Posted on 11/27/2006 7:39:08 PM PST by Onelifetogive
A Chelsea High School freshman died today in an accident involving a train and an SUV that injured five other students, authorities said.
Chelsea High School Principal Pat Grey said the girl killed was a 15-year-old member of the school’s dance team. State troopers and the county coroner identified the victim as Hannah Yeager.
Five others, a girl and four boys, all sophomores, were injured. Victims were taken to UAB Hospital and at least one to Children’s. Officials did not release their conditions, but officials they were expected to recover.
“This is a tragic loss for our school and students,” Grey said.
The wreck happened on Shelby County 377, which runs between Shelby County 11 and Old U.S. 280, State Trooper Sgt. Tim Sartain said. The SUV was left on its side near the tracks.
Jane Covington, a CSX spokeswoman, said the incident involved a southbound CSX train that was en route from Birmingham to Atlanta, with five engines and 23 cars loaded with freight. Covington said the accident was reported to them at 4:22 p.m. The tracks were reopened by 8:20 p.m., she said.
Exactly how the accident happened remained under investigation Monday night, Covington said.
“Certainly at this point, our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the people involved in this incident,” she said.
The track speed limit where the accident happened was 40 mph, Covington said.
The downloading of a device similar to a “black box” from the train’s locomotive will “tell us how fast the train was going and other vital statistics about the locomotive at the time of the collision,” she said.
Both the Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been notified of the incident, Covington said.
...and trains.
Uggh. Car/ train incidents are never pretty. Being 'yutes', I wonder if they tried to go around the stop-arm. I did that (and many other stupid things) at that age. What an ugly tragedy.
Girl was ejected from the SUV.
She was sitting on the lap of another passenger. (Clearly, not wearing a seat belt.)
Rural crossing, no crossing gate.
SUV was trying to "beat the train."
See post 5.
Kind of like car chases. They don't make it.
We used to have a lot of car/train collisions in Chicago and suburbs that, I think, we're largely due to people (usually from out of state) that failed to realize just how fast some of those commuter trains go.
Or how damn big they are. They ain't HO scale in real life.
Sad story. Prayers for the family.
I remember in my youth liking to be near the tracks when trains came by. There's nothing quite so big, loud and overwhelming as a locomotive up close. Awesome.
A railroad enthusiast friend told me that the railroad through my little home town was "high iron" and maintained for higher speeds because it was part of the Illinois Central's "backbone".
You and me both. I love the sound of those big diesels...making it look like pulling a few hundred loaded railroad cars is child's play.
I played on the tracks. Sometimes I would sit on the ground and watch the wheels go by, looking to see what was on the other side. Very scary thinking about it now.
I hopped them as a kid. Stupid, very stupid. They are big.
I almost bought it at one of those crossings (without the crossing-arm-thing) on a KX-250 when I was 16, it was very close. I'd just upgraded from a 125, and if I'd still had the slower 125, I probably wouldn't be sitting here posting this right now.
How fast do they go now, anyway? I was always under the impression they were going 50 or so, but never knew a definite speed.
I was 8 or 9. There was a rumor that some guy got ran over and they didn't find one of his toes. I walked the track looking for that toe. Why, I have no idea:').
I think they have definite speed limits for sections of their tracks depending on location and condition of the tracks.
The commuter trains in Chicago probably seem to be going faster than they really are because automobile traffic in the area would be lucky to get up to 35 mph and the trains are doing nearly double that speed.
As a teen, we used to go into the middle of a RR tunnel that was about a mile long and wait for a train to come. The tunnel was pitch black and there were recesses in the wall you could could stand in and when the train passed, it was probably 2-3 feet away from your nose.
Two sensations gripped you beside the fact that you could not even see the train.
1. The rush of wind past your face.
2. The loudest noise you ever heard and you thought it would never end.
And the whole time, you were worried about the railroad detectives catching you and taking you home to you parents and telling them what an idiot child they raised. ;~)
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