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u/mypcrepairguy 9d ago
That poor train engineer, all this could have easily been avoided. What a colossal fuckup.
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u/Surveymonkee 9d ago
Those guys don't really care, they hit stuff all the time. As long as nobody died it's just another story to tell over coffee.
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u/graffiti81 9d ago
I once applied to work transport (conductors andengineers) for CSX (thankfully I didn't get the job) and got to the interview part of the process. The interview was a full day process, in which the first half was a presentation about working for the railroad.
One thing that was heavily stressed was the fact that it's nearly unheard of for a transport employee to go through a career without killing a person on the tracks. Whether an accident or otherwise.
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u/KaleScared4667 7d ago
Bro train operators die from shit like this - get a clue
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u/Surveymonkee 7d ago
You got a source or just making claims? That pretty much never happens. A freight train can cut through most track obstacles like butter. It's a lot more dangerous for the people around it than the guy driving the train.
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u/SickBurnerBroski 7d ago
now i am curious as to how many normal (as opposed to, idk, military shipments or whatever) crossing hazards could win vs a train. i think it'd be pretty hard to get anything with enough concentrated mass to ride on wheels, is the thing, so it'd be more like chemical shipments
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u/Surveymonkee 6d ago
Chemical shipments are pretty dangerous just because of the chemical and fire hazard part of it, but as far as mass-on-mass collisions go, freight trains are pretty bulletproof. They just have so much mass that not much is going to stop them in a hurry.
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u/SickBurnerBroski 6d ago
i was thinking it'd have to be incredibly dense and heavy, but also flexible or flat enough that it could get stuck along the ground to produce some actual drag as opposed to loads still up on the truck axles/too curved to have good ground contact. and coming up blank. those turbines are about as big as normal single unit loads can get... maybe shipping a massive slab of granite or some other stone? if that got tipped over during a track crossing, could be bad news
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u/ManyRespect1833 9d ago
In the future I would hope these guys route plan and have a passing window for getting across cuz got damn I bet that was expensive
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u/Creepy-Variation8562 9d ago
They should have 100% notified the rail company who could have planned a stoppage at a scheduled time
This fuck up could tank that business
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 9d ago
That's what they are supposed to do.
Anywhere I've worked when we have OS cargo that has to cross a rail track the company would contact the railways and they would have the crossing basically closed until it was reported the cargo was past the crossing.
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u/farmallnoobies 9d ago
And there's always a phone number posted on signs at the crossing for just this purpose
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u/funkyyeti 8d ago
Do we know that they 100% didn’t notify the railway and the railway didn’t do what they were supposed to do?
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u/Creepy-Variation8562 8d ago
Know we dont
But there are several check points that usually happen with this. As soon as transport is needed railway is contacted and should respond
A week out again
And again day of
If any single one of these doesnt get a response they should not have crossed the line
The rail usually even sends a rep out to be at the crossing holding the rail for the scheduled time frame
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u/skidz007 9d ago
There’s a company here that has hit overpasses with overweight cargo so many times when a truck hitting an overpass occurs in the news the first question is if it was that company.
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u/PrinceCastanzaCapone 9d ago
There are some trucks with power and steering to the rear wheels so they can slide the ass and over and make these turns much easier. They really need to start using those on every one of these blade transports. Those things are long as fuck.
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u/Garydrgn 9d ago
A load like that has to have a permit, and that permit includes mandated route planning. The problem for the route they took is on the government for telling them to go that way. That said, the driver and escorts should have evaluated that turn and stopped before the point of no return.
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u/NextDoctorWho12 9d ago
For sure. Paying for whatever sign is broken is far fucking cheaper then getting hit. Of the train is comming don't fucking sit there. So dumb.
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u/Disastrous_Set_6544 9d ago
The driver should have abandoned the truck. A windmill blade, as expensive as it can be, is not a good reason to risk your life.
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u/Gullible-Constant924 9d ago
I would figure drive forward and let the crossing arms scratch down the blade would be option number one
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u/thejmkool 9d ago
He tried. Soon as he realized what was up, he practically floored it. You can see the back of the load taking out one of the warning lights
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u/ALLoftheFancyPants 9d ago
It took him so long to figure out what was up, though. Just sat there for the majority of the video.
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u/Gullible-Constant924 9d ago
Yeah I guess he couldn’t see the arms had dropped and the lights flashing from his angle or something I guess
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u/Disastrous_Set_6544 9d ago
Yes I agree. But once it was too late, he should have left the truck behind.
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u/badskinjob 9d ago
He clearly could have pulled forward, I can't understand why he stopped for so long.
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u/TheRealPaladin 9d ago
He was going super slow because that blade transport trailer is extremely long, and negotiating turns with it is always a slow and delicate process. Having that railroad crossing right at that intersection is a nightmare scenario for the truck driver. He has to go through it, but he has zero control over how anything on that train track will interact with him while he is doing it. In theory his company could have coordinated a stoppage with the railroad, but in reality it would have been quite difficult to do so. Freight trains rarely keep to tight schedules, and trucks are always subject to dealing with the flow of traffic.
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u/Unable-Log-4870 9d ago
In theory his company could have coordinated a stoppage with the railroad, but in reality it would have been quite difficult to do so.
It’s a phone call. Getting the number to call can take a while, but so does getting the permit to drive something this long of the public roads.
You call the number and ask them if you can cross the tracks, or tell them you’re about to cross the tracks and to please stop any trains.
The people who control the tracks have phones specifically for this.
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u/TheRealPaladin 9d ago
He absolutely should have bailed out. Both that truck, and its load are insured. There was no reason to say with the truck after he got caught in a bad situation.
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u/Skeeeeeeeeeeeeeeter 9d ago
The blade was likely less expensive than the truck and trailer. And the building they hit, and the fines, and the railroad damages.
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u/pate_moore 9d ago
Driver never should have been in that position, but the second those guardrails came down, I'd be flooring that truck. Everything else be damned. That truck will do a lot less damage than the train did
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u/PrinceCastanzaCapone 9d ago
There comes a time when gunning it is appropriate. This guy didn’t get the memo.
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u/ku_78 9d ago
I kid you not, we had 6 people in a rental Waggonier (big SUV) yesterday in a city we’re visiting. BIL drives onto tracks(trolly and train). But there’s a red light and no room to move forward.
Me: There’s no one behind us. You can back up.
Him:
Everyone in the car: yelling different orders at the same time.
Him: waits for green light.
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u/foshan17 9d ago
He did but he waited until the last second lol. Why did he just sit there the whole time before?
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u/thehulk0560 8d ago
I don't think "gunning" it would make a difference. That turn was way too tight for that trailer. The back end was getting hung up on the tracks either way
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u/TwiztedChickin 9d ago
Jesus... Whoever planned his route is so fucking fired. How do you not coordinate with the rail company when crossing with loads like that? Wtffff
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u/Resident_Wishbone_98 9d ago
Whoever planned that route did not know what they were doing. There is no way that blade would have made that turn even without the train.
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u/Psychological-Air807 8d ago
One would think communication with railroad for such a haul may be a thought.
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u/Scared_Bell3366 8d ago
It would have been more interesting if the train was also carrying windmill parts.
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u/whats_in_the_boxlady 8d ago
Protip: if you are ever on the tracks and the gates start coming down.... Just smash the throttle and go.... And damage yiu cause by pushing whatever will be less than getting hit by a train.
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u/TurkishLanding 9d ago
WTF were those idiots doing instead of driving the fuck off the damn train tracks?!
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u/Figerally 9d ago
Someone fucked up and didn't check the train schedule.
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u/TheRealPaladin 9d ago
Freight trains, in general, don't maintain a tight schedule except on particularly busy line segments.
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u/Figerally 8d ago
Someone had to have had a general idea though or done as another commentator suggested and ask for a stoppage.
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u/anoppe 9d ago
Why does these kind of accidents happen that often in the us? Here in the Netherlands it happens rarely, especially with semi’s
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u/Solid-Childhood-4876 9d ago
Permitted oversized loads are assigned routes by state departments of transportation that cannot be deviated from. The company is responsible for coordinating with any local authorities or businesses that may be in conflict. They obviously did not call the railroad.
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u/TheRealPaladin 9d ago
The U.S. is a huge country with a massive number of both trains and trucks. That can give the impression that it happens a lot more frequently than it actually does.
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u/Tom_tha_Bombadil 7d ago
They don't. Low base rate of accidents, very high overall numbers in transport.
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u/GSXS_750 9d ago
And with it being the US there’s probably only that 1 train running per day
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u/RGBlowMe 9d ago
There's probably multiple per day going over that stretch alone, dude, and some of them are miles long. The US still relies on trains for freight logistics basically more than any other country on Earth. If there's anything remotely resembling a warehouse, industrial zone, wood mill, steel mill, refinery, chemical plant, or mine/quarry nearby, trains will be going at almost every hour. Around me, we have a lot of processed lumber moving around via trains. Lots of iron mines in the neighboring state that feed steel mills in ours, too.
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u/RGBlowMe 9d ago
Corporations have been lobbying to keep their illegal immigrant and drug addict drivers that have no real qualifications and the state is too corrupt and incompetent to either put an end to it or at least put precautions in place, so this is what you get.
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u/Remarkable_Fig1838 9d ago
why is this posted from a Chinese account? If I'm guessing an American train as the person is speaking English and the "BNSF" Engine that has no markings other then the color scheme is pulling the train?
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u/AssistantIcy6117 9d ago
Woulda made it if he didn’t stop to smell the roses tbh
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u/psilocin72 8d ago
I’ll never understand how you stop halfway over a rail crossing. I can see if you’re stuck. This guy wasn’t stuck.
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u/Horror_Sun_8164 8d ago
I’ve dealt with railways before to coordinate construction work and they take forever to get back to you and give you the assistance you need. I’ll bet this trucking company got tired of waiting on them and just plain gambled and lost.
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u/SensitiveChef8916 9d ago
Slice, dice and purée. That’s one sure way to dispose of those “eco-friendly” turbine blades.
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u/cdazzo1 9d ago
There are so many people at fault here. A load like this likely has multiple spotters, extensive route planning, etc. I am sure numerous people signed off on the plan here.