Amtrak 5 incident near Reno NV (CZ California Zephyr)

[Rockingham Racer]

I'm surprised this hasn't shown up here yet. This morning, east of Reno, a trailer truck apparently drove into the side of the California Zephyr. Two people killed apparently, one of which was the truck driver, the other the conductor. There is wonderment, given the location of this crossing, whether it was deliberate on the part of the driver, and if so, was it terrorist-related?

[NE2]

Everything's terrorist-related if you go into third and fourth cousins.

[george matthews]

I'm surprised this hasn't shown up here yet. This morning, east of Reno, a trailer truck apparently drove into the side of the California Zephyr. Two people killed apparently, one of which was the truck driver, the other the conductor. There is wonderment, given the location of this crossing, whether it was deliberate on the part of the driver, and if so, was it terrorist-related?

A few years ago a man drove his car on to a crossing of the great Western main line , stopped it and waited until a high speed train hit him and the car. Everyone, and the coroner, assumed it was suicide. Unfortunately several other people were killed. But it wasn't terrorism.

[Champlain Division]

Terrorism? Looks like you're the only one wondering that! Idiocy? Yes. Terrorism? Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

The story the media is not telling you is that documents collected from Bin Laden's hideout showed that several years ago they were considering targeting American railroads and trains, but decided not to pursue it because they realized there was no way they could kill enough people simultaneously by blowing up or wrecking Amtrak trains due to their notoriously poor timekeeping. They couldn't get their timing down tight enough where it wouldn't risk their being discovered while waiting on their target or planting explosives on the track. Too many railfans and too much racial profiling from citizens of other races watching their every move.

Seems pretty obvious that the train struck the truck directly in the fuel tanks detonating them while the tractor was dragged down the tracks burning and catching the cars on fire. Pretty dadgum dynamic forces are at work in a 79 mph collision with a passenger train!

Nope, not terrorism. This is just another nauseatingly common example of stupid/inattentive driver + passenger train at maximum track speed + grade crossing = disaster.

[Otto Vondrak]

Everything's terrorist-related if you go into third and fourth cousins.

You know the old saying: When all you have is an Anti-Terrorism Task Force, everything looks terrorist related. Let's abandon the snipe hunt and discuss the event as it happened.

Amtrak's press release: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobServe ... ada_#1.pdf

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=8213323

Police say the truck driver and an Amtrak employee were killed in the crash, which happened just before 1:30 p.m. Chicago time on U.S. 95 about 70 miles east of Reno. There may be more fatalities... Amtrak said 204 passengers and 14 crew members were onboard the California Zephyr, which was traveling from Chicago to Emeryville, Calif., when it was struck by the semi.

[3rdrail]

From what I've heard so far, I think that it sounds like an amphetamine driven trucker late for a rendez-vous and trying to beat a train through a crossing. When I originally heard the first report, I myself wondered about whether or not it was terrorist inspired. I think that if you look at my profile, you will come away with the idea that I'm not exactly a naive "idiot" prone to panic attacks and seeing terrorism everywhere I go. If I question this incident's connection to terrorism (and still do), certainly anyone else is not paranoid by wondering the same, including Rockingham Racer, who's post was labelled as "idiocy" by Champlain Division. NE2's post, about on the same level as Champlain Division's, I honestly don't even understand.

[gprimr1]

Based on the lack of evidence to support a claim of terrorism, I have removed that aspect from the title.

Condolences to the families affected by this needless tragedy.

[CHTT1]

Who needs terrorists when you have crazed truck drivers. Around here gravel truck drivers have terrible reputations for speeding and disobeying just about all traffic laws. Real international terrorists aren't going to attack a passenger train in the middle of nowhere. They'll aim at crowded commuter or subway trains in a big city.

[3rdrail]

edited: post in error.

[afiggatt]

Why even bring the possibility of terrorism up? There are a number of other more likely explanations: truck driver was incapacitated, fell asleep, passed out, brakes failed, driving without paying any attention at all. This accident took place in the middle of the Nevada desert and the truck was reportedly a gravel truck. Not exactly a terrorist or would-be lone wolf type scenario. Let the NTSB, Amtrak, state police, and probably the FBI investigate the incident before posting off the wall stuff.

Good, the title has been changed to something less hysterical.

This appears to be the most serious accident Amtrak has been in - with respect to the passengers and crew - in some time. At least one confirmed death in the crew, unconfirmed reports of 2 more dead on-board, multiple injuries, some severe. From the pictures, at least 2 Superliner cars were destroyed in the collision and fire.

Reno Gazette article with photos from the scene: http://www.rgj.com/article/20110624/NEW ... rain+crash

[Otto Vondrak]

I think we've made our points, but we're getting a little carried away. Let's talk about this event as it happens, not as we imagine it to be.

[SooLineRob]

When I originally heard the first report, I myself wondered about whether or not it was terrorist inspired.

With all due respect to Mr Joyce, my first thought was...

I hope our members here at Railroad DOT net that work this train are alright. My condolences to them and the Amtrak family as well as the passengers.

My second thought was...

A heavily laden semi either:

1) Was exceeding the speed limit;

2) Driver was distracted;

3) A mechanical / brake defect;

4) Or was overloaded;

...resulted in insufficient braking distance causing the truck to hit the side of the train. Experience tells me the semi was braking hard at the time of the collision, hitting the train at a relatively slow speed. The train appears to be still on the rail.

I guess we tend to focus on what we know best; 3rdRail thought about sub-human animals doing bad things, and I thought about speeding gravel trucks approaching a grade crossing.

[Jersey_Mike]

From the photos it appears that the first two Superliners are a total writeoff. These would probably be sleepers or trans-dorms which is a shame seeing as how Amtrak had been making progress on its wreck rebuilds. The gravel truck just missed the relatively expendable Heritage baggage car which sort of sucks and shows that even placing the non-revenue car up front is not a guarantee of it taking one for the team.

Thank god Amtrak has some new bi-level stock on order as well as any repairable Superliners that will come back into service. I can't remember the last time Amtrak suffered an accident with revenue cars getting completely written off so at least its a bit better than 10 years ago when it seemed that Amtrak couldn't repair cars fast enough to keep up with the grade crossing accidents.

[3rdrail]

afiggatt, It's a legitimate question for the fact that the public has heard reports indicating that information has been received from numerous sources reporting that railways were being considered by al-qaeda as possible soft targets for their next terrorist act in the U.S. along with the fact that this is not your common railroad crossing accident. This is a railway oriented forum, the incident involved a train, and a poster was posting regarding a railway related question that he had.

Otto, all does not have to be "just the facts" here. The original poster was expressing a thought process which he had. As he is a RRN member and the subject is about trains, I would like to hear what he has to say. If I want to watch the news, I'll turn it on.

Rob, that wasn't either my initial nor my subsequent belief. It did however enter my mind, which is perhaps why I took interest in Rockingham Racer's post, as I also did wonder briefly if it could be terrorist related.

Understand all, that it is documented that there are many terrorist cells worldwide, and that they come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some are organized, some are not. Some have the capability to work large-scale operations. Some do not. With some, a loaded petroleum tanker in the desert might be the best that they can do.

[BuddSilverliner269]

From the photos it appears that the first two Superliners are a total writeoff. These would probably be sleepers or trans-dorms which is a shame seeing as how Amtrak had been making progress on its wreck rebuilds. The gravel truck just missed the relatively expendable Heritage baggage car which sort of sucks and shows that even placing the non-revenue car up front is not a guarantee of it taking one for the team.

Thank god Amtrak has some new bi-level stock on order as well as any repairable Superliners that will come back into service. I can't remember the last time Amtrak suffered an accident with revenue cars getting completely written off so at least its a bit better than 10 years ago when it seemed that Amtrak couldn't repair cars fast enough to keep up with the grade crossing accidents.

Its ashame that your more worried about the equipment instead of the train crew or passengers. At least 1 crew member is dead and as an amtrak engineer, I feel a certain lose because of this accident.