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A southbound Caltrain struck a car on the train tracks at Fair Oak Avenue in Atherton at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16. The driver was able to escape the Toyota Prius before the collision, said Menlo Park Fire Protection District Chief Harold Schapelhouman.
“The driver stated he was following his GPS at the time before he got the vehicle stuck on the tracks,” the chief said.
Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn said that “that is not the first time” that drivers have followed GPS instructions to turn and ended up on the train tracks. “It was raining really hard at the time,” she said, and visibility was probably bad.
The car was pinned underneath the train and carried about 1,500 feet down the tracks, catching fire before the train came to a stop, according to the chief. No one was injured and firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze.
Passengers got off the train at the Atherton station and were able to get on the next southbound train, Ms. Dunn said. No one on the train was injured.
Ms. Dunn said the car was not removed from the tracks until about midnight, causing Caltrain to run trains in both directions on the northbound track.
“At that time of the evening, the commute is over and we are in hourly service,” she said. Nonetheless, “there were train delays because of the single tracking.”
Ms. Dunn said that a locomotive plus five train cars weighs a million pounds. “A locomotive doesn’t stop on a dime,” she said.
Make her pay for the damage to the locomotive and suspend her license.
“The driver stated HE was following his GPS..” Not her.
“The car was pinned underneath the train and carried about 1,500 feet down the tracks, catching fire before the train came to a stop, according to the chief.”
I’m pretty sure the driver has been punished enough for this terrible accident.
I am relieved no one was hurt in this collision. So the driver was following his GPS and drove onto the tracks, thinking they were a road. I find it hard to understand how that happens, but it does. This didn’t seem to happen before GPS devices became common.
One correction: That type of locomotive — an EMD F40PH — weighs 260,000 pounds, not one million pounds. No diesel-electric locomotive ever weighs more than 500,000 pounds. And the cars in this train, if they were gallery cars, weigh 113,000 pounds each, and because CalTrain always runs 5-car trains, this means the train weighed 825,000 pounds empty, much less than one million pounds. Maybe Ms. Dunn got the train weight confused with the locomotive weight. In any case, she is right — a train cannot stop on a dime.
There is an excellent railroad-highways grade crossing safety education program called “Operation Lifesaver”, that is trying to lower the number of train-vehicle and train-pedestrian deaths and injuries. In it, they state that the weight of a locomotive compared to the weight of a car is around the same ratio as the weight of a car compared to the weight of an empty soda can! “Look, Listen, Live!” is their slogan.
Do keep in mind the bit about heavy rain. I consider myself to be a very good driver, but even heavy rain can make things hard to see. Regardless of the GPS (unless the driver was focused too much on that), I can see it being likely that a parson wanting to turn on a road just after the train tracks would end up on them. Glad everyone is safe, though (well, except for the locomotive; needs some work).
But definitely keep your eyes out and be aware of where you are at and the signs. Most crossings have a sign telling you the number of tracks.
I can totally understand how GPS could mess you up at that location. If you are crossing the tracks and wanting to turn right onto Lloyden Drive (37.464748, -122.198413), it is RIGHT against the train tracks. There are no street lights (I believe) at Lloyden so it is hard at night tell the difference, especially in a rain storm.
I checked with Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn and she said Louise68 is indeed correct – it’s not the locomotive that weighs a million pounds, it is the locomotive plus five train cars. BTW – her comment was: “Wow! What depth of knowledge.”
Thanks for allowing us to clarify that point.
Barbara Wood —
It was my pleasure to be able to give the facts. (Just did a little googling to get the numbers.)
People need to realize that trains are very heavy, and Christine Dunn is right — they cannot stop on a dime.
This collision is just one example of why using a GPS device is not a good idea in many cases. Sadly, I expect this sort of collision to happen again, involving CalTrain, because of the heavy use of GPS devices by many drivers.
I’m just glad that the train was operating in the pull mode, with that 130-ton locomotive on the front, and was not a train in the push mode, with passengers sitting at the very front of the car.
Google map location 37.4649185,-122.19816. You reckon this crossing could be more sight obstructed if they tried? These gates are junk and miss the trains often and stay up till about the time the train hits.
I see fiber lines that video monitors could be ran off of —electric where street lights could be put in —the crossing could be painted a bright safety color—etc… Guaranteed we paid enough for the existing signals to have the equipment needed to compensate for the trains with sucky brakes and no steering to get stopped.
What are you talking about? The gates miss the trains??
This idiot relied on the GPS instead of the brain! Do you have the luxury of a GPS when you take your driving test?
The problem is NOT the signals. The problem is the standards to which prospective drivers are held by the DMV. The driver should have their license suspended or revoked for such an asinine mistake.