UP Trains Collide in Goodwell, OK

[Jeff Smith]

Thoughts and prayers to the crews and rescue workers:

http://amarillo.com/news/2012-06-24/uni ... le-missing

GOODWELL, Okla. — Three Union Pacific Railroad crewmembers were missing after two freight trains collided Sunday in the Oklahoma Panhandle, authorities said.

An eastbound train carrying vehicles and a westbound train crashed about 10:08 a.m. Sunday near Goodwell, Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said. A two-person crew was aboard each train, and officials were unable to account for two engineers and a conductor, Espinoza said.

The other conductor appeared to be uninjured, and officials were interviewing him about what happened, she said.

[Ron Newman]

Did you mean to post this in the MBTA forum, though?

[charlie6017]

Did you mean to post this in the MBTA forum, though?

It's for every forum to view I think......

[Jeff Smith]

I posted as Global, but topic will end up in UP. I do that usually when it's something I want everyone to see, i.e. of wider interest than just the host railroad.

[Backshophoss]

US 54 follows the UP(exRI,SSW) route,This is track warrant/ABS signaled in both directions.
This is part of UP's southern transcon route that merge together at El Paso Tx. with the lines from New Orleans and
Dallas/Ft. Worth areas.
Did this happen in town limits,or just outside of town?

[JayBee]

US 54 follows the UP(exRI,SSW) route,This is track warrant/ABS signaled in both directions.
This is part of UP's southern transcon route that merge together at El Paso Tx. with the lines from New Orleans and
Dallas/Ft. Worth areas.
Did this happen in town limits,or just outside of town?

Accident happened outside of Goodwell, OK on Union Pacific's Pratt Subdivision which is CTC. This happened on the east end of the 57 mile long straight stretch of track.
This line is referred to as the Golden State Route after Rock Island's premier passenger train over the line. The bodies of the three missing crewmembers have now been found and it is confirmed they are dead, my condolences to their families.

[MBTA1016]

I wish to send my condolences to the families as well.

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

+ Rest in Peace +

[SlackControl]

Thoughts and prayers to the families of the crew members lost in the tragic accident.

The stretch of track that this happened on, what is the MAS?

[Backshophoss]

75 mph for intermodel trains,70 mph for regular freights,single track main.

[Jeff Smith]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/artic ... kla_crash/

OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma's medical examiner's office says it has received the remains of three Union Pacific crew members killed when two trains collided head-on in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

Spokeswoman Amy Elliott says the medical examiner's office in Oklahoma City has received the remains of three men pulled from the wreckage of the Sunday morning crash near Goodwell.

A Union Pacific spokeswoman did not immediately return calls or emails seeking comment.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating why the two trains collided on the same track, causing a white-hot diesel fire that burned for more than a day and made it too dangerous for crews to enter the wreckage.

The agency says it found no problems with the train signals, and investigators are trying to determine which train should have yielded.

Federal investigators want to know why a freight train streaking across the Oklahoma Panhandle failed to pull into a side track and instead charged down the main line and collided head-on with another train approaching from the opposite direction.

[Bart78]

http://newsok.com/one-train-failed-to-y ... le/3687487

GOODWELL — The bodies of three men were removed from the twisted wreckage of a head-on collision between two freight trains in Oklahoma's Panhandle and sent to the state medical examiner's office Monday.
The National Transportation Safety Board began its investigation into what caused the Sunday wreck that tossed 30 train cars, crushed locomotives and sparked a diesel fire that burned for almost 24 hours.
The NTSB determined that one of the trains failed to take a side track and give the other locomotive the right of way, NTSB spokesman Mark Rosekind said Monday night. He declined to say which train was on the wrong track but said no malfunction was found in the signals that guide the trains.
“One train had the right of way. We're still getting the data to figure out what was scheduled to happen. There was a side track, and we're trying to figure out what was supposed to be where, and when,” Rosekind said.
Rosekind also said there were no anomalies found in the track during the first day of the investigation, but he stressed that much more information was yet to be collected.
Event recorders in the rear locomotives have been recovered and show no braking problems, and the suspected remnants of another recorder recovered from a front locomotive will be shipped to Washington, D.C., for evaluation, he said.
No cellphones have been recovered, but the safety board is searching for phone records belonging to the crew aboard the trains, Rosekind said.
A witness has been interviewed, and records and documents are being reviewed. Additional interviews will be conducted in the following days, he said.
“The impact left no survivable space in either locomotive,” Rosekind said.
A factual report will be available on the NTSB website in about 10 days, he said.

[JimBoylan]

Can anyone please tell us more about the dispatching system, and how the switches at the sidings on either side of the location are controlled and thrown? Did anyone overhear any radio communications?

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr.Boylan's point is duly noted as I am wondering same myself.

Goodwell, OK is indeed on the Rock Island; although 3-4, Golden State, did not stop,there, Mail trains 39-40 did.

Apparently, even though SP "deemphasized" this line after they acquired such from the RI Estate, I doubt if they fully deactivated the CTC; even the most primitive CTC has interlock protection to prevent a Dispatcher from setting up an opposing move resulting in a cornfield meet.

There's a lot more to this story; let's be patient, avoid speculation, and await the full NTSB report.

[JayBee]

The system on newer CTC (post Vietnam War) which this is, it works like this. Let's say that we have single track with sidings and CTC. In the little section we will lok at we have three locations, Siding "A" on the left, Siding "B" in the middle, and Siding "C" to the right. For identification left is west and right is east. At each siding location the main track is #1 and the siding is #2. This makes the identifiable locations A1,B1, C1, A2, B2, and C2. Now lets say there is a train on the main track at Siding A (location A1) and the Dispatcher wants to have it go to the Siding at C (location C2). He would type in A1-C2 and then hit the execute key. Then the control computer at the Dispatch Center would send out a command to the field logic cabinets at each location. The east switch at Siding A would check and see the train sitting at A1 but that doesn't conflict with its instruction, if there was not other routes set through that interlocking the switch would move to the "Normal" (straight through) position if it already wasn't lined that way, the another relay would check that the switch moved all the way and wasn't blocked, then they Field logic cabinet would send back to the Dispatch computer Route line and locked, then it would look to see if there was any trains in the next two signal blocks to the East, if none were found the signal governing movement from A1 to light Green - Clear. If either signal block east of the East Siding Switch at A was occupied the train would get either a Red or a Yellow signal depending upon which block was occupied. This is important the Dispatcher would know that his routing choice had been accepted and implemented but he would have no idea what signal the train at A1 would see. Similarly the Interlocking at WSS "B" and ESS "B" and WSS "C" would go through the same procedure. Now routes also need direction so A1 - C2 is the opposite of C2 - A1 and if the Dispatcher types one when he wants the other he will have to "Run Time" before he can cancel one route to set the other. Newer system are Point and Click. Another feature on newer systems is called stacking commands. Let's say we have a Eastbound train at A1 and it will meet a Westbound train at Siding "B". The Westbound train is at C1, his commands would be;

A1 - B1 Execute
B2 - A1 Stack

C1 - B2 Execute
B1 - C1 Stack

As soon as both trains are safely in their positions at Siding "B" the second command of each pair will execute without Dispatcher intervention.