Railroad

Ron61 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-05-2008, 05:20 AM

Bill,

They had a commuter train hit another train head on some time back down in the Bay Area I think it was and several were killed including the engineer. After the investigation as to why he ran through the red light signal, they found out that people hang from the signals and signs along the railroad and test message the engineers as they go by. This engineer was text messaging back and never even saw the signal. I believe there will be a crack down on people doing this now. And they have already said that no engineer can have a cell phone while on the train.

Ron

Cobrabill · #2 (**permalink**) 11-05-2008, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron61

Bill,

They had a commuter train hit another train head on some time back down in the Bay Area I think it was and several were killed including the engineer. After the investigation as to why he ran through the red light signal, they found out that people hang from the signals and signs along the railroad and test message the engineers as they go by. This engineer was text messaging back and never even saw the signal. I believe there will be a crack down on people doing this now. And they have already said that no engineer can have a cell phone while on the train.

Ron

Ron-the rule reads no engineer can USE a cell phone while on duty.He actually ignored TWO signals.And the rumor floating is that those"two 15 y.o. railfans" were actually "objects of the engineers affections".

That would explain why he texted up to 22 seconds before impact.

Ron61 · #3 (**permalink**) 11-05-2008, 07:05 AM

Bill,

Thanks for the correction. Our local paper had it that they can't have a cell phone on the train, but then they can't even get the local news correct. I hadn't seen the part about the two he was text messaging to, but have read that hanging from the signals and cross arms was a fad in some areas. Kind of like up here a few years back when the teens started waiting until a car got about 20 feet from them and jumping right out in front of it. That went on for a few months and the idea was to see who would jump in front of the fastest moving car and how close they could come to being hit and not get hit. After a few losers and the family being sued, the parents put a stop to that insanity.

Ron

wtm442 · #4 (**permalink**) 11-05-2008, 07:34 AM

They had a comuter train run a red light in Boston a couple of months ago. Slammed into a railroad crew fixing something on the line. Couple of people killed, include the train operator. Huge outcry for the female operator ... how good she was, how everybody loved her, etc. A week later a report said she sent a text message to one of her friends about 15 seconds before the crash.

Three weeks later, a picture on the front page of the newspaper showed an operator with two kids about 6 years old sitting in his lap as the train was moving. That guy got dropped kicked into unemployment at the speed of light.

Lets see ... which is worse ... people on drugs, people with cell phones ... or maybe its just plain stupidity. I wish people could be arrested for stupidity.