Station Developments

Ashland saw two automobiles make left turns onto the tracks yesterday and get stuck. The first was about 06:30 and the track was blocked till about 07:00, when the car was removed by a roll-back tow truck. Police response was about five minutes. The second was in the early evening. The driver found people to push her car off the tracks about ten minutes later, narrowly avoiding the arrival of police. Here's hoping CSX monitors the ASD railcam, or has some other way of knowing when the track is blocked.

People still stand between the tracks to see which platform Amtrak is arriving on. Looks like the message board, and ADA-compliant pedestrian crossover, the final planned station improvements, have not been installed.

I wonder what the 2021 Infrastructure Act means for Ashland, which was unstaffed when evening trains arrived, the last time I was there. Neither source below says when the station must be staffed, though the second one implies it's just for one shift a day. The provision is really for stations less busy that ASD.

The ticket office at ASD doubles as a visitor's center, and apparently they don't call out which platform trains will arrive on. Nor can the one station agent tell children not to stand on the rails, etc.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transpor ... l-funding/

Amtrak would also be required to bring back ticket agents to some stations that have been unstaffed. A ticket agent must be available at each station that has at least 40 passengers a day, according to the bill, which targets Amtrak’s policy since 2018 to eliminate agents at smaller stations.

Or, in legalese, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-con ... /3684/text

``(c) Availability of Station Agents.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2),
beginning on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of
the Passenger Rail Expansion and Rail Safety Act of 2021, Amtrak
shall ensure that at least 1 Amtrak ticket agent is employed at
each station building--
``(A) that Amtrak owns, or operates service through, as
part of a long-distance or Northeast Corridor passenger service
route;
``(B) where at least 1 Amtrak ticket agent was employed on
or after October 1, 2017; and
``(C) for which an average of 40 passengers boarded or
deboarded an Amtrak train per day during all of the days in
fiscal year 2017 when the station was serviced by Amtrak,
regardless of the number of Amtrak trains servicing the station
per day.
``(2) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any station
building in which a commuter rail ticket agent has the authority to
sell Amtrak tickets.''.

I'm all for staffing, but it's not cheap, and I don't know if it's funded in the infrastructure act, since it's an operating expense.

Just to go off on a safety tangent, Brightline in Florida received a federal grant to give neighborhood kids haircuts in a bookmobile-like vehicle while teaching them about rail safety, in other words, not to trespass. That was a hobby for boys in the neighborhood I grew up in, and haircuts are a specific cultural thing.

kitchin wrote: ↑Sun Nov 14, 2021 9:13 am Ashland saw two automobiles make left turns onto the tracks yesterday and get stuck. The first was about 06:30 and the track was blocked till about 07:00, when the car was removed by a roll-back tow truck. Police response was about five minutes. The second was in the early evening. The driver found people to push her car off the tracks about ten minutes later, narrowly avoiding the arrival of police. Here's hoping CSX monitors the ASD railcam, or has some other way of knowing when the track is blocked.

People still stand between the tracks to see which platform Amtrak is arriving on. Looks like the message board, and ADA-compliant pedestrian crossover, the final planned station improvements, have not been installed.

This got caught by Virtual Railfan, and they caught a third that also got push-moved.

I really doubt CSX has someone watching those cameras 24/7, but I think police dispatch rings 'em up first to stop the trains. There really needs to be some sensors at the ends of that crossing where if a car hits it, that's a instant signal to CSX dispatch that something hit the tracks.

I wonder if the Brightline hit by a car that turned right onto the tracks November 8 would have had a chance to stop.

In the video of the push-off in Ashland, you see the driver going around to nearby bars or whatever looking for help to push her car. That's how long it took the police to arrive. Maybe they called CSX before dispatching though.

kitchin wrote: ↑Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:15 am I wonder what the 2021 Infrastructure Act means for Ashland, which was unstaffed when evening trains arrived, the last time I was there. Neither source below says when the station must be staffed, though the second one implies it's just for one shift a day. The provision is really for stations less busy that ASD.

The ticket office at ASD doubles as a visitor's center, and apparently they don't call out which platform trains will arrive on. Nor can the one station agent tell children not to stand on the rails, etc.

Amtrak doesn't have a station agent at Ashland. It's run by volunteers.

Who's the lucky one who will now get a paycheck?

kitchin wrote: ↑Sun Nov 14, 2021 8:02 pm I wonder if the Brightline hit by a car that turned right onto the tracks November 8 would have had a chance to stop.

All a question of timing; the train would have had to be at least 3 or 4 minutes away from the crossing, assuming PTC to be working as intended, for the train to be able to stop.

Maybe the volunteers need to have fuses and instructions on how to use them?

The question with Ashland is: Does it have a ticket agent or a place to sell Amtrak tickets that handles cash?

No? It's just two platforms, a ticket machine, and a place to stand out of the rain? Then it should be upgraded.

Yes? Then it must be staffed.

Micromanagement by Congress isn't going to help balance the books at Amtrak, but that was the price paid for $66b over five years (I've also read 8 years, but I think it's 5). I didn't realize this topic was about crew shortage though. I did not see ticket machines at Ashland.

west point wrote: ↑Mon Nov 15, 2021 5:02 am Maybe the volunteers need to have fuses and instructions on how to use them?

A fusee wouldn't have done any good if placed at the point of obstruction -- the engineer would have to be able to see it at braking distance for the speed the train was going. An immediate call to the dispatcher would be best -- provided there was someone there to make it. Question: if it's only volunteers, do they even have a line to the dispatcher? If not, that (plus CCTV of the crossing) should be the first thing. Since that could legitimately count as infrastructure, there might even be money for it.

The dispatcher's number is post at the crossing, on the blue Emergency Notification Sign.


https://goo.gl/maps/Yum18KtEy8RjoPC69

Unfortunately some of the crossings in the area have the smaller old style black-on-white signs. Ideally these should be replaced with a full size (15" x 9") I-13 Emergency Notification Sign, which is blue.

The place was unstaffed both times the automobiles turned onto the tracks that day. It's open 9-5 seven days a week. I looked in the window and it's not nearly as spiffy as the outdoor station. It does double duty as a visitor's center.

There's a school crossing guard who keeps the school buses moving, so they don't have to do the regulatory stop before the tracks. He also was not working during the incursions. There are janky pedestrian crossings all over downtown and the college.