Runaway freight car slammes into commuter train

You probably saw this story in mass media. This story was posted to a mailing list that I subscribe to and I thought readers of the blog would find it of interest.



News video and dispatch communications audio clips at:

BOSTON -- Two days after a runaway freight car slammed into a
commuter train injuring dozens of people, the emergency calls made by
the train engineer were released and he spoke about the crash.

Engineer Recounts Crash | Emergency Calls Released

On Tuesday afternoon, a freight car came loose from a lumberyard and
rolled onto a commuter rail, directly into the path of MBTA train No.
917.

"There is a boxcar coming right down on top of me!" commuter train
engineer Ronald Gomes radioed to a dispatcher at Boston's South
Station. "Is it OK to back up or try and make the stop here? It looks
like the car got loose ... Answer me! Can I back up? It is going to
come right on top of us ... Hey, I'm backing up!"

Moments later, the freight car slammed into the Stoughton-bound train
near Canton Junction, injuring dozens of the 300 people on board,
including Gomes, 61.

"I remember that thing coming at us, and making the calls on the
radio and thinking, 'I better get out of here.' And I get out of the
seat and that's when it hit. The next thing I remember is picking
myself up of the floor," Gomes told NewsCenter 5 on Thursday.

After getting up off the floor, Gomes grabbed the radio and called
for help.

"Emergency! Emergency! Emergency ... 917 emergency!" Gomes radioed
after the impact. "The car just crashed into us. Please send medical
assistance."

Dispatchers from the Mass Bay Commuter Railroad immediately contacted
the Canton Fire Department.

"A boxcar came off the Stoughton branch and hit one of our commuter
trains as it was operating. So, it looks like we have a train and
boxcar that collided right on the main line at Canton Junction. I
don't know what the injury extent is right now, but the engineer is
calling for an emergency. But we will definitely need paramedics out
there," the dispatcher said.

About 150 passengers were treated at the scene, and 80 of those were
sent to area hospitals with minor injuries such as bruises, neck and
back problems or facial cuts.

An employee from the Cohenno Inc., lumberyard called Stoughton police
at about 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, warning of the runaway freight car on the
commuter rail tracks.

"This is Cohenno Inc., down on Evans Drive. The freight car's out on
the commuter rail here. The freight car went out on the commuter
rail. We got to stop the commuter train," the caller warned. "The
freight car is sitting on the tracks. We gotta stop -- somehow -- we
gotta get the MBTA to stop the commuter rail."

Fifteen minutes later, the car collided with the train three miles
away.

Gomes was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released from
the hospital the next day. On Thursday, he was reluctant to call
himself a hero.

"I don't know about that. You get in those situations, and you just
do what your natural instincts tell you to do. I have been doing this
for 40 years, and I have a lot of training and you just do what you
do," he said.

Gomes credited his crew for staying calm and helping passengers after
the crash.

Federal and local transportation safety officials were investigating
the actions of company personnel, inspecting the car itself and the
tracks where it was parked. Bradford Cohenno, the company's
president, told NewsCenter 5 that the brakes on the freight car let
go.

Follow this LINK for audio and video clips of the crash.

If only I had the time...........

I wish I had the time to take a trip north and see this exhibit. The web site is enough to make you salivate.

Super Train

If anyone makes it up there drop me a note and tell me about it.

Why can't local emergency personal communicate directly with trains?

Here is an interesting video done by a local television station in Chicago about the safety of trains in relationship to first responders like police and fire departments.

Video Report