It still boggles me how many American truck drivers get stuck half way over a crossing. Can anyone explain why? I'm sure it happens in Uk but it seems to be a monthly occurrence over the pond. This is a big one.
In the UK that truck would have had to have mapped out a route, provided it to the police and in this case the railway authorities and being an oversized load would likely have needed to contact rail control before starting it's crossing over the lines. I'm sure we DO get grounded trucks on crossings, we have a road sign specifically for grounding after all, but I hear a lot less about trucks being hit by trains in the UK than in the US
Someone didn't do their job properly. Whether that be the route planner, pilot car, or driver. The irony is that beam was for an overpass project that would bypass that crossing. But you can see why modern day widecabs are built to the standards today, the cab stayed intact and the crew got away with only minor injuries.
In the UK the driver would have had to contact the signaller and request permission to cross. The signaller would have denied permission of course until the approaching train had passed. In the event that the truck is too long and would bottom out, the signaller would know this once the driver tells them the length of thier vehicle and inform them that they will have to find another route. I think most of these accidents are due to impatient drivers and stupidity! Who in their right mind is going to try and cross when there is a train approaching? Another thing to consider is protection of the crossing. I think every level crossing that crosses a public road in the UK is protected by gates or barriers whereas in the states a lot of them don't have barriers!
I went straight thru a school bus the first time I done a run on cjp. Luckily my train never derailed.
The state of Missouri alone is about 125% the size of England and not much smaller than the UK as a whole and has probably many thousands of grade crossings. The cost of gating and signalling them, let alone bridging them, most of which might see one or two trains a day, would be prohibitive. Even the suburban community I live in has some unguarded crossings and many miles of unfenced trackage, even though you see fast and frequent Amtrak and Metra trains You have to be very cautious when driving in the US, especially in rural areas. Actually, I see many unguarded crossings on UK routes, too, like ECW, mostly for livestock I guess. (Repost from June, 2022 )
Yes these will either be farm crossings (livestock) or public right of way. The farm crossings you are still required to contact the signaller before crossing with livestock or long loads. The last thing you want is a prize cow getting pinned to the front of a 377. I guess you don't have a totally ott health and safety system like we do in the UK.
Then you would have another Polmont accident where a DBSO Mk2 crashes into a cow. BBC report from 1984 I'm not sure if there are members in the train simulator Community that remember this
I don't remember that. There was a derailment due to cows on the line not too long ago near Canterbury and another near Newington. Also at the level crossing near Teynham a car was crashed on the crossing and struck by a train.
He wasn't actually stuck, he is a dimensional load going very slowly to ensure a safe crossing. Aside from the train hitting him, he was doing the right thing. You can actually see him barley crawling the outfit to avoid tip over. No way they could have known the train was coming. Calling rail dispatchers is not standard procedure over here. Your route is planned and you execute it accordingly as safely and quickly as possible. Unfortunately, these kinds of loads require some slow going over uneven ground and turning. Particularly in high traffic areas. I would chalk this up as fluke and very unfortunate for all involved.
They just went ahead and started creeping their over-size load across the railway without bothering to check if there was a train coming then got hit by a train. That's not a fluke- it is, to be charitable, stupid.
