I saw that on the news this morning- I’m glad you’re OK!
Actually, in the incident I posted the engineer saw it coming, realized there was nothing he could do to stop it once he threw the brake, left his post, and ran the length of the first car yelling to wake people up, dragging at them, slapping them… there’s no doubt he saved several lives (including his own). Those who woke up and ran lived. Those who remained asleep died or were severely injured.
I used to ride in the front car. I won’t say I never do so, but my accustomed post is now in the last or second to last car. Usually near the emergnecy exit. Facing backwards if possible. I wasn’t in the train vs. steel truck accident, but I’ve been in others and now think about safety as well as scenery.
Father of a Metro North Conductor, here.
My son was working the Hudson line when this occurred, and the news went out system wide in about 15 minutes. The Engineer of that train is a friend of his, and the following is very interesting.
There is an intricate computer system that alerts Engineers to problems on the tracks ahead, and it doesn’t have to be line-of-sight.He thinks the repeater for that area was located at that crossing, so, it was wiped out when the truck was attempting to get free of the tracks. When the train rounded the bend, the Engineer had time to do one thing, and that one thing was to let go of the ‘dead man switch’ and bail out the door in a tuck and roll maneuver. (This was witnessed by a passenger, and reported in the N.Y. Times) Letting go of the switch causes the trains air pressure to shut down, and lock up the brakes, Remember, also, that the Engineer has nothing in front of him but a pane of glass…bailing as he did was pretty prudent, no?
Glad to hear you’re okay TellMeI’mNotCrazy.