busfan2847 Posted April 17, 2013 Report Share Posted April 17, 2013 If nothing else, both the UP NW and BNSF are three track lines, and the expresses certainly don't stop. Stand somewhere like Downers Grove and see the trains wailing through there. Even the Milw N, while 2 track, does not stop; there is a platform message to wait for the next train. Freights don't stop, and there was once a letter in On the BiiLevel that a freight always blocks access to one train at Glenview, to which the answer was get to the station earlier. For instance, a rush hour express to Lake Cook Road is 32 minutes, while the local is 48. If the train had to stop at each station, or at least each meet every 10 minutes, it couldn't make up the 16 minutes. The River Grove rule seems to be local trains in both directions, although what I have seen elsewhere (such as at Lake Cook where there is a pedestrian crossing in the middle of the platform) is that the first train waits and blocks the crossing until the second train is done,then they leave together. On UP-NW expresses will not pass local trains stopped in stations. Typically either the local is slowed on it's approach to the station so that it is not in the station as the express passes (often #629 slows or stops before Cumberland to let #631 pass on the middle track). Or, if the local has unloaded, the express slows so that when it does pass the local it is no longer in the station (often #608 slows on the middle track for #605 leaving Edison Park). When #618 passes through Des Plaines in the morning there are no local trains in either direction anywhere near Des Plaines. The difference between UP-NW and BNSF is that on the latter there are no platforms on the middle track and trains have to switch to the outer tracks to make station stops, on UP-NW all tracks have platforms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted April 17, 2013 Report Share Posted April 17, 2013 ... The difference between UP-NW and BNSF is that on the latter there are no platforms on the middle track and trains have to switch to the outer tracks to make station stops, on UP-NW all tracks have platforms. But not horribly relevant if the pedestrian is run over at a street crossing. We don't know if this one was trying to qualify to be the next Phil Pagano, or was like the woman who got out of her car to try to run to her job on the other side of the tracks when her husband told her to stay put, but both are equally dead. In this case, unlike the River Grove one, there is no indication that the decedent just deboarded another train. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted December 21, 2013 Report Share Posted December 21, 2013 Will they ever learn???... flashing lights and lowering/lowered gates mean "STOP"!!! Story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Will they ever learn???... flashing lights and lowering/lowered gates mean "STOP"!!! Story Nope ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 And tonight's Darwin Award winners are..... whoever thought it was a great idea to walk on an elevated BNSF structure while an express Metra was barreling down on you(for that matter, what the heck was anyone doing up there to begin with). Enjoy your award! Story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i8itall4u Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 And tonight's Darwin Award winners are..... whoever thought it was a great idea to walk on an elevated BNSF structure while an express Metra was barreling down on you(for that matter, what the heck was anyone doing up there to begin with). Enjoy your award! Story ....would you say that to the family of the victims? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 And tonight's Darwin Award winners are..... whoever thought it was a great idea to walk on an elevated BNSF structure while an express Metra was barreling down on you(for that matter, what the heck was anyone doing up there to begin with). Enjoy your award! Story ....would you say that to the family of the victims? Tribune claims to have an explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTRSP1900-CTA3200 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 And tonight's Darwin Award winners are..... whoever thought it was a great idea to walk on an elevated BNSF structure while an express Metra was barreling down on you(for that matter, what the heck was anyone doing up there to begin with). Enjoy your award! Story I overheard BNSF on the traffic radio and my dad pointed it out in the car, but I had my earbuds in and only caught those words. I'm assuming this was the reason why it made the radio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 I overheard BNSF on the traffic radio and my dad pointed it out in the car, but I had my earbuds in and only caught those words. I'm assuming this was the reason why it made the radio. It is all over internet newspaper sites and television news now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictures Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 ....would you say that to the family of the victims? I don't know about him, but I certainly would say that to the family. I'm sick & tired of the morons that walk on or cross over active RR tracks & then manage to get killed by a train. Just how do you not hear a train blasting that incredibly loud air horn at you? Even with headphone on, I can hear my doorbell at home. I'm even more fed up with the suicides! If you don't like your life, then jump in the lake & drown. At least you won't make thousands of people late for work that day & ruin their day, plus you're ruining the engineer's life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 There was a story floating around this morning that they were trying to steal the copper circuit connectors from the rail and not searching for loose junk. I guess we'll never really know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 ....would you say that to the family of the victims? Depends.... I'm not cruel-hearted... depending on the situation like this one, then yes I might say something that sounds cruel-hearted, but they deserve to hear it. This "parent"(I use that term loosely) leaves a toddler alone to get a bike from upstairs assuming that some people who were keeping an eye on her. And after the fact, rather than sue the people that were supposed to watch the girl, who does she sue? The CTA! Now if you were a passenger stuck on the train that was involved or the engineer driving the BNSF Metra train that hit these two, would you feel remorseful for two people who shouldn't have even been on the elevated section of your tracks first of all and secondly walking on your track anyway? If it was a crossing gate incident, I really still can't feel much remorse because the lights are flashing and the gates are down for a reason. You wait until the gates return to the up position and the lights stop flashing before you cross! I think one of the principal reasons people cross downed gates, especially outside of Chicago or far South Side locations of Chicago is people think "Oh God, lights are active and gates are down... I don't have over 5 minutes to wait on a long freight train... I'm going to run past this crossing to avoid it!" Person runs out the first set of tracks and fails to see the express Metra coming from the other direction until it's too late. Average wait for a commuter train to pass a crossing is probably 2-3 minutes. Freights vary because of size but can be anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Here's an example of what I'm talking about... I don't need audio to know what Mother is thinking... "Oh s**t, here comes a super long freight train. I don't have time to wait for this, I got to get my son to soccer practice and my daughter to dance recital... I'll just floor it through the parking lot and beat it around the gates on McPearson Ave." "Almost there... I'll just drive around the gates, ignore the horn of the train coming at me from the right and.... what the f**k!?! Oh GOD!!!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotjohns Posted August 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 As sad as this is, it's just a simple reminder that people are just in too big of a hurry to get to where they need to go. They don't have time to wait and this is the kind of thing that happens. Here's the funny thing. I was in Villa Park today and walked to a set of railroad tracks that's ran by Metra and UP. Anyone that knows this line is fully aware freight trains hit this line hard. The lights were on, the gates were coming down, and a car decides to gun his car and race past the tracks. But he didn't see the UNMARKED cop car that was on the other side of those tracks going the opposite way. Pull him right over and I'm sure he'll be facing a judge soon. It ain't worth it. Seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Me thinks some people are being too harsh here. I get the frustration with the impatient people and the selfish sucidal people, but you have to look at each individual situation before making a judgment. Right or wrong, it seems that this particular area was used as a shortcut by a lot of people and that the engineers knew it and blew their horns to alert people about the trains. I know this to be true as I was once a regular rider on the BNSF amd until now couldn't understand why engineers were blowing horns on a stretch of elevated track. Now add a person who uses this shortcut regularly getting a case of glaucoma and slowly and eventually losing sight. He is still using the shortcut because he can still hear the horns and knows when it isn't safe to cross. Now for whatever reason, this engineer did not blow a whistle, either because he was new or because he didn't see anyone or anything which would prompt him to blow the horn. Now add the sight impaired man;s sister trying to save him from impending doom only to suffer the same fate as he did. It is sad. Her death came trying to save a life. Sometimes it takes a unique set of circumstances to occur on what would otherwise be normal to create a situation condusive to disaster, and it happened here. That man didn't purposely step in front of a train or made a decision to cross KNOWING that a train was coming (and thus trying to beat it). Obviously this has been going on for years and this is the first time that someone in this area was struck and killed. What can we learn from this? First railroads must be diligent about securing or fencing areas that are condusive to being illegal crossing areas on row and prosecute anyone found there. Second, the schools in that area need to use this event as a teaching lesson about trespassing and a lesson about safety around railroad tracks and trains. If this area was known by engineers to be a regular crossing, they have a responsibility to report it to their railroad so that something can be done so that this doesn't happen again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 ... If this area was known by engineers to be a regular crossing, they have a responsibility to report it to their railroad so that something can be done so that this doesn't happen again. On the last point, technically no. The point that a railroad doesn't owe a duty to trespassers has been established since about the 1830s. The only exception to which I am aware is Mr. Lee at 4700 N. Kedzie, where the distinction seemed to be that CTA had put an actively dangerous instrumentality, the third rail, too close to the sidewalk, plus that basically only CTA commonly maintained grade crossings for third rail lines, the worst one, of course,being the one at Kedzie just north of Eastwood Ave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 I saw that in one of the other threads... Would that be the responsibility of Metra Police, the railroads or the municipalities? Basically, the responsibility of BNSF since it is private r.o.w. with which it has a purchase of service agreement with Metra. But I don't think BNSF monitors (nor has a legal duty to monitor) all of its tracks from Chicago to the Pacific coast. Chicago police will come out if someone calls them, but they have a lot more to do in that neighborhood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictures Posted August 10, 2014 Report Share Posted August 10, 2014 The railroads have rarely been forced to fence off their ROWs. In the city, there was always a fence along the embankment of the C&NW Milwaukee Division, now the UP North. But it was poorly maintained & was easy to knock down & climb the embankment. It was missing for large stretches. The only serious fence there was put up by S&C Electric on the east side of the embankment along Ravenswood Ave. from Devon to Pratt. That was put up to stop S&C employees from taking a shortcut to work over the tracks. But in the suburbs, where the trains run at grade, there aren't any fences along the ROW. Just common sense keeps people off of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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