Caltrain fails to report Serious Incident for 22 days. Why? Around Town, posted by Michael G. Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 15, 2012 at 10:47 am
August 24, 2012 8:25AM a northbound train was stopped at 590 Bubuque Ave S.S.F. letting passengers off and on. At the same time a 1,000,000 pound express train was going south at 76 miles per hour. A very close call. Two engineers have been placed on leave, one of them tested positive for marijuana use. Caltrain refuses to identify the engineers.
Again Why was this information kept from our media?
Posted by Michael G. Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 15, 2012 at 12:50 pm
This was posted on my FB page.
Mark Simon We publicly reported this to the board of directors at its most recent meeting and discussed it the day after the incident via social media.
Posted by Menlo Voter, a resident of the Menlo Park: other neighborhood, on Sep 16, 2012 at 9:03 am
So let me get this straight. Caltrain's media guy thinks "tweeting" about a near major accident is good enough? If that's true he's either an idiot or he's saying what his bosses told him to say.
Posted by Menlo Voter, a resident of the Menlo Park: other neighborhood, on Sep 16, 2012 at 10:44 am
Didn't Caltrain's media guy say they put the story out on social media? Which media? What exactly did they put out? When did they put it out there? This whole thing stinks.
Posted by Michael G. Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 17, 2012 at 7:27 am
In this article the main points are that Caltrain has improved its safety procedures and the passengers who had to jump for their lives were legally crossing the live tracks.
No mention of the 22 days of Media Blackout by Caltrain.
Posted by Michael G. Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 17, 2012 at 10:26 am
on the San Carlos Patch
Christine Dunn
9:27 am on Monday, September 17, 2012
It is incorrect to say that Caltrain was "silent for 22 days." Caltrain staff reported the incident at two public board meetings. Caltrain also has reached out to those passengers involved in the incident. Caltrain is treating this incident with the utmost seriousness. Safety protocols have been changed to ensure that this never happens again.
Christine Dunn, Caltrain Public Information Officer
Posted by Michael G. Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 17, 2012 at 1:39 pm
This is the News Caltrain talked about on August 24, 2012
Caltrain Expecting High Ridership This Weekend
August 24, 2012
Caltrain riders should be prepared for crowded trains this weekend, with some possibly reaching capacity. After winning five of six games on their road trip,
Posted by whatever, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Sep 17, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Michael,
When (if ever) did they report the incident to the appropriate state and federal rail authorities?
I remember an incident at the SF station 5+ years ago when the last car uncoupled from a train as it was leaving the station for the peninsula and one of he passengers fell through to the tracks. This was kept out of the media for a while. It seems as it's business as usual for CalTrain.
Posted by Michael G Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 18, 2012 at 2:07 pm
Here is the scene of the incident, both North and Southbound trains at South San Francisco Caltrain stop. Note the distance between the tracks is only 6ft.
Posted by Michael G Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 18, 2012 at 9:01 pm
From Trainsorder.com
Date: 09/16/12 13:44
Re: Belated report of close call at Caltrain station
Author: jrwadman
Both engineers worked for Amtrak before, and decided to stay with TASI. The southbound bullet had a student engineer at the throttle, with the instructor engineer.
Posted by Michael G Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 19, 2012 at 10:47 am
Jayme Ackemann communications manager of Caltrain has confirmed that a student engineer was in fact at the throttle of the south bound train #324 at the time of the incident at SSF station on August 24, 2012
Posted by Edward, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Sep 19, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Lets remember how fast Caltrain fell all over themselves to secure the funding for electrification. Claiming that it will 'save' Caltrain, and be safer. Caltrain is a bloated mismanaged bureaucracy; whether it's powered by diesel or electric trains will not make Caltrain a better run agency. Any savings in diesel vs electricity will undoubtedly be squandered on higher salaries and bonuses for management for 'saving' Caltrain. As for a safer Caltrain corridor; this unfortunate near miss might have been completely avoidable if Caltrain took grade separations seriously. If separating passenger platforms isn't happening, rest assured that road/rail grade separations will not happen. Yes, grade separations are very expensive; but safety first, then raise the train speed please! By law, so long as the trains do not exceed 125 miles per hour, no separation is required. That the electric trains, and in particular the high speed rail trains are slated to travel at speeds well over 100 mph, but slightly lower than the magic 125 mph, Caltrain has legally covered their ***. Realistically, that means trains traveling almost twice as fast as they do now with no additional safety measures for pedestrians or vehicle traffic at crossings is a recipe for disaster. The recent almost tragedy illustrates that human error is, and always be a potential safety issue on the tracks. The best solution is to physically separate the tracks from people and cars. In their grab for electrification dollars, safety was left the trash in the side of the tracks.
Posted by Michael G Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 20, 2012 at 9:07 am
I was looking for the public report of this Human Error Incident 8/24/12 which Mark Simon said he made to the Board of Directors at the most recent meeting. I could not find it.
I did however find this, which was a little hard to follow.
Chair Tissier said some of the key partners were the Bay Area Council led by Jim Wunderman, the San Mateo County Economic Development Association led by Rosanne Foust who is represented today by Christine Madrigal, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group led by Carl Guardino and the Friends of Caltrain represented by Adina Levin. These organizations saw the value of a modernized Caltrain early on and have been committed to this system and its role in bringing HSR to the Bay Area.
Posted by Michael G Stogner, a resident of another community, on Sep 20, 2012 at 10:23 am
Caltrain Board of Directors have No Say in disciplinary action of the engineers that drive their trains, according to Jayme Ackemann. It's up to Transit America Service Inc. TASI
Posted by Michael G Stogner, a resident of another community, on Oct 3, 2012 at 4:43 pm
This was in response to a complaint posted by a customer today.
Caltrain We are embarrassed by the quality of service we have been offering and apologize to you and our other customers. We are working diligently to prevent issues from occurring and also to recovery service is a better manner.
3 hours ago · Like
This might be a good time to look at the Caltrain Team. First no reporting of a Near Miss.
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