CN Holly Sub: Grade Crossing Incident 2/25/09

[odave]

Looks like something happened at Fish Lake Rd. between Fenton and Holly this morning. The road was closed and emergency vehicles were at the crossing, ~7:00. The train (SB, probably 390) was stopped in downtown Holly just before Sherman St. Further down the line, the tail end of a SB loaded coal train was blocking Davisburg Rd in Davisburg, then another NB train was parked on the siding in Andersonville. Not sure why the coal drag couldn't continue down to Pontiac. Maybe they were just starting a meet - I couldn't stick around to watch.

That crossing is pretty tricky if you are going north on Fish Lake. There's a steep downhill right before the tracks, and you can't see the flashers very well until you're pretty close.

[OaklandCountyCustoms]

Do you know what locomotive(s) were in the collision? which was leading?

Chris

[odave]

I couldn't get a clear view due to the traffic jam through town. The lead was a CN unit, 2400 or 2500 series. No visible damage with the quick glance I had. I wrote down the numbers I could see, but I left the sheet in my car and will get it at lunch.

[GTW6401]

They hit a pickup truck - 1 Fatality

[AARR]

They hit a pickup truck - 1 Fatality

That sucks...

[odave]

Here's the Detroit News blurb. From the pictures it looks like he was going NB on Fish Lake. The visibility is fairly poor from that direction, both with the hill and the fact that the tracks are curving through the crossing. You can't really see the flashers until you crest the hill, and then a SB train can be hidden by the combination of hill, track curve, and woods.

[GTW6401]

From what I read in the Flint Journal article the driver crested the hill, but couldnt stop in time and drove into the side of a lumber car near the tail end.

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.s ... s_tru.html

[GT Railfan]

Just saw the news and they said he drove around every body and through the gates where he ran into the train.

[hoborich]

That's never a good idea.

[OwlCaboose2853]

Holly man killed when his truck hits train http://www.tctimes.com/articles/2009/02 ... 731882.txt

[firemedic54]

The accident ocurred in my fire response district. Here's the scoop: The driver was upset with life in general, so he decided to kill himself. Basically he drove into the train going NB on Fish Lk. Rd. doing around 70mph and went around the parked cars and smacked into the train. He hit in between 2 cars loaded with lumber. He snapped the air line so that caused the train to stop. The guy was DOA. Not much damage to the train car. Then there was the argument on whose juristiction it was by the police agencies. MSP said it was theirs' and CN police said it was theirs. Ends up CN PD took the call. Obvious massave damage to the truck. One of our dept. members works for CN. He responded out there and replaced one of the crossing gates.

[odave]

There were two loaded centerbeams at the car shop in Pontiac yesterday morning - one inside and one outside. They may have been the ones involved, but they were gone by the evening.

That is a pretty challenging crossing, but nothing's going to help you stop if you don't want to