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Home / News & Reviews / News Wire / Caltrain collision with ‘on-track equipment’ ignites fire; 13 injured
Commuter train reported struck equipment for crew working on electrification
Commuter train reported struck equipment for crew working on electrification
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SAN BRUNO, Calif. — At least 13 people were injured Thursday when a Caltrain commuter train struck a vehicle described as “on-track equipment” and caught fire.
Southbound train No. 506 struck the vehicle at about 10:38 a.m. near Scott Street in San Bruno, and caught fire, leading to evacuation of those on board.
KGO-TV reports there were 13 injuries — one severe, five moderate, and seven minor. Eleven of the injured were train passengers; the others were the operator of the vehicle and a train crew member.
A Caltrain spokesman said crews at the accident site were working on the Caltrain electrification project. The station reported the National Transportation Board will be among those investigating the incident.
How can one even comment on something this lame?
One of those tracks had to be out of service on whatever document CalTrain uses for a daily operating bulletin. If CalTrain is a GCOR railroad, then trains operating on the in-service track would have a Form B or Form C specifying the working limits to be passed through. A Form B requires the C&E to get authorization from the Employee-in-Charge to pass through the working limits and at what speed. The Form C also specifies the working limits, can authorize a speed through it, but does not require the train to talk to the EIC before proceeding because the work would not require fouling the in-service track. So what happened here? We have spent buckets and buckets of $$$ on deploying PTC that was supposed to prevent this stuff. Is it possible that work crew were out there without authorization?
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