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Truck becomes track-tor trailer at Medford train crossing
By adamg on Fri, 10/16/2015 - 2:30pm
The driver of a tractor-trailer had some trouble making the turn onto High Street at the West Medford stop on the Lowell Line this morning, taking out the crossing gates and becoming an instant obstacle to rush-hour trains, as Colleen Mirabello shows us.
Ken Krause has photos of the quick work to remove the truck, the now ruined crossing gates and a light pole the truck also took out, and posted video showing some of the aftermath of having a crossing in the middle of a city with no crossing gates:
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Comments
And the photos seem to answer
that age old question:
Looks like...
-4 or 5 involved in the repair of the crossing gate, which seems reasonable given the level of destruction.
-1 flagman who's there all of the time (paid for my Medford, apparently did nothing to prevent this accident). (This is the guy standing in the middle of the road with a red flag - not the conductor who gets back on his train.)
Edit - missed a couple at the end with the crane truck, but still, not that much given the destruction.
West Medford Flagger
The flagger is there because there have been a number of incidents that would have been tragedies had there not been a flagger.
This includes a couple of incidents involving calling off and slowing down the trains when idiot truckers screw up the turn. (not every train stops here)
There used to be a slip lane there, from Playstead onto High, but it is gone because of an earlier incident. The flagger managed to call off the Downeaster in time to prevent it from punting a stuck garbage truck into the dunks.
Every time someone wants to get rid of the flagger, some dumbass pulls some idiot stunt and the flagger prevents a disaster.
That crossing is also in two school zones.
I'm just glad that it was a nice day and I fortunately decided to take a longer biking route through Arlington/Cambridge/Somerville ... Explains the light traffic in my area, though.
But why does this crossing uniquely need a flagger?
And not other nearby grade crossings on the Fitchburg Line (Park Street in Somerville, Sherman Street in Cambridge, and Brighton Street in Belmont)?
The Rockport/Newburyport line crosses a bunch of busy streets in Everett and Chelsea without needing flaggers. And the Haverhill Line crosses lots of streets in Melrose.
Because of idiots who don't pay attention
I've had motorists honk at me for stopping because the lights went off, veer around me, then get stuck under the descending gates.
Add in the school zones for the Brooks and St. Ray's and people who cross the tracks when they cannot clear them due to the traffic backing up from the church/school and you get a situation where a live human is valuable. There have been several near-tragedies averted because the flagger can radio trains, control the gates, stop traffic, etc.
The stupid is strong with that crossing.
There are several other
There are several other crossings on the MBTA with flaggers, including on the Rockburyport line, e.g. Cabot St in Beverly.
That loco...
Any railfans know what's up with that loco on the MBTA train? Is it borrowed?
A little castoff from Montreal
Old Agence métropolitaine de transport diesel. Last week, I spotted a couple of them at North Station.
Leased
Several leased F40's in service on the northside. They're ex-Amtrak (so they're exactly what the cabbage car leading the Downeaster was before it was gutted), after which they were sold to a leasing company who leased them to AMT in Montreal (hence the blue & white colors).
On a couple you can still read the "Agence métropolitaine de transport" below the logo on the side.
Additional useless trivia that no one cares about: The "SLC" stands for San Luis Central, a shortline in southern Colorado. Owned by Railworld which is the leasing company (and the same company that used to own the MM&A Railway involved in the Lac Megantic oil train wreck.
Awesome. Thank you both for
Awesome. Thank you both for the info. I'm a daily southsider so have never seen them.
They won't make it south
Don't have ACSES (positive train control) to run on Amtrak territory.
That's a good thing for you - I've heard they're not in the best of shape.
Another licensed CDL driver?
Maybe he just didn't "see" the gate with markings or the road with markings or the signs with markings.
More likely
the driver was trying to make a turn without running over the bollards in the middle of the street - said bollards having been put there to satisfy the "OMG West Medford can't have trains blowing their horns!" crowd.
That's me!
The trains never before blew their horns at every crossing (which is several an hour) so it's not like us local residents are complaining about a problem that has existed since before we moved in. As I explain in a post below, the fault is with the town for ignoring the FRA decision for about 10 years.
I blame people who can't simply wait and instead run the crossing with their cars.
Replace bollards with pedestrians and cyclists
These trucks don't belong on streets where they can't turn legally without running something or someone over. Find another route.
This driver is an idiot
I've seen numerous trucks make that turn, no problem.
Another stupid truck-hostile road degradation
This damage was caused by stupidly placing bollards in the middle of the road a year or so ago at the train crossing because the city got some federal grant money to waste. By doing so, they made it extremely difficult for trucks to turn, leaving drivers the choice between taking out bollards or the crossing gates. This time it was the crossing gate.
Required...
If you want a quiet zone, you gotta have them. End of story.
The bollards were put in at
the City's expense, not with a Federal grant. They were put in as a condition of the train horn ban currently in place at this location.
FRA train horn rules specifically prohibit the use of Federal funds to provide mitigation measures (such as the silly bollards) in support of a horn ban.
See https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0105
Mostly Wrong
The FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) put a requirement in about a decade ago that trains must blow their whistle at intersections such as these that don't have double gates or the bollards. Medford pretty much ignored the ruling for years and years and finally the FRA said enough was enough and they had to start blowing their whistle. I live nearby and it was really annoying given how many trains pass though that spot (Downeaster, Lowell, Haverhill lines with infrequent freight).
With lots of public outrage the city asked the FRA for permission to install the non-compliment short sections of bollards near Playsted Rd. The FRA agreed, the bollards were installed, and life was good.
BTW the only reason why they are needed is to keep drivers from killing themselves and others when they illegally run the train crossing. If drivers could just wait for the train such laws wouldn't be needed in the first place.
Also, there is no NEED to make that turn with a truck. Trucks should make a left onto High Street and go around the block or just use High St to get to the highway. This moron was likely following a GPS blindly. The fault is squarely on the driver, not the town or the railroads.
But the fact remains
the truck was there, and couldn't make a proper turn because of an artifical obstruction unnecessarily placed in the roadway.
And why are the bollards, which you acknowledge are substandard, there in the first place? Simply to satisfy the vanity of a bunch of special snowflakes like yourself who somehow believe that trains blowing their horns every so often is an intolerable affront to their life.
Yes.
Federal quiet zone (no horn) rules are you either need four-quadrant gates (two sets of gates on each side which completely block road to prevent someone driving around gates when down) or center divider to create a channel that drivers can't go around. That crossing really should have been four-quadrant gates, but I doubt Medford would want to pay for that.
Yup
I normally like your posts but you are sounding like a real jerk here. It's not "every so often" it's 3-6 times an hour if not more. The train had never before blown the whistle at every crossing. (They still blow the horn "every so often" and no one cares.) Blame the FRA, not us "special snowflakes". You'd want the same thing if you had to listen to a train blowing a loud horn 3-6 times an hour 24 hours a day.
As for the truck, since when is it the town's fault that people can't drive? The bollards don't keep other trucks from making this turn. This driver should have never been given a CDL if he can't stop his truck before taking out an entire train crossing!
Blaming non-locals for not knowing roads
seems to be a Boston area tradition. People who don't live here and know all the local roads like the back of their hand are therefore idiots who don't belong. Stupid parochial attitude.
Roads should be kept passable for legal vehicles. It was the fault of Medford for choosing bollards over the necessary double gates given the existing road configuration and traffic conditions.
No...
...that corner is very tight. A class A CDL driver should have enough brains to know he isn't going to make that turn and go the other way.
Not every legal road vehicle can go down every road. That's part of being a driver to know where yours can and cannot fit.
Yeah, OK
When a driver encounters an obstacle the only logical thing to do is simply ram through it, right?
If that's the way you drive no wonder you want everyone to get out of your way.
You are defending making roads impassable?
Sure, a driver ought to know what turns she can make and not.
A city ought to know what turns will be made impassable by one option, while another is just fine.
I'm sure a sign would help...
...like "No right turn for trucks."
You know, because those clearance signs on Storrow Drive work so well...
It isn't a problem for most trucks
This is the first time I can remember it being a problem for ANY truck.
I've lived in the neighborhood for seventeen years, so, yep, I know!
Look at Ken's video - nice freaking big wide turn there!
I'm betting that Markkkkkkkkk has only driven in this area on Rt. 60 twice in his life. Never on Playstead Road - too scary local road!
I drive through there frequently
Its the best way to avoid (most of, via rt. 38) the idiotic road diet applied to route 16 when headed to I-93 or Wellington Circle etc.. I've been on Playstead Road too. Oak Grove Cemetery is beautifully managed and was an example of how Arlington town officials misappropriated perpetual care funds for general town DPW use instead of only being used for cemetery use as legally mandated.
Not just quiet zone rules
Numerous incidents of people running the gates had a lot to do with it. They are there because too many drivers are selfish idiots and completely incompetent at reading maps and finding the back way around.
My father grew up just down the street from there
On the corner of Walcott and High. When he was a kid, the crossing attendant would let him and his friends lower the manually operated gates sometimes. His father was a funeral director for a funeral home in Medford Square and would go down there regularly to scrape someone off the tracks and bring them to the morgue at Oak Grove Cemetery. When he got to a certain age, his father brought him along to pick up the body of a local kid who crossed behind a local only to be hit by an express from Canada. He said it was a valuable lesson to learn.
And they blew the horns
'cause the gate is down
We've all been warned
That the gate is down
We covered our ears
We're not laughing anymore
'cause the gate is down
Gonna be a high and lonesome train horn sort of evening in these parts.