder why there is no kind of emergency telephone at all railroad crossings for such a situation?

emergency telephones

We've been over this. There's a panel identifying the crossing and telling you who to call in an emergency. Problem is by the time you get out of the car and dial your phone, the train is already on its way. Who do you want the telephone to connect to?

An unidentified 32-year-old Sunnyvale, Calif., man was driving west on Green Lane around 7 p.m., and told Metropolitan Transportation Authority police the GPS system instructed him to turn right as he was crossing the tracks. "As the car is driving over the tracks, the GPS system tells him to turn right, and he turns right onto the railroad tracks," said Dan Brucker, Metro-North spokesman. "That's how it happened."

This guy must be brain dead. He thought "turn right" means "RIGHT NOW ONTO THE TRACKS." Take away his license, charge him for all the damages, and chalk another one up to stupidity.

-otto-

Yes, he was another bozo relying on GPS instead of learning to use a map. Just off the wire;

"NY--GPS-Train Crash,0162
Railroad: Man using GPS drives into path of train in Westchester

BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. (AP) -- A computer consultant from California apparently put too much faith in the GPS technology in his rental car: It didn't tell him to look both ways before driving onto tracks as a train barreled toward him.............
The driver had turned right, as the Global Positioning System advised, and the car somehow got stuck on the tracks at the crossing........
.........The railroad identified the driver as Bai Bo, 32, of Sunnyvale, Calif. He did not immediately return a message requesting comment.

AP-ES-01-03-08 1149EST"

Hey Otto, too bad this guy obviously never studied Orienteering, right? Right he doesn't have a comment to make. He probably needs his GPS to find the toilet and he lost it in the wreck.

Don't you all agree that it's high time that the crossing at Green Lane was eliminated, plus that exit for it on the Saw Mill be closed permanently?

D/

Yahoo! Maps used to post a warning to conduct a "reality check" on their directions. I've used GPS devices before, and more often than not, they'll take you out of the way, or if they're not perfectly calibrated, will do what they did to this guy, who would win the Darwin award for stupidity if he had died. GPS directions can be useful tools, mostly if your completely lost and without a reference point, but the tool is only as good as the relative IQ of the person using it. Would he have driven into the Hudson if the GWB geocoordinates were off by a minute?

As for telephones at crossings, they're not useful if your stuck on the track and the gates are down and the train is already within hundreds of yards, but they could be if you get stuck on the tracks while the gates are up and no trains are in the vicinity - that does provide some warning. Signs work too, for those with cell phones.

The "Emergency Phone" would connect directly to either the Chief Train Dispatcher (sorry, Chief RTC!!) or to the MTA PD. My choice would be to the Chief RTC. That way it would eliminate any delay. The Chief RTC's line is always manned.

Are you sure you're not opening the door to pranks and sabotage by having a direct open line to the RTC? Let the MTA PD handle emergency calls through their 800 number, in my humble opinion. With the sheer number of trains operated by MN, you're more likely to get hit by the train before a phone call anywhere stops traffic in time.

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Are you sure you're not opening the door to pranks and sabotage by having a direct open line to the RTC? Let the MTA PD handle emergency calls through their 800 number, in my humble opinion. With the sheer number of trains operated by MN, you're more likely to get hit by the train before a phone call anywhere stops traffic in time.
-otto-

Since a particularly horrific accident in the 1960s...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hixon_rail_crash

all British crossings have been equipped with phones by law. As much to allow drivers of long or slow vehicles, and people herding animals, to contact control for permission to cross as to report dangerous situations. So it can be done.

Mike

abaduck wrote:

Otto Vondrak wrote:Are you sure you're not opening the door to pranks and sabotage by having a direct open line to the RTC? Let the MTA PD handle emergency calls through their 800 number, in my humble opinion. With the sheer number of trains operated by MN, you're more likely to get hit by the train before a phone call anywhere stops traffic in time.
-otto-

Since a particularly horrific accident in the 1960s...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hixon_rail_crash

all British crossings have been equipped with phones by law. As much to allow drivers of long or slow vehicles, and people herding animals, to contact control for permission to cross as to report dangerous situations. So it can be done.

Mike

Anything can be done but the RTCs have enough to do without dealing with calls from the public no matter what the circumstances are.
Police department desks are staffed 24/7 and they have instant contact
with RTCs and supervisors in case of need. It is far better to have the police answer the calls and handle things from there.
CSX to their credit have signs at all grade crossings advising the number
to call for an emergency contact and in all cases, it is the police. Every
crossing in addition has a number to use to refer to the particular crossing.
Noel Weaver

Sarge wrote:He's lucky he wasn't fried. I love this quote:

Brucker added, "He tried to stop the train by waving his arms, which apparently was not totally effective in slowing the train."

Everybody knows that waving your arms makes the train take off into the air, not stop. Duh.

At least it was a rental.