Posted on 03/07/2017 1:39:03 PM PST by Gamecock
A train has collided with a charter bus in Biloxi, Mississippi, causing an unknown number of deaths and injuries.
Biloxi city spokesman Vincent Creel says emergency responders were still removing injured people from the bus more than 30 minutes after the crash Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
good gosh
Familiarity breeds contempt.
He was subconsciously editing out (ignoring) those sounds. Scary.
I could sit in my apartment, TV going / movie whatever. I could hear and feel the rumble of a train passing 500 feet away from my apartment. That low rumble of diesels shaking the ground (and the air a bit).
Did the train run a stop sign?
The only news I recall about CSX is the president being replaced. They gave him until May to clean out his office, and have already named his replacement. Same for the CEO (also fired, no replacement named for him yet). More heads to roll after May.
Judging from those Stop sign the bus got drug down the track quite aways. Train was moving at a pretty good clip at least 20-25 mph.
Reports say senior citizens. Maybe casino.
I’m not sure about this particular street but many crossings in Biloxi are without gates or even good lights.
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True, I went to school in Mississippi. I was shocked to see that many of the rail road crossings just had stop signs.
I thought buses were required to stop at RR crossings, look for. A train then proceed.
The bus got stuck on the tracks. That happens sometimes with large vehicles at that crossing with the short, steep incline and decline on either side. It’s only the fault of the driver to the extent that he doesn’t realize this.
It was a casino junket tour bus from Austin, so the driver was likely unfamiliar with the crossing. There are, at this time, four confirmed deaths. There are 35 being treated at area hospitals—per Biloxi police.
The bus got stuck on the tracks. See my prior comment.
Biloxi Police Chief John Miller “said authorities believe the bus was stopped on the tracks at the time of the crash, but they don’t yet know why.”
Three dead. Prayers to the families.
Another eyewitness featured on WLOX-TV news contradicts that eyewitness. She said the bus was stuck on the tracks only a short time--less than a couple of minutes--before the train came.
Only to the extent that he was unfamiliar with the height of the crossing, since he's from out of town. His bus got stuck on it, and he was unable to proceed. There was also no time to evacuate the bus, with only a couple of minutes before that train came.
About a month ago, a young man in my neck of the woods was walking the tracks wearing head phones. Amtrak blew the horn repeatedly and tried to stop (from 75-80 mph). The kid didn’t budge. Unfortunately for him, that was his last walk on the tracks. Most folks around here believe it was deliberate suicide.
A bus with seniors from out of state probably didn’t have first hand knowledge of the
crossing problems at that location. A pepsi truck was stuck a couple of months ago.
There was a thread on it but I couldn’t find it.
The ones that died are probably the people that were reported to have gotten off the bus only to be hit when the train hit the bus - they were hit by the bus!
I can understand the Pepsi truck (actually the crossing west of this one) as it was likely attempting to make a local delivery, but what was the bus doing at this crossing? According to google Maps the Casinos appear to be at the shore and I-110 connects to Beach drive. Thus the best alternate route would allow the bus to bypass any grade crossings.
I live and work around the DC Beltway, and get very annoyed at people who blindly follow their GPS when driving a truck. Most GPS assume that they are in a car, and thus will direct you onto restricted street (no trucks allowed), and not consider things like low overhead or weight restrictions on bridges. I remember once helping a semi get unstuck after it got caught attempting to make a turn at a residential intersection (fortunately the driver only needed a spotter).
Offloading a bus full of elderly folks cannot by accomplished quickly--even when a big freight train is coming.
I don’t know what happened in this case.
However, I was told by a fireman who went to train/car/ped wrecks all the time, Here’s what happens:
There are two parallel tracks. There is a slow-moving train on the track most visible to the motorist/pedestrian. There is a fast train on the other track. The slow train makes it look safe to cross, and obscures the sight and sound of the fast moving train. The car/ped makes a run for it, but gets nabbed by the fast train. I always look both ways, no matter what.
Probably not what happened here, as it appears only a single track and slow moving train, but still worth describing the failure mode described above.
I didn't mean to suggest that any of this was the railroad's fault -- just that it never looks good to have your rolling stock involved in these incidents!
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