Amtrak Derailment

[pjm20]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35801244

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amtrak-derailment-in-kansas-5-cars-on-their-side/

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amtrak-passenger-train-derails-kansas-n537681

[C855B]

We were on that train last Thursday.

EDIT: From the pictures, the four cars on their sides are the coaches. The sightseer lounge (with the big windows) is the car listing at an angle. One report said two cars were upright but derailed, so they were likely the diner and the 0430 sleeper (the car we were in). So my supposition is that the 0431 sleeper, dormitory car, baggage car and the power were still on the rails.

Wheel failure, maybe? This is not the Amtrak-only section through Raton, this is BNSF track with recent work.

[Blazeman]

Apparently a truck crossing the track before the train arrived somehow moved the rails out of gauge.

[nkalanaga]

The story I read, on a New Zealand newspaper website, said that the railroad and a parallel highway are separated only be a "shallow depression", serving as the drainage ditch, and a vehicle seems to have run off the road and hit the track.  Since that was the only place I saw the story, I'll not swear to the accuracy of it.

[OldEastRR]

There was a story on the NBCNews website. The rail was knocked 12-18" out of position (doesn't say what kind of misalignment) and apparently was done by a feed truck from a local cattle feedlot company. No word on whether the truck was on a highway or just driving along the tracks on the property line. But they found the truck. Ya gotta wonder what kind of dumbass cowboy plows into something that hard and just goes on his way w/o even checking if the truck got damaged, much less what he hit.
Just think, those guys are out driving trucks along the same roads you ride every day.

[nscaler711]

Glad nobody got seriously injured...

[rant] But I'm sure the Amtrak Haters be all like "Why didn't the conductor see the tracks were f**ked up and slam on the brakes... Or steer the train on to the other tracks?!?"
Morons... The lot of them... Need to retake Physics class.... 
[/rant]

[OldEastRR]

Engineer did slam on the brakes. People felt the train suddenly decelerate before it hit the broken rail.

[nkalanaga]

OldEastRR:  Sounds more likely than just an errant motorist.  I suspect that any ordinary personal vehicle would be undriveable after a hit like that.  I wonder how he explained the damage to his bosses?

[Frisco Larry]

One of our club (Topeka Ntrak) members attended a train show at Garden City KS (about 20 miles west of the wreck site), Saturday, (apparently he doesn't mind a lot of windshield time).  He reported that the story circulating at the show was "Word at the Garden City show was it that an unattended feed truck [which] got away from the feedlot, went down the driveway, crossed US-50, and went across the tracks, with the result that one of the tracks [rails] was misaligned sideways anywhere from 3 inches to 12 inches, which was what the engineer saw and went into emergency stop for. "  Draw your own conclusions.

[nkalanaga]

That makes sense.  Unattended vehicles getting loose aren't uncommon.  And, unless they retrieved the truck before the train arrived, AND didn't tell the railroad, it should be easy to confirm.

[OldEastRR]

The feedlot company did both, retrieve and fail to notify. Lawsuits a'comin'.

[nkalanaga]

And there should be.  That's clearly criminal negligence, as everyone should know that if your vehicle damages someone else's property you notify the police, and you tell the other party, if that's possible.  Finding a railroad's phone number shouldn't be hard.