Amtrak Train Derails in N.C., Killing Two

[Eugene]

Amtrak Train Derails in N.C., Killing Two


Tuesday August 2, 2005 6:46 PM

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - An Amtrak passenger train struck a dump truck and
derailed Tuesday, killing two people, police said.

Both of the people who died were in the dump truck, said Raleigh police
spokesman Jim Sughrue. There were no serious injuries among the 200
passengers on the train, he said.

The collision knocked several cars off the tracks and upended the dump
truck.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5184659,00.html

[napi21]

1. Drivers really need to understand, it's never a win when you

oppose a train!

[expatriot]

2. i'll always remember our driver's ed teacher's analogy.....

like a car running over a popcan.

[krkaufman]

3. Bad headline; makes it sound like train just leapt off tracks. n/t

[Captain Hilts]

4. And Amtrak doesn't really own any track. (nt)

[faithnotgreed]

5. i agree ~ my mom takes that to visit me

so my first thought was maybe we have to reconsider her using that mode of transportation

but knowing it was an accident caused by the dump truck (if thats the whole story) then that makes it far different

[krkaufman]

6. Agreed. The headline (perhaps unintentionally) aids the R-W...

... agenda of swaying the public consciousness against Amtrak and passenger trains.

[faithnotgreed]

7. i dont claim to know why but why cant newspapers just report

what happened

its not any more or less salacious to say that amtrak and truck collide 2 dead

then i know more of the true framework of the story
why report it like amtrak jumped off the rails on its own

hmmm

but what newspaper was the report from
often the source/link is the giveaway why theres a slant to it

[krkaufman]

11. Good question fng. They likely want to spice-up the headline...

... to attract readers/viewers.

[mmonk]

8. Saw it on local news.

Amtrak trains barrel through the city barely slowing down until they reach the station (unlike the freight trains using much of the same track).

[Withywindle]

9. I have the most amazing Amtrak/driver story...

I swear this is true...

I was on a train going from Chicago to Virginia a couple of years ago, and we were passing through one of those towns in Indiana where the tracks run right across the street...

and we hit a car that was either stopped there or tried to race the train and lost.

We were stopped there for a an hour or so while the emergency crews came, cleared the tracks, checked all the equiment, etc... And while we were stopped, another car came barrelling around the curve on the street and broadsided the stopped train. Obviously, this did the car a lot more harm than the train.

Miraculously, no one was killed or injured all that seriously, which is why I feel fine laughing my ass off about it. Especially about the way the passenger side door flew open and what looked like a whole case of Busch cans went flying out into the snow.

How drunk and/or stupid do you have to be to somehow miss a frickin' Amtrak train sitting still directly in front of your speeding car?

[DawnneOBTS]

10. Oh, shit...I have to get on the train tomorrow...

as if Amtrak doesn't have enough problems. The last train I was on coming to Florida from New Jersey was 2 hours and 45 minutes late. They just fixed a sinkhole here in Florida near De Land today, too, which made the tracks in the area unusable. All this thanks to * and company not funding the rails.

[wli]

12. if infrastructure people had a brain cell in their head...

They would run train lines beneath roads instead of this bullcrap crossing garbage.

[OzarkDem]

13. Over passes and underpasses

are incredibly expensive, especially considering the hundreds of thousands of roads, streets & driveways that cross railroad tracks. You can spend millions building them and someone will still end up causing an accident like this at some low volume grade crossings.

Railroads usually ask cities, counties, states & the feds to help pay for the cost, but tighter budgets make it difficult.

The cheap solution - obey the rules. Look both ways (and listen) at each crossing.

Never cross railroad tracks unless there is enough empty space on the other side of the tracks to accomodate your vehicle. And never, ever, ever, try to outrun a train. It takes about 1 mile for the average freight or passenger train to stop once the brakes are applied.

[wli]

14. well, considering the number of porkbarrel projects

These things could easily have been constructed by getting rid of pork.

[Jazzgirl]

15. Well said Demgirl.

I work for a railroad and what you say is so true. I sometimes have to ride with the crews and it is scary to see what people do to try to beat trains. I don't even think about trying to beat one. I figure that extra 5 minutes at the crossing is more than worth my life.

[wli]

17. actually, recurring vs. one-time costs is what's needed to see it

The recurring cost of blocking traffic is very high and never-ending, at least until Peak Oil.

I guess it comes down to calculating the loss incurred until oil breaks down vs. cost of construction.

[Endangered Specie]

16. Are these two gentlemen worthy of a visit with Dr. Darwin?

:evilgrin:

[bdot]

18. I haven't heard about this wreck... and I live in the Raleigh area.