Theres an old Rock Island caboose on static display where I live.

Sad this happened, The transport company is at Falt for this, I hope the Families of the deceased RF workers sue that company to the max

The NTSB needs to recommend a new rule like in New Zealand. In New Zealand any oversized load Must Stop and call the railroad Before going over the tracks And after they have cleared the track they have to call the railroad Again to tell them the tracks are clear.

21:18 I thought this man was talking about the bird

Oh, just another thing to happen in Texas. Whatever. Bless your hearts. Good night and good luck.

One thing you missed is "the combination vehicle entered the highway-railroad grade crossing about 1 MINUTE BEFORE THE COLLISION." Even if they did call the the number on the blue sign at the crossing after getting stuck, 1 minute is not enough time for the railroad dispatcher to contact the train crew. This on Texas Department of Transportation, which doesn't surprise me since it is a Texas governmental agency. Going forward they need to have a railroad employee onsite in contact with their dispatcher and stop any trains that are even remotely in the vicinity until these high and wide oversized loads are safely across the tracks...

News reporter when a train crash be like: "The conductor try to stop the train" Me after hearing that: "THE CONDUCTOR DON'T CONTROL THE TRAIN!!!!!"

BS he was there for 45 min before the collision

One thing I like about you and Danny Harmon, you both get straight to the point with verified facts. Then your videos are very informative and enjoyable to watch. Keep up the good work, my compliments to you.

So what was the spotter doing, talking on the phone. And why didn't the truck stop and look before trying to cross? Completely avoidable accident.

So was the trailer not visible to the train crew longer than a min before the crash?

Ok I am finally subscribing.... I'm gonna dub you the blancolirio of the rails.

Why are you deleting comments?

The big signs on the relay case have been around for a long time now. That is how I figure out who's railway it is.

That's crazy. There were escort trucks. Nobody thought just maybe the low-belly might not clear the high rails? Nobody thought to get out of the truck and monitor the situation beforehand? Or go slow enough so if it hits the rail they can stop and back up?

Why do these heavy haul companies not have a rule set in place where they have to call before they cross with a load like this…

All that time and they didn’t call the number on blue sign

The walls of the cabs of these locomotives above the nose are thin. Tens of thousands of tons at speed is a lot of momentum to fight against. But the cab greenhouses could definitely be reinforced. Thicker metal at the very least

"Hello Dispatch, this is XYZ Heavy Haul, we are about to traverse crossing number blah blah blah, do you have any trains on approach in case we get hung up on the rails??"

The fact remains, the oversize load entered a railroad grade crossing without a representative from the railroad being physically on-site to grant permission to cross. This requires the transportation company calling ahead to the railroad to advise which crossings they need to cross so that trains headed towards that location can be stopped, and all rail traffic paused until the oversize load can safely make it across and clear the tracks. As in this case where the trailer of the oversize load high-centered the crossing, had a railroad rep been present, no catastrophe would've occurred because rail traffic would've already been paused. All heavy haul transportation companies and truckers know the rules or should know the rules, and in this case the state of Texas should've known as well when issuing the permit so that specific language regarding railroad crossings could be added mandating contact with all affected railroads along the permit route so that they could post railroad representatives at each crossing with that person having direct contact with train dispatchers. I know this because I've hauled many dozens of oversize / heavy haul loads and no railroad tracks can be crossed without authorization by the railroad person on-site.

The lead pilot drivers should have direct communication with rail traffic controllers and dispatch.

1:20 the truck entered the crossing 1 minute before the collision. No time to stop the train.

theres a conrail switcher still running around on the south side of chicago, i also see conrail freight cars a couple times a month still.

All my admiration and blessings to all those who work and keep the railroad rolling!☦☦☦🙏🙏🙏❤❤❤

Happens all time that trailers get stuck on tracks. There is a slight grade on both sides of track that cause heavy loads to get stuck on tracks. They need to level roads for a distance put both directions with tracks to prevent this.

I thought Positive Tràin Control is MANDATORY

I usually hate how sue happy society is nowadays, but I hope the company who was hauling this load gets sued out of existence by the railroad employees families. Wouldn’t care if the driver is financially ruined from this either. This wasn’t just some mistake. This is gross negligence.

So glad you are keeping a focus on this

Lowboy trailers should be equipped with a couple of sets of steel rollers in the middle of the trailer like the ones on the big roll off dumpsters. That would help prevent it from bottoming out on RR crossings and such.

These loads are supposed to be scheduled in advance with the railroad, so there’s no possibility of an interaction like this. As a former lowboy driver, it’s very easy to become high centered, then stressed which further reduces the driver’s efficiency in finding a solution. Thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims.

I would not have driven on the tracks, several things should have been done, adjust the air ride suspension all the way up, called that number and asked when the next train approach would be, crept up on the tracks to check clearance, if no go call a lumber yard for twenty 2x12 what ever length and slid them where ever to keep the frame rails off the tracks, a hydraulic rgn of can left the front of the trailer way up,but if you have a fixed mechanical you better come up with a plan. I'm glad I'm long past the heavy haul headaches and make it with a van trailer.

Good luck getting information out of NTSB over the next 4 years.

Okay hearing it was only a minute makes so much more sense than what I heard sas "45 minutes" Once again can't always believe what you hear on the Internet.

we all have hindsight so it's easy to say coulda woulda shoulda, but we need to remember that things happen, and they can happen fast. accidents happen, and unexpected issues can arise. sometimes those accidents can be prevented with more precaution, sometimes not. in this case, it seems the heavy haul company messed up on communicating with the railroad or was told it was safe to cross before it was due to a misscomunication. things happen, there is only so much you can do to prevent these things.

i use to haul over size like this, this is pure laziness on checking out the route to make sure that there are no hangup spots. you give the permit company the route you wanna take (unless you have a blanket permit it’s on the company it comes with a map showing these spots)all these people did was look for height clearance. I always use Google to get a street view of the crossing to know before I ever got there and then I would raise my trailer up If I even thought I would touch the rail. but stupid regulations are taking us real drivers off the road because we never dealt with those things and we can’t change who we are. we know how to run safe, they want us to run unsafe …. not happening

I don't get it, with two lead trucks and a police escort and a heavy train approaching the crossing at 68 mph only about a minute away, how on Earth did these morons even attempt to cross the tracks? I mean, you'd think that with a load of this size that this would've been planned out in advance, and the railroad consulted about when is a safe time to cross their tracks. Not only that, but the route planner obviously fucked up, what with the truck getting hung up on the crossing. Inexcusable.

Guess the truck won that time

A simple solution is: Oversized loads (and normal loads on lowboy trailers that could ground) STOP before crossing the railroad and CALL the railroad phone number and ask for assistance and clearance by the railroad to cross... (an allocated time slot)

I bet is that houses were on the short lines tracks (suspect that the tracks were there first). There was a lot of rocking on those tracks but moving so few cars might make deferred maintenance more common. Love that they are using vintage engines with fallen flag paint schemes.

Nowhere in the US should freight trains be going 70 miles an hour maybe 50 . Could have been the difference between life and death.You would think the NTSB would look into that.

why have we never heard who the driver of the truck was? Heard many rumors of his immigration status. Would be nice to know who he was to squash Rumors with facts. Also,the Blue signs only work with class 1. Called the 800 number here in Gadsden last week for a malfunctioning crossing on the ATN railroad(Part of Omnitrax) and got a recording saying"Thank you for holding. A representative will be with you shortly." Finally gave up after 40 minutes on hold. Never spoke with a human. The number send you to a place in Vermont. Long way from Alabama and guess they don't have employees after dark.

Airplanes trains up next rockets

What railway will those "MACHs" run on? I haven't seen any on the Burlington Northern.

Those big steel boxes are at every crossing. On one side it has the name of rail road and bunch of other info including the 1800 number that's on the blue and white signs. My first yr driving trucks we had someone come to orientation from the railroad give us info. That's was back in 2012

I feel like train was going to fast

I am a pilot have moved hundreds of loads every load has it's own BS unfortunately this case some people got dead. Shipping companies want done cheap and fast trucking companies want the loads fast drivers get paid by the mile or load so they take risks if i say as the pilot slow down i get replaced so how do we feed are family's the hole industry needs fixing

Each railroad crossing should have something planted there letting people know that some fatalities happen

Stupid stupid stupid yes stupid. Ugh look for phone number on crossbuck or signal building on who to call. Call them. They will stop all rail traffic for you. Then inspect the tracks. Jeez it's so easy to do..

Yet another collision caused by a truck on a crossing because the persons involved with the truck don't have two brain cells to rub together! That train would have been seen by the truck approaching the crossing well before the crossing lights activated. With any abnormal load you ALWAYS contact the signaller or train controller to ascertain if it is safe to cross. Basic common sense people. Demonstrates how much incompetence the police, escort vehicle and truck driver had. They have blood on their hands. Regards from Oz.

Simple: just call the number on the crossing, get approval to block the tracks, BEFORE any crossing activity that might take more than a "normal amount of time." Even a double length tractor trailer should be able to cross a grade crossing before the gates drop. This load was too long and slow to cross safely.