Two Dead After Amtrak Train Hits Dump Truck
Fifteen Train Passengers Taken To WakeMed
POSTED: 1:00 pm EDT August 2, 2005
UPDATED: 6:44 pm EDT August 2, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Authorities say two people are dead after a collision involving a dump truck and an Amtrak train.
An Amtrak train from Charlotte to New York hit a dump truck Tuesday. Multiple injuries have been reported.
The accident occurred around 12:35 p.m. Tuesday near Rush Street in South Raleigh. The train, from Charlotte, had just left a Raleigh station headed for New York when it hit a dump truck that was filled with gravel.
Authorities say the truck was headed west on Rush Street when it collided with train, which was headed south.
A preliminary investigation shows that the crossing lights and gates were working. For some reason, authorities said, the driver drove around the safety gate.
The collision knocked several cars off the tracks and upended the dump truck. Police said the two occupants in the dump truck died in the accident: Chris McCullough, 34, of Garner; and Keith Spence, 33, of Raleigh.
Officials said there were 196 passengers on the train. At least 15 people, ranging in age from 11 months to 85 years old, were taken to WakeMed with minor injuries that included back pain, face pain, leg pain, and abdominal pain. Emergency officials said the injuries are pretty typical with the type of accident in which they were involved.
Passengers who were not injured were taken by bus to the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center until they could board another train.
The remaining 182 passengers from the train who were not injured were taken by bus to the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center. The passengers were transported to the convention center because the Amtrak facility in Raleigh was not large enough to accommodate the group.
The convention center staff and the American Red Cross provided water and refreshments to the passengers.
The accident is still under investigation. Rush Street between Hammond and Old Garner roads is closed to traffic. Motorists are advised to avoid the area. The closure will be in effect until the scene is cleared, which could be sometime Wednesday.
The train, The Carolinian, travels from New York to Charlotte with 26 stops; 11 of them, including Durham, Cary and Raleigh, are in North Carolina.
Anyone needing information on family or friends who may have been traveling on the train can call Amtrak at (800) 523-9101.
http://www.wral.com/news/4799648/detail.html
Copyright 2005 by WRAL.com.
Two Dead After Amtrak Train Hits Dump Truck
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Skywatch_NC
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Skywatch_NC
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A tragedy like this...one wonders...how many nationwide risk a crash by going around railroad safety gates and when crossing lights are flashing?
My Dad works for a surface water protection division in Raleigh and between 2 and 3 pm today a call came about a truck-train crash and that there was possibly some environmental damage threat to a creek in the area...which proved to not be upon further investigation by my Dad at the scene. To have a break from filing today for the department that I volunteer at in helping out my Dad, his boss, their secretary and other co-workers...I accompanied him to the accident site. Helped him navigate, also, by reading a map of the thoroughfares that we'd take to get there. We arrived about 2 hours after the crash happened...Dad talked to various personnel at the scene. The train engineer along with several passengers suffered minor injuries. Sadly 2 men in the dump truck were killed. The truck was fully-loaded with gravel and the cab was totally demolished (scrap metal)...the axel under the trailer was bent and bowed from the impact...and a side frame of the truck cab had been dragged several feet down the side of the track. While at the scene my Dad and I talked with a firefighter friend whom we know from church. He's stationed in south Raleigh and was the first engine company on the scene he told me as we looked on at debris and at the 2 bodies who had been flung by the force of the impact at the edge of some woods in a brush area.
Prayers and thoughts with the families and friends of the 2 young men who were killed.
Very sorry if some of this post was too graphic.
Just makes one think about stopping and not being impatient when crossing arms are down and lights are flashing.
Eric
My Dad works for a surface water protection division in Raleigh and between 2 and 3 pm today a call came about a truck-train crash and that there was possibly some environmental damage threat to a creek in the area...which proved to not be upon further investigation by my Dad at the scene. To have a break from filing today for the department that I volunteer at in helping out my Dad, his boss, their secretary and other co-workers...I accompanied him to the accident site. Helped him navigate, also, by reading a map of the thoroughfares that we'd take to get there. We arrived about 2 hours after the crash happened...Dad talked to various personnel at the scene. The train engineer along with several passengers suffered minor injuries. Sadly 2 men in the dump truck were killed. The truck was fully-loaded with gravel and the cab was totally demolished (scrap metal)...the axel under the trailer was bent and bowed from the impact...and a side frame of the truck cab had been dragged several feet down the side of the track. While at the scene my Dad and I talked with a firefighter friend whom we know from church. He's stationed in south Raleigh and was the first engine company on the scene he told me as we looked on at debris and at the 2 bodies who had been flung by the force of the impact at the edge of some woods in a brush area.
Prayers and thoughts with the families and friends of the 2 young men who were killed.
Very sorry if some of this post was too graphic.
Just makes one think about stopping and not being impatient when crossing arms are down and lights are flashing.
Eric
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TexasStooge
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DaylilyDawn
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My husband and I have both lost members of family to a train collision with cars. Neither victim was trying to avoid the arms and lights. Husband's mother was killed when she struck a stopped freight train many years ago. The crossing was not marked in any way , no lights, no crossbucks, no arms to come down to block the cars, nothing. Manay, many years ago I lost my greatgrandfather and great aunt when the car they were in stalled on the tracks in Valdosta, Ga. They did not have a chance to get out of the car before the train hit and dragged the car a mile down the track. They were killed instantly. It is not always the fault of the vitims when things like these acccidents happen.
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Trains are no longer a major part of American life and schools no longer do train safety teaching, etc. and I believe this contributes to the problem.
Another problem is that railroads are strapped for money and maintenance, etc. suffers.
Then there is complacency.
Last year I was in Nashua, NH and because I'm old enough to belong to the "stop, look and listen" school of train safety, I watched from behind the stop line while a freight train backed up across the intersection I was about to cross. Now this intersection is "protected" with both lights and gates--but the lights did not flash, the bells did not ring and the gates did not go down! As I sat there watching what the train was going to do, an angry driver behind me tried to go around me--and suddenly saw the train and was able to stop in time to avoid pulling out in front of it--but we're talking seconds here.
I tried reporting the malfunctioning gates to the local police who told me it was "not their problem." I tried the state police. Not their problem either. I did eventually get some railroad guy on the phone who listened, more of less said, "yup" and hung up. The bottom line is that there is an extraordinarily dangerous grade crossing in Nashua, NH. Now, I was a first-time visitor to the area. If I'd had my car radio on, had not rolled down my window, was not paying attention, was on my cell phone, or had assumed that the lights would flash, the bells would ring and the gates would close, I would have been dead. Probably someone will get killed at that grade crossing and then everyone will ask, "why did it happen?"
I go through this battle with my daughter--she thinks I'm a nutty old lady when I tell her that she needs to turn off her car radio and slow down if not stop entirely for grade crossings (guarded or not) and pay close attention... I worry because there are many "seldom-used" tracks near her house--when tracks are not used often (tracks near our house are used 3 times a week--but sometimes 4 or 5) people assume they are not used at all or that traffic is "predictable." In other words, it is not "time" for the train. Well, it may not be "time" for that train, but what about some other train?
In the absence of school train safety warnings, etc. people should warn their kids and should also explain that the guarded crossing equipment is 50 years old, has had little to no maintenance, and may not function as you expect it to. Kids--and grownups--need to stop, look and listen. You can often hear--sometimes even feel--a train before you can see it. Trains in urban areas are especially a problem because you have competing noise and buildings, etc. block the sightlines so if you don't "hear" it, you are in trouble because by the time you see it it is too late.
50 years ago, no one had air conditioning in their cars so at least the window was open. And car radios weren't that good, so unless it was really blasting, you could often hear a train over the car radio. Today you don't have a chance if your windows are closed and the stereo is on.
Some other rules--do not stop on train tracks--regardless of what the traffic lights allow you to do, the other cars do, etc. etc. etc.
There is a fairly active train grade crossing in Norwalk, CT that is "guarded" but all the traffic from Rt. 7 bottlenecks off toward downtown across the tracks--and there is a traffic light on the OTHER SIDE of the tracks--so of course at any given time there are cars on the tracks waiting for the light to change--and there is a mad scramble for them to get off (difficult because there are cars blocking their escape path) when the lights flash and the bell rings. One of these days one of those cars is not going to make it off the tracks... But, once again, it is difficult to avoid being on those tracks--and if you wait a safe distance, impatient drivers behind you figure how to get around and get in front of you. They have no notion whatsoever of why it might be dangerous to wait on train tracks for a traffic light to change. Perhaps they think the traffic lights are somehow tied to the train schedules? Not so. Amtrack or Conrail or MetroNorth or someone controls those tracks and the city of Norwalk controls the traffic lights....
I think a lot of people need to be concerned and complain and agitate to get these conditions addressed in their communities--and no one cares anymore since trains are no longer a big part of our lives...
Another problem is that railroads are strapped for money and maintenance, etc. suffers.
Then there is complacency.
Last year I was in Nashua, NH and because I'm old enough to belong to the "stop, look and listen" school of train safety, I watched from behind the stop line while a freight train backed up across the intersection I was about to cross. Now this intersection is "protected" with both lights and gates--but the lights did not flash, the bells did not ring and the gates did not go down! As I sat there watching what the train was going to do, an angry driver behind me tried to go around me--and suddenly saw the train and was able to stop in time to avoid pulling out in front of it--but we're talking seconds here.
I tried reporting the malfunctioning gates to the local police who told me it was "not their problem." I tried the state police. Not their problem either. I did eventually get some railroad guy on the phone who listened, more of less said, "yup" and hung up. The bottom line is that there is an extraordinarily dangerous grade crossing in Nashua, NH. Now, I was a first-time visitor to the area. If I'd had my car radio on, had not rolled down my window, was not paying attention, was on my cell phone, or had assumed that the lights would flash, the bells would ring and the gates would close, I would have been dead. Probably someone will get killed at that grade crossing and then everyone will ask, "why did it happen?"
I go through this battle with my daughter--she thinks I'm a nutty old lady when I tell her that she needs to turn off her car radio and slow down if not stop entirely for grade crossings (guarded or not) and pay close attention... I worry because there are many "seldom-used" tracks near her house--when tracks are not used often (tracks near our house are used 3 times a week--but sometimes 4 or 5) people assume they are not used at all or that traffic is "predictable." In other words, it is not "time" for the train. Well, it may not be "time" for that train, but what about some other train?
In the absence of school train safety warnings, etc. people should warn their kids and should also explain that the guarded crossing equipment is 50 years old, has had little to no maintenance, and may not function as you expect it to. Kids--and grownups--need to stop, look and listen. You can often hear--sometimes even feel--a train before you can see it. Trains in urban areas are especially a problem because you have competing noise and buildings, etc. block the sightlines so if you don't "hear" it, you are in trouble because by the time you see it it is too late.
50 years ago, no one had air conditioning in their cars so at least the window was open. And car radios weren't that good, so unless it was really blasting, you could often hear a train over the car radio. Today you don't have a chance if your windows are closed and the stereo is on.
Some other rules--do not stop on train tracks--regardless of what the traffic lights allow you to do, the other cars do, etc. etc. etc.
There is a fairly active train grade crossing in Norwalk, CT that is "guarded" but all the traffic from Rt. 7 bottlenecks off toward downtown across the tracks--and there is a traffic light on the OTHER SIDE of the tracks--so of course at any given time there are cars on the tracks waiting for the light to change--and there is a mad scramble for them to get off (difficult because there are cars blocking their escape path) when the lights flash and the bell rings. One of these days one of those cars is not going to make it off the tracks... But, once again, it is difficult to avoid being on those tracks--and if you wait a safe distance, impatient drivers behind you figure how to get around and get in front of you. They have no notion whatsoever of why it might be dangerous to wait on train tracks for a traffic light to change. Perhaps they think the traffic lights are somehow tied to the train schedules? Not so. Amtrack or Conrail or MetroNorth or someone controls those tracks and the city of Norwalk controls the traffic lights....
I think a lot of people need to be concerned and complain and agitate to get these conditions addressed in their communities--and no one cares anymore since trains are no longer a big part of our lives...
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Skywatch_NC
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DaylilyDawn wrote:My husband and I have both lost members of family to a train collision with cars. Neither victim was trying to avoid the arms and lights. Husband's mother was killed when she struck a stopped freight train many years ago. The crossing was not marked in any way , no lights, no crossbucks, no arms to come down to block the cars, nothing. Manay, many years ago I lost my greatgrandfather and great aunt when the car they were in stalled on the tracks in Valdosta, Ga. They did not have a chance to get out of the car before the train hit and dragged the car a mile down the track. They were killed instantly. It is not always the fault of the vitims when things like these acccidents happen.
So very sorry, Daylily.
((((HUGS))))
In August 1948 my maternal grandfather was killed by a freight train when it struck his Ford tractor. Track didn't have any flashing lights, safety gates and was overgrown on the sides with high brush. Grandpa was 33 yrs-old and heading home in the late afternoon after plowing another farmer's field whom he was hired and worked for. My Mom was 8 yrs-old when she lost her Daddy.
Also, along with high brush blocking visibility...his 1940's tractor was very loud.
Eric
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Skywatch_NC
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Having read today's Raleigh News & Observer...the 2 men who died yesterday ...passenger Keith Spence was a single father of 3 children...the truck driver Chris McCullough was married and had a 13 yr-old daughter and a 16 yr-old son.
Also, Mr. McCullough...the report said...had a history of traffic violations...some witnesses saw the dump truck he was driving speeding on the street toward the crossing and arriving at the crossing after safety gates were lowered, flashing lights were on and bells clanging...swerve to the left past the gate...and the train had blown it's horn...and then impact seconds later.
McCullough was self-employed the report also stated and owned the truck involved.
Eric
Also, Mr. McCullough...the report said...had a history of traffic violations...some witnesses saw the dump truck he was driving speeding on the street toward the crossing and arriving at the crossing after safety gates were lowered, flashing lights were on and bells clanging...swerve to the left past the gate...and the train had blown it's horn...and then impact seconds later.
McCullough was self-employed the report also stated and owned the truck involved.
Eric
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Hurricaneman
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