Go commuter accident

[Matthyro]

Early this morning, 7th June 2002 a GO commuter train slammed into a minivan at a level crossing in Concord just north of Toronto.
The five people in the minivan were killed. The level crossing is protected with lights and a boom. No word yet on what happened.

 

[sumpter250]

It's a rare day indeed when the train monster gets out of his two-bar steel cage. Why do people continue to enter that cage without looking to see if the train monster is home or not?
Maybe when the "media" stops reporting crossing accidents as if it were the train's fault, people will wake up, and realize that if you go into the train monster's cage, the monster will eat you!!

I guess I still have that caveman attitude that all intelligent living things should be responsible for their own safety.
Pete

 

[rockislandmike]

You're not the only one, Pete.

The radio station I listen to this morning reported it as a "train accident killing five people", and that was it. I was a little perturbed at that !!!

 

[60103]

Van disrupts train service.

The report from the Globe & Mail's website stated that the collision did not seem to be connected with the strike of maintenance workers.

I read that twice before I twigged to what they were suggesting.

 

[60103]

The report has been edited and that part removed.
The suggestion now is that the van drove around the crossing gates.

 

[rockislandmike]

Just caught an update on Newsnet. There appears to be damage to the crossing barriers, which lead officials to believe that they were operational, and down, at the time of the incident. No surprise there.

 

[60103]

GO apparently has video cameras in 3 of their locos and one of these was involved.
Latest theory is that the driver was blinded by the rising sun, drove through the first gates and stopped on the tracks.

 

[Matthyro]

Driver error for sure. Driving too fast for existing conditions sun or no sun. No word though regarding the poor engineer who faced this awful experince. I hope he can get his mind around this OK.

 

[uacturbo]

Robin....You may have missed our coverage in the Toronto Sun. We did a separate story on how the train crew would be feeling, how they'd be counselled, how they'd probably be haunted for some time by what happened. Tried to parallel it to the immense grief that would be felt by the families of those killed. We also reported the fact the poor driver - a former CN Rail worker - may have been blinded by the sun. Being a railfan and an editor, I had the opportunity to make sure our paper had those bases covered. I noted the Toronto Star had the "conductor" blowing the whistle "three short and one long" blasts as he usually did approaching the crossing. Regardless - and not all reporters are rail experts - it was surely tragic for the five families who lost loved ones.

 

[Matthyro]

Thanks uacturbo
I am not a subscriber to the Toronto Star so missed that. Didn't hear anything on radio or TV though.