Oct 12..San Joaquin Train 717 and the Coast Starlight 14 had a slow-speed collision ("fender-bender" as the news article proclaims) yesterday at Jack London Square. There were some minor injures, althought one little girl suffered a broken arm. Wheels of both locomotives came off the track. One article suggests that one of the trains failed to heed a red signal light. Another report said the accident was caused because a switching mechanism was not activated.
Richard
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Minor incident or not, this was reported on CBS Radio News during the 5AM CT hour Today.
Again, let the NTSB do their job - even if it will take longer than the next news cycle. Sure beats relying on Cub reporters with their vast knowledge of railroad industry affairs.
Posted by cubzo (Member # 4700) on :
When my wife and I were on our ill fated trip a few months back (the one with the cabbage truck incident) we stopped just short of Jack London. When I asked the car attendant the reason he stated faulty switch ahead.
Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :
What is "a switching mechanism was not activated" supposed to mean? If a switch fails to move into the correct position then no signal should ever show a proceed aspect over it. So the reference might be to some other piece of equipment - but what?
Posted by yukon11 (Member # 2997) on :
My same question, Geoff. Here is an excerpt from the report by an "east bay news source" (whatever that is):
"The impact derailed one of the trains. Railroad inspectors are trying to figure out how it all happened. A railroad worker told ABC7 the switching mechanism was not activated and it is still in the wrong position that led the two trains to collide."
Maybe it was that same faulty switch that Cubzo refers to.
I think there is a human failure, somewhere. I know it's not very comparable, but it reminds me of a time when I worked as a delivery boy for my uncle's pharmacy. I once carried a large, glass bottle full of some liquid out to the delivery truck and dropped it...it completely shattered with glass everywhere. My uncle asked "what happened". I replied, "it broke". My uncle got a big kick out of that. I later had to admit my dropping the bottle had something to do with the bottle breaking.
Richard
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
This thing has been big Bay Area news, and on the local railfan boards a lot of folks have been talking about it. The engineer who was responsible for operating the train wasn't even in the locomotive when it happened. He was training another engineer who was on a "qualifying" run. The second-to-last station stop for this train is Emeryville. It was at Emeryville where the qualified engineer left the locomotive and went back to the cab car (leaving the unqualified engineer alone in the unit). He operated the train by himself the short distance from EMY to Oakland. He had a signal that indicated to him that at the NEXT signal, he would have to slow the train to a speed where he can stop in half of the distance to the next train. In other words, it doesn't matter if the switch was wrong---he was going too fast in order to stop in half the distance of the next train, which in this case was the Coast Starlight (which was stopped in it's regular position at OKJ).
The reason for the engineer being in the cab car was because he said that he wanted to be able to turn the train quicker in order to take it back to the Oakland yard (in "push" mode), because once they put the train away they could go home. So he blew it big time by allowing an unqualified engineer to operate the train by himself. Right after the crash, they went up into the cab of the Coast Starlight to talk with that engineer so that they could "get their stories straight" to avoid getting into trouble. The Starlight engineer told them to go pound sand, he's doing no such thing. By the way, the Starlight engineer was hurt pretty badly. He received a fractured arm and his back is in serious pain. This whole thing was 100% avoidable.
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
I put together the following for a man I used to work with. He is an Englishman, hence the use of 24 hour clock, explanations given for use of some terms, such as "SPAD" which is the Brit acronym for "Signal passed at Danger", as in passed the red block.
It was about 10:00 pm (US Pacific Time) on Wednesday night. The trains involved were #717, one of the San Joaquin trains out of Bakersfield due into Oakland at 21:55. Thanks to slack in the schedule, if on time leaving Richmond CA, he could have gotten to Oakland as early as 21:45. Although nominally northbound, he was heading south by the compass entering Oakland. These trains are usually 5 cars plus diesel push-pull trainsets, normally, as was this one, operating in pull mode in the Bakersfield to Oakland direction. The other train was #14, the Coast Starlight, running Los Angeles to Seattle. Its schedule at Oakland was arrive 21:32, leave 21:42. These trains are normally longer, but I do not know their normal consist or that of this particular train, but it includes coaches, sleepers, a diner and a baggage car, and, I think normally 2 diesels. Based on the time of collision, it can be said that both trains were reasonably close to on schedule.
There are a couple of versions out there about how it happened.
As to the what: Train 717 went through a crossover that was set to put in on the track occupied by train 14 which was standing in the station. When the engineer of train 717 realized that he was going into Train 14, he put the brakes in emergency, but not soon enough to avoid impact. The engines hit nose to nose. The result was the railroad equivalent of an automobile fender bender. The speed of collision has been stated to be about 15 mph, but I am inclined to believe it was somewhat less. Probably in the range of around 10 mph. The front axle, maybe the front bogie of the engine on train 717 derailed. The number of injured, apparently all on train 14, has been stated to be between 16 and 20, depending upon source of information. The most serious was a broken arm on the engineer of train 14.
The passenger count on train 717 was given as 8. No passenger count was given for train 14. The passenger count was so low because this was train 717's last stop. Generally beginning at Stockton the passenger count on these train starts to drop, with almost all remaining getting off at Emeryville. Emeryville is the stop immediately preceding Oakland and the location for connecting buses to points in San Francisco and several other bay area points. It is also in a better part of town than Oakland station.
There are several versions of the events leading up to the collision, not all compatible with each other. Here are teh reasonably certain portions of one of these versions.
1. At CP King Street #717 got a yellow, with the red over red at CP North Jack London, which should be clearly visible from CP King St, unless there was fog. But still yellow means be prepared to stop at the next signal anyway.
2. #717 carried on past the red over red and into the same track as #14, and emergency brakes were applied as it crossed the switch.
3. #717 collided into #14 at 15 mph or so, derailing the front axle of both locomotives.
4. A download of CTC confirmed that the signals were displaying as stated above.
5. There were two engineers on #717. One was the regular engineer. The other was doing a qualification or requalification run. Where they were at the time of the accident is a matter of disagreement at this time.
5. One of the two engineers had gone from the engine to the cab car at the other end of the train in order to expedite the backup move the train would be making after stopping at Oakland. Which was where is part of the uncertain information.
Some of the alternatives are as follows:
It has been stated that one of the engineer had a previous SPAD violation. Which one is one point of uncertainty. Some have stated that the student engineer was the one with the SPAD and that this run was to requalify him. Others have stated that the engineer with the prior "passing red" violation was the primary engineer, and that his SPAD had been several years previously.
Most versions have engineer with the previous SPAD as being the one operating the engine even when they disagree which of the two was the previous rule violator. The versions that have the primary engineer as the one with the SPAD violation have the other one being requalified after being disqualified due to a drugs and alcohol violation.
The railroad: Track owner is Union Pacific. This is ex-Southern Pacific territory.
The distance between Emeryville and Oakland is 5.1 miles. There is a milepost equation at Oakland 10th Street. Milepost 2.2 on the Martinez Subdivision going north equates to milepost 4.2 going south on the Niles Subdivision. Emeryville is at milepost 4.5 – 2.2 equals 2.3 miles from 10th street on the Martinez Sub. Oakland Jack London Square Amtrak station is at milepost 7.0 – 4.2 equals 2.8 miles from 10th street on the Niles Sub.
Maximum speed in this area is 50 mph for passenger trains and 40 mph for freight trains In the vicinity of Jack London Square Station, Niles Sub mileposts 5.9 to 7.6, the speed limit is 25P/15F. Speed limit on passenger tracks at Emeryville and Jack London are 20 mph and 25 mph respectively. The crossover at Jack London appears to be a 25 mph crossover. The crossover south of Emeryville, which #717 may or may not have used, is a 15 mph crossover.
Operation is by CTC signal indication. The turnouts involved, and all others into, out of, or between main tracks in this area are power operated.