School bus driver saves lives, in spite of everything Canadian National RR can do...

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

[heavy sarcasm]
This is the kind of news story that I, as a parent with school bus-riding kids, just love hearing. http://www.chicago.tribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,ART-49161,FF.html

(excerpts)
Driver, kids on school bus watched train rip into SUV
By Jeff Coen
Tribune Staff Writer
January 11, 2001

Chauncey Lester knew something was wrong.

He had stopped his school bus at a rail crossing at Army Trail Road in DuPage County around midday Tuesday, on his way to drop 30 high school students at a vocational center. Lester opened the vehicle’s door on the edge of the crossing to look for an approaching train, as required by state law.

He saw one coming, fast. “And the gates were not coming down,” he said.

The next few seconds unfolded in front of him in slow motion. It became clear that drivers in oncoming cars did not see the freight train bearing down on the crossing at 50 m.p.h., he said.

“You know what’s going to happen, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” said Lester, 58, a former trucker from Itasca who authorities credited Wednesday with averting a major tragedy by stopping the bus short of the tracks. “The first car went over the tracks and the train just missed it. But the Ford got it.”

The 89-car freight train dragged the Ford Explorer in front of it for some distance, Lester said, before the vehicle rolled over and out of the train’s path. Many of the Glenbard North High School students on Lester’s bus witnessed the collision that left the crumpled SUV in a field some distance from the crossing.

“That driver never had a chance,” Lester said. “The tracks go over the road there at an angle, and she would have had to look all the way back over her shoulder to see the train. It was blowing its horn, but it didn’t matter.”

The elderly driver of the Explorer is in fair condition; her husband is in serious condition, and the middle-aged daughter walked away with a broken arm. I’m amazed that any of them even survived it. You should see the photo of the Explorer that’s in the print edition.

Canadian National/Illinois Central leaders on Wednesday said they were aware of safety equipment problems at the point where their tracks cross Army Trail, and offered their version of the circumstances leading up to the collision.The crossing near the Bloomingdale-Carol Stream border had become a trouble spot for the rail line in recent weeks, according to Canadian National spokesman Jack Burke. Melting snow had repeatedly interfered with circuitry that activates warning lights and gates, he said, causing the equipment to activate when no train was present.

To avoid a repeat of the false activation with temperatures climbing above the freezing mark this week, Burke said his company made the decision to drastically reconfigure the crossing’s warning system. Instead of activating safety equipment from a few thousand feet away from the crossing, according to state guidelines, Burke said the crossing circuitry was reconfigured so trains would not activate the warning lights and gates until they reached the crossing itself.

With the normal warning timing changed, Burke said, engineers were instructed to inch their trains toward the crossing to make sure the lights and gates worked as they reached Army Trail Road.

Burke said company investigators were trying to determine why the train on Tuesday failed to slow and barreled through the crossing at normal operating speed. The gates did eventually activate, but only as the train reached the crossing in the same second as the impact, authorities said.

There’s more in the article itself, mainly a technical discussion of railroad crossing lights, and of course the all-important information regarding which lawyers are representing which people, and more disclaimers from the railroad people.

But I mean, golly! :eek: Kudos to the bus driver for obeying the law and stopping at the RR crossing to listen. Because of him, 30 Chicago-area families are not mourning the death of children. I read this story to Bonzo and La Principessa, as part of a Teachable Moment, and pointed out, “When the bus driver tells you to shut up so he can listen for a train, he’s not just on a power trip–it’s a valuable safety device.”

La Principessa said, “It’s not a he, it’s a she.” Bonzo said, “And she doesn’t say, ‘shut up’, she hollers, ‘ya’ll be quiet, now, hear?’” So much for the teachable moment.

And I don’t have words to express my contempt for the pea-brain idiots at Canadian National who made the decision to shut down the crossing gates. Oatmeal between the ears, that’s the only explanation. I don’t care how many rational engineering explanations they’ve got for it–they were supposed to have had a flagman there, dammit, and they didn’t bother.

Does no one else remember the Crystal Lake METRA/school bus collision in 1995?

About 7:10 a.m., Central Standard Time on Wednesday, October 25, 1995, an eastbound METRA commuter train struck a Crystal Lake School District Bus at the Algonquin Road highway/rail grade crossing in the community of Fox River Grove, Illinois. The train consisted of one locomotive and 7 bi-level passenger cars operating in a push configuration. The train, according to the onboard event recorder, was travelling at about 59 miles per hour when it struck the left rear of the school bus.

Of the 35 student passengers on board the school bus, 7 were fatally injured, and 24 others received injuries varying from minor to critical. The bus driver also received minor injuries.

The school bus driver told investigators that she stopped on the south side of the railroad tracks. While stopped, she opened the passenger loading door, looked right, then left, then right again. At the point where she stopped the bus, she was able to see the railroad tracks in both directions. She stated that she saw no activity in either direction.

The traffic signal at Northbound Algonquin Road was red. The bus driver proceeded across the tracks and stopped at a point where the rear of the bus extended about 30 inches into the space required for passage of an eastbound commuter train. The bus driver stated that she was not aware that the rear of the school bus was extending into the train’s space. She was a substitute driver and this was her first time on this route.

The bus driver said that she did not hear the train whistle or the crossing bells. She did not see the flashing lights of the crossing or the crossing gates lowering. She did not hear the crossing gate striking the upper left side of the bus body or decipher any warnings of the train’s approach from the student passengers in the back of the bus. The school bus driver told investigators that she never saw the train. At the time of the collision, she was still awaiting a green signal light that would allow her to make a left turn onto U.S. Route 14.

The investigation has found no mechanical deficiencies with the school bus or railroad equipment. Tests of the locomotive whistle and control cab whistle found both to meet the applicable federal standards. Additionally, the light mounted on the front of the cab control car met applicable federal specifications.

The school bus was equipped with a stereo system that incorporated 8 speakers located along the top side of the bus interior. Additionally, a sound absorbing perforated ceiling liner extended the length of the bus interior.

Post accident testing revealed that a northbound vehicle could, under certain circumstances, have only two seconds of green light before a train physically occupied the crossing. Consequently, the Safety Board asked appropriate state and federal agencies to identify and monitor similar highway rail grade crossings and highway intersections to determine if a sequencing problem exists. The Safety Board is pursuing the following issues in this accident:

Bus driver training;
Bus routing policies;
Operation of the combined signal system;
Design of Highway Intersections located in close proximity to Grade Crossings;
Crashworthiness of the school bus; and
Occupant restraints.

As the NTSB rushes to slam the barn door shut… :rolleyes:

http://www.ironwoodtech.com/library/ntsb.htm
RA600035 Collision of Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation (METRA) Train and Transportation Joint Agreement School District 47/155 School Bus at Railroad/Highway Grade Crossing in Fox River Grove, Illinois, on October 25, 1995
Cause : IDOT failed to recognize short queuing area and take corrective action, failed to recognize “short green” traffic signal time and correct, failed to communicate effectively with railroad regarding design of traffic signal preemption; school district failed to instruct its bus drivers on route hazards.

[tomndebb]

school district failed to instruct its bus drivers on route hazards

Real life wording: “school district hired an utter fool.”

I drive a car that is a bit short of 20 feet long. Any time I have been called upon to drive a truck or bus or to pull a trailer, I have spent a significant portion of my travel time teaching myself just exactly where the back end of that vehicle extends. I’ve never been stuck on a badly engineered railroad crossing, but I have been places where I might wind up creating gridlock or otherwise interfering with traffic (ever seen a truck/bus pass someone “short”?). It’s the driver’s job to know what space the vehicle occupies. If the driver is accepting money for the task, that is even more incentive to pay attention.