Backed-up traffic eyed in train crash

AP ^ | 11/24/5 | NATHANIEL HERNANDEZ

[SmithL]

ELMWOOD PARK, Ill. - A group of cars hit by a commuter train at a busy suburban Chicago crossing had 54 seconds from the time the gates were activated until the train came barreling through, an official with the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

The crossing gates appeared to be working, but traffic was backed up during the evening rush Wednesday and several cars became trapped between the gates, acting NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker said.

"The cars were in a place they shouldn't have been at the time," Rosenker said. The train hit them because they had nowhere to go, he said.

Sixteen people were injured when the train slammed into the trapped cars and started a chain reaction in the heavy traffic. Three remained hospitalized Thursday, Rosenker said.

Investigators are now looking into whether the traffic signals at the long diagonal intersection gave vehicles enough time to clear the tracks. They also planned to interview the train's crew members on Friday, and were investigating human error and other possible reasons for the crash.

A spokesman for the Metra train service said the vehicles shouldn't have been in the train's path in the first place. A large sign above the tracks reads: "Long crossing. Do not stop on the tracks."

"It's right above the gate" said Metra spokesman Patrick Waldron. "If you followed that sign you wouldn't have been on the tracks."

Sixteen people complained of injuries after the crash in Elmwood Park, Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said. Rosenker said three people remained hospitalized in stable to serious condition Thursday.

Christina Rodriguez said she was stuck in traffic at the crossing when the gates came down, trapping her car and several others. She saw the lights of the train coming, jumped from her car and ran.

"I tried to move (my car), but I couldn't. Nobody moved," said Rodriguez, 29. "Too many tried to get in."

Chief Michael Marino of the Elmwood Park Fire Department said two people had to be extricated from their cars, including one woman whose car caught fire after she was pulled free. Civilians helped emergency workers rescue others from vehicles scattered near the accident site.

ON THE NET

Metra: http://www.metrarail.com/

[SmithL]

The train should have swerved to avoid the cars, maybe?

[George from New England]

Ticket and make the drivers of the vehicles that were blocking the tracks pay for damages.

[KateatRFM]

What part of DO NOT STOP ON THE TRACKS did this group of Mensa members not understand?

[CindyDawg]

Strange. She talks about being on the track and was blocked in. Does she not see anything dangerous about this?

[conductor john]

No, actually, you are supposed to STOP when you first see the lights activated (the gates come down several seconds later, depending on the speed of the uncoming train.) If you are dodging falling gates, you are already in violation. This happens often. People are in just too much of a hurry today.

[thoughtomator]

You should never be stopped on train tracks regardless of the situation. The people whose cars were on the tracks should be held liable for the result.

[SmithL]

See Post #6

[SteveMcKing]

The train hitting the car(s) may have been a factor too, according to one analyst.

[doc30]

How stupid do drivers have to be? These people are in such a rush tha they decide to break the law and stop on the tracks just so they could by 100' farther down the road. I've seen it where I live when I stop in front of tracks rather than on them because there is no room to cross completely over. I've had horns honked at me and people pass on the shoulder just so they could be ahead of me but on the tracks while still waiting for a light to change. The only thing the injured drivers deserve in this case is a nomination for a Darwin Award.

[Right Wing Assault]

Didn't these folks think maybe they should have hopped out of the cars? Did I miss something or did they think the train wouldn't hurt?

[Aaron0617]

Hi, If anyone isn’t familiar with this setup , I’ll explain a little.

On my way to work in LaGrange,IL everyday. I approach a RR intersection that has a stop sign and in front of that stop sign is room for about…two cars. Now in front of those two cars are the RR themselves which are two tracks. Then there is me or the other traffic sitting behind those two RR tracks. Now in the year I’ve taken this route I’ve never seen anyone stupid enough to stop on the tracks. Everyone usually waits until we seen enough room over the tracks in front of that stop sign.

I assume in this accident there are at least 4 pairs of tracks (or more) and they were sitting on the tracks waiting for the stop sign/stop light or whatever.

Now I went in detail to explain this because I’ve always wondered, is this setup normal across the nation?

We’ve had some bad accidents involving trucks stuck in between the tracks and a year ago a bus was hit by a train while it was sitting on the tracks waiting for a light to change.

[stayathomemom]

I stop in front of tracks rather than on them because there is no room to cross completely over.

Don't they teach this in Driver's Ed? I thought this was a basic rule of the road.

[Aaron0617]

Didn't these folks think maybe they should have hopped out of the cars? Did I miss something or did they think the train wouldn't hurt?

At least this one woman did..

- - - - - - - -

NTSB to review Metra accident

Christina Rodriguez said she was headed east but got stuck in traffic when the crossing gate arms came down, trapping her car and several others. She saw the lights of the commuter train coming and jumped from her car.

[Peace will be here soon]

"Christina Rodriguez said she was headed east but got stuck in traffic when the crossing gate arms came down, trapping her car and several others. She saw the lights of the commuter train coming and jumped from her car."

Her car got trapped by the other cars, couldn`t have been the gate. The quote makes it sound like the gate caused the problem. No way the gate could have done that. One gate doesn`t extend all the way across both lanes ( going both directions). At least I have never seen on that did. The gate may have come down behind her, but if the traffic wasn`t backed up, she would have sailed right on through.

These people are going to have a hard time explaining why they were on the tracks. They should fess up they disobeyed the law and take their lumps.

[Brian Allen]

<< SmithL
No, actually, you are supposed to STOP when you first see the lights activated .... >>

Half right.

Forget about the signals and gates, even. You MUST NOT proceed beyond the stop line unless you are able to drive right through the crossing and out the other side, without stopping.

[fzx12345]

Daily Herald photo

The crossing has three pairs of tracks, at a very shallow angle to the road.

How many of the 16 cars were actually on the tracks, and how many were out of the crossing and got hit by the chain reaction?

At some crossings in the area, most notably those that cross the Chicago & Northwestern line (the one that runs parallel to Northwest Highway / US 14), the "danger zone" on the pavement is marked with wide white stripes, resembling an oversized pedestrian crossing. In my experience, railroad crossings with these markings are easier for me to judge when it is safe to cross in stop-and-go traffic. Putting this into further use is probably a lot more effective and inexpensive than many of the government proposals (such as retractable concrete barriers and festooning crossings with more lights than a Christmas tree) being considered.

[GatorGirl]

We have a crossing similiar to this near my house. The road also comes to a three way apex at that point. There is a stop light with room for 2-3 cars well in front of the tracks, then two sets of tracks at a diagonal on the road, then the crossing gates. Between the cars stopped off the tracks at the light and the gates is a good 50-60 feet. I've never seen anyone stupid enough to wait for that light on the tracks. It's not a terribly busy intersection, and the trains don't go all that quickly through it, but I think people are pretty savvy about the tracks. It's not that difficult!!

[EDINVA]

I live in a VA suburb of DC. In our entire county (Fairfax) there are only 3 places where RR tracks cross the roads. All other roads that 'cross' tracks are built as bridges that cross over the tracks.

Commuter train planners here had the benefit of not being like Chicago and NY where commuter trains are a long-standing tradition, so were able to take into account the various scenarios common to those areas. Those bridges not only help to prevent horrific accidents such as took place in Chicago on Wednesday, but prevent backups on a daily basis.

[supercat]

No, actually, you are supposed to STOP when you first see the lights activated (the gates come down several seconds later, depending on the speed of the uncoming train.) If you are dodging falling gates, you are already in violation. This happens often. People are in just too much of a hurry today.

The problem is more likely that people got trapped on the tracks before the gates started to come down. This can occur if there is room for 'n' cars past the tracks and a person starts to cross the tracks with 'n' or more cars in front. If the width of the crossing is large relative to the width of the safe area beyond it, it is necessary to leave a larger-than-normal following distance to allow for this; the following distance must be extremely large if the motorists ahead have used, or may have used, a smaller stopping distance themselves. This extra stopping distance will in turn severely limit intersection throughput.

On some crossings I've seen labeled "emergency pull-out" areas, most likely for use in case a motorist recognizes that traffic ahead will make it impossible to clear a crossing. Unfortunately, the signage is probably insufficient to make such areas well-known and instinctively recognizable.

IMHO, however, any intersection which has a traffic signal so near to a railroad track and does not force the track-crossing direction to a green light as soon as possible when the train approaches is poorly designed.

[supercat]

Those bridges not only help to prevent horrific accidents such as took place in Chicago on Wednesday, but prevent backups on a daily basis.

One intersection I saw that seemed rather annoyingly-poorly designed was just past a station; when the train pulls into the station, the crossing gates go down and they remain down until the train leaves the station. That normally doesn't take very long, but it still seems an unfortunate design.

Is the concern that the train might overshoot the station?