Oklahoma Train Collision

[Hum]

GOODWELL, OK ? Authorities says at least one is dead and three crewmembers are missing after two trains collided in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

The identity of the the person who was killed has not been released, News 9 reports.

An eastbound train carrying vehicles and a westbound train crashed about 10:08 a.m. Sunday near Goodwell, Union Pacific regional spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said. A two-person crew was aboard each train, and officials were unable to account for two engineers and a conductor, Espinoza said.

The other conductor appeared to be uninjured, and officials were interviewing him about what happened, she said.

"He's shaken up about the situation, and we are working to make sure that he receives any care that he needs. We're doing everything we can to find the rest of the crew," Espinoza said.

The westbound train had three locomotives and 80 railcars that were carrying motor vehicles, she said. Two of that train's locomotives and a locomotive from the eastbound train caught fire after the collision, she said.

One train was hauling a resin solution, but Espinoza said that load wasn't on fire and was doused with water as a precaution.

Firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze, which was burning in a sparsely populated area of the county, Texas County Emergency Management Director Harold Tyson said. No evacuations have been ordered, he said.

more

[remixedcat]

This is when me and my lil bro made a ghost train map in Trials Evolution on xbox360! The exact time we started making the map...... ok WTF??? really now..... creeped out.....

[Hum]

So they were on the same tracks, and there was no signal warnings ... ? :huh:

[DocM]

Someone royally f***ed up.

[Stetson]

So they were on the same tracks, and there was no signal warnings ... ? :huh:

That's what I'm wondering. The article doesn't actually say specifically how the crash happened. They could have been passing each other on separate tracks when one derailed.

[DocM]

More likely the guy manning the track switch had a hangover.

[Growled Member]

I believe heads will roll before this is over.

[Hum]

^ Wake up the lawyers. :laugh:

[abecedarian paradoxious]

More likely the guy manning the track switch had a hangover.

Most, if not all freight trains are tracked by GPS on mainlines and the switches are often remotely controlled except around switching yards (sometimes they're remote there too) or other less traveled spurs. Most likely, an engineer missed a signal and traveled passed the switch / siding it was supposed to detour to and wait at.

Check out some of the technology railroads use for routing; it's fascinating. Generally speaking, they know where each and every prime mover and car is at at all times. It's the engineers that cause most accidents.

[devBrian]

Wow, not Good or Well, or even OK.

[Growled Member]

^ Wake up the lawyers. :laugh:

Oh man, they are probably salivating already.

[abecedarian paradoxious]

Wow, not Good or Well, or even OK.

Well, it was OK... as in Oklahoma.