If there were red lights, they were before the siding, and just prior to the end of the siding.
If they are on, the engineer slows down, the track is ‘switched’ and the train routes off to the siding.
After it clears the switch, the switch changes back for thru traffic.
At the end of the siding, the switch is set for thru traffic, and the train on the siding must wait until the lights go green and the switch changes to allow the train back onto the main track.
Somehow, this didn’t happen. The engineer does not control the lights or switches.
Methinks the RR company is trying to lay off blame on the engineer, because of lawsuits.
Or it was a terrorist act, and the feds are keeping it under wraps until they can investigate further.
Just thinking about it seems to raise several questions. It’s not the color of the signal lights that solves the conflict but the position of the various switches. If the the signal was red it must have meant the track wasn’t clear, so the switches should have been set to get one of the trains off the track and onto a siding.
Nothing about this makes sense. But again, I have NO understanding whatsoever of how the system works and am really just guessing at conditions.
It still seems to me there must have been a discrepancy between the signals and the switches.
It’s going to be interesting to see what develops. Sad, but interesting. My first thought was sabotage of some sort, these trains do this every day, and have done this every day for years. Why is it today they run into each other?