Fatal train crossing crash in Texas (20/12)

[deltic]

A freight train hit a grounded truck on a level crossing in Pecos Texas. Sadly the train crew were killed. Video link to the incident.

One person was killed and four were injured after a freight train crashed into a tractor-trailer, then it derailed and hit the Chamber of Commerce building in Pecos, Texas, officials said.

x.com

x.com

The truck seem to have been grounded for a while yet no attempt appears to have been made to notify the railroad company of the incident.

 

[notverydeep]

A freight train hit a grounded truck on a level crossing in Pecos Texas. Sadly the train crew were killed. Video link to the incident.

x.com

x.com

The truck seem to have been grounded for a while yet no attempt appears to have been made to notify the railroad company of the incident.

Very depressing to see yet another unnecessary fatal accident at a US level crossing. As a rail worker in the UK it is hard to comprehend the casualness that this issue is still treated with there. The Rev Wilbert Awdry had it right in Duke the Lost Engine, where Duke's line's loco number 2 is quoted as saying, “Listen, bud! In the States we don't care a dime for a few spills!”. Clearly, given the way loco crews continue to have to hope that a loud horn will afford them sufficient protection at each successive road crossing, those regulating rail and road interactions in the US still have this attitude...

 

[Bigchris]

Absolutely awful accident, thoughts go out to all involved. The aerial photo on CBS News was the most shocking for me, it really shows how quick the train derailed and piled up, much worse than it looked on the video where it appeared that the train had continued to travel a fair distance. Horrible stuff indeed

2 dead, 3 injured after train derails and hits building in West Texas

Pecos City officials said the derailment was caused by a train colliding with a tractor-trailer.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[DelW]

The December issue of Trains magazine (I read a paper copy so no link) has an article about the now-mandatory signs at all US grade crossings, each giving a unique location identifier and an emergency phone number to notify dispatchers of a stranded vehicle. These were required to be installed by 2017, though the minimum size (12" x 9") seems inadequate - it mentions that recent ones are mostly larger.

Very depressing to see yet another unnecessary fatal accident at a US level crossing. As a rail worker in the UK it is hard to comprehend the casualness that this issue is still treated with there. The Rev Wilbert Awdry had it right in Duke the Lost Engine, where Duke's line's loco number 2 is quoted as saying, “Listen, bud! In the States we don't care a dime for a few spills!”. Clearly, given the way loco crews continue to have to hope that a loud horn will afford them sufficient protection at each successive road crossing, those regulating rail and road interactions in the US still have this attitude...

The same article gives statistics for calendar year 2023:
2,192 grade crossing collisions, 245 fatalities and 763 injuries. Obviously the US rail system is very extensive (211,000 public and private crossings is quoted), but even allowing for that, those mandatory signs have got a lot more work to do yet.

 

[notverydeep]

The December issue of Trains magazine (I read a paper copy so no link) has an article about the now-mandatory signs at all US grade crossings, each giving a unique location identifier and an emergency phone number to notify dispatchers of a stranded vehicle. These were required to be installed by 2017, though the minimum size (12" x 9") seems inadequate - it mentions that recent ones are mostly larger.


The same article gives statistics for calendar year 2023:
2,192 grade crossing collisions, 245 fatalities and 763 injuries. Obviously the US rail system is very extensive (211,000 public and private crossings is quoted), but even allowing for that, those mandatory signs have got a lot more work to do yet.i

Are crossings equipped with any communications equipment to enable a direct call to the signaller (mandatory in the UK)? Although given the strike times seem to be about 15 seconds, how useful they would be in this scenario I’m not sure. I wonder if some kind of crossing blocked detection or even manual alarm (break glass to activate perhaps) with an automatic radio message to trains within the few miles of the crossing might at least mitigate situations where the vehicle is stuck a while before the train arrives…

 

[Dixie]

Shouldn't it be mandatory to contact the railway control centre before crossing with such a load. I can't understand why they wouldn't have done so otherwise anyway! Absolutely unbelievable attitude.

 

[DelW]

Are crossings equipped with any communications equipment to enable a direct call to the signaller (mandatory in the UK)? Although given the strike times seem to be about 15 seconds, how useful they would be in this scenario I’m not sure. I wonder if some kind of crossing blocked detection or even manual alarm (break glass to activate perhaps) with an automatic radio message to trains within the few miles of the crossing might at least mitigate situations where the vehicle is stuck a while before the train arrives…

The Trains article implies that they're either rare or unknown; it refers to the signage requirement being contemporary with widespread use of mobile phones, and improved network coverage. Bear in mind that on rural lines there's barely even any signalling.

Shouldn't it be mandatory to contact the railway control centre before crossing with such a load. I can't understand why they wouldn't have done so otherwise anyway! Absolutely unbelievable attitude.

One of the videos I saw was taken from a vehicle queuing at the crossing, and showed a police vehicle that, from its position, looked as if it had been escorting the large load, and had crossed the line ahead of it. If so, I'd have expected the escort to check before the truck even attempted to cross. No doubt the FRA will be looking at that aspect of the collision.

It's also notable that many US media reports are headlined "railroad derailment causes fatalities" or similar, ignoring the fact that a road vehicle caused the crash.

 

[43096]

One of the videos I saw was taken from a vehicle queuing at the crossing, and showed a police vehicle that, from its position, looked as if it had been escorting the large load, and had crossed the line ahead of it. If so, I'd have expected the escort to check before the truck even attempted to cross. No doubt the FRA will be looking at that aspect of the collision.

All rather reminiscent of the Hixon level crossing accident.

 

[DelW]

A brief summary of initial NTSB findings from News West 9 on YouTube

It says that so far they are unaware of how long the truck had been on the crossing, nor whether anyone tried to contact the railroad via the emergency number which it says was posted at the crossing.
Further information is that the truck's load was a wind turbine mast section, and that the train had four head-end locos and was travelling at 68mph on 70mph track before the emergency brake application.

Usually in train vs truck collisions the truck comes off worse; presumably in this case the strength and weight of the turbine base section made the outcome so different. Horrific for the unfortunate crew and their families.

 

[185]

What price for a life? USA needs 10 years jail minimum for all these stupid road users obstructing grade crossings.

 

[Taunton]

Collision happened on the Union Pacific main line from Dallas to El Paso (the onetime Missouri Pacific route). It seems superficially a classic USA "Low Boy" grounding, that is a style of large and long articulated truck trailer with extremely low ground clearance, for outsized loads. The crossing also has the commonplace USA enhancement of main line rail tracks that comes with CWR and substantial ballasting, which raises the track level. The railroad rebuilds the crossings, but to a significant hump in the road with gradients immediately either side of the rails, which in combination with this style of long and low truck are a regular cause of the groundings seen in many videos of such accidents, with the truck stranded halfway across having gone aground. The road rebuilding asphalt marks can be seen on Google Streetview.

The double-stack container contents are described in news bulletins as including airbags, this is consistent with shipping USA-manufactured car components to car assembly plants in Mexico, via UP to El Paso then across the border there to Mexican systems.

The videos show not only an escorting police motorcycle, but also an outsize load escort vehicle, which one might think should have all the knowledge about such hazards, but in USA practice they are just taken from the lowest cost driver available. Road legislation requires them, but not what level of competence they have, and this being West Texas the driver may not even speak English. I can't see on Streetview any sign at the crossing of contact numbers, though a professional escort should have them to hand for all along the route.

 

[DelW]

I can't see on Streetview any sign at the crossing of contact numbers, though a professional escort should have them to hand for all along the route.

Assuming that I've got the right crossing, the signage is there, though not as prominent as it might be, and it faces across the road rather than towards approaching traffic. It's a bit easier to see on earlier Streetview than the latest.

Screenshot attached.

(Screenshot of Streetview image and map of location)

 

[Merle Haggard]

On You-Tube there's a clip from local T.V. station news station

with an item about the National Transportation Safety Board interim report. I can't find that report on the web, so relying on the veracity of the news report. However, apart from describing the collision as a 'derailment' (as mentioned in the post above) the station does quote the report as saying the main focus of the NTSF report will be; 'survival factors' 'crashworthiness' 'emergency response' which seems to imply that their focus is on the responsibility of the railroad to make their locos. able to withstand a collision with a road vehicle. From the TV station's reporting no responsibility for the accident seems to be placed by the NTSB towards the road vehicle's operators or escorts.
The report also appears to say that the barriers came down and very soon afterwards the train arrived and hit the trailer but that's what you would expect; no mention of the more relevant question of how long the lorry had been struck across the railway before the barriers came down which, on other You Tube videos, witnesses say happened about 45 minutes before the barriers came down.
It seems that there's an obligation to have the 'blue sign', of standard form, at every level crossing therefore it ought not to be a surprise to the road crew that it required action, i.m.o..

 

[Deepgreen]

It staggers me how often trucks become grounded on US crossings. I don't understand why those crossings (or most of them) with steep road approaches aren't re-graded to remove/reduce the risk. It might mean the risk transferring to trucks grounding on the resulting humped road section, but that is surely hugely preferable to the rail section.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Dec 2024 ==

Very depressing to see yet another unnecessary fatal accident at a US level crossing. As a rail worker in the UK it is hard to comprehend the casualness that this issue is still treated with there. The Rev Wilbert Awdry had it right in Duke the Lost Engine, where Duke's line's loco number 2 is quoted as saying, “Listen, bud! In the States we don't care a dime for a few spills!”. Clearly, given the way loco crews continue to have to hope that a loud horn will afford them sufficient protection at each successive road crossing, those regulating rail and road interactions in the US still have this attitude...

Indeed, and with most such collisions, the truck is smashed out of the way with the locos not derailing. This was an exception.

 

[D Williams]

Well, I've always thought that the US of A trains spend as much time off the tracks as on. Their country, their mess.

 

[Giugiaro]

It's apparent from the videos of the crash that this was an orchestrated transport of a large cargo volume, complete with police escort.

Why did law enforcement not take precautions to contact the railway traffic management to shut down the rail line as a precautionary measure is beyond me.

It's also not exclusive to the USA. Recently in Portugal, law enforcement also failed to contact the infrastructure manager while a marathon was running through a level-crossing.
The incident didn't become a fatal accident because the police agents ran along the railway line to warn the driver of an incoming train that the level-crossing wasn't safe, and the train was running slow from departure.
The report concluded that law enforcement is not properly trained concerning railway safety, and treats rail traffic at the same level as road traffic (meaning local law enforcement prioritized the sporting event over railway safety standards).

 

[Taunton]

Why did law enforcement not take precautions to contact the railway traffic management to shut down the rail line as a precautionary measure is beyond me.

The escorting police car at Hixon didn't either. It seems that whatever the situation, it is not intuitive for escorting police to do so.

The Pecos accident here is further complicated by the load having a formal "Pilot Car" escort as well, as required by regulations, with doubtless divided responsibilities between police (where I have only seen a Deputy on a motorcycle) and pilot car for who might do what at a planned route hazard.

Doubtless all thought the load would drive straight over, nobody thought it might get stranded, and had no procedures for what to do once it did. And that comes back to the apparently established Oversize Load trucking contractor not surveying the route adequately, and not taking into account countless other "Low Boy" trucks getting stranded on rail crossings. It will be interesting to see if they even surveyed the route beforehand at all.