Two killed by Amtrak train in Washington, D.C.

[TexasTowelie]

June 28 (UPI) -- Two people were struck and killed by an Amtrak train near Union Station in Washington, D.C., the city's fire department reported.

Amtrak Train 175 was approaching the train station late Tuesday as it traveled from Boston and New York. It struck two unidentified people at 11:20 p.m. who appeared to be trespassing on the track, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.

A third person was hospitalized, D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services said, without explaining his or her connection to the incident. The accident occurred about 1 1/2 miles northeast of Union Station, near Gallaudet University.

No one aboard the train, which carried 121 passengers, was injured. The train remained halted on the tracks as passengers transferred to another train, which pulled into Union Station at around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/06/28/Two-killed-by-Amtrak-train-in-Washington-DC/3411498645926/

[4139]

1. Update: they were two CSX workers, not trespassers

http://wtop.com/dc/2017/06/amtrak-marc-delays-after-train-fatality/

[sharedvalues]

2. Ugh

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. More info here:

Last edited Thu Jun 29, 2017, 01:00 PM - Edit history (6)

NEC Suspended at D.C. - 2 dead

Amtrak restores service after two CSX workers are fatally struck on tracks in D.C.
By Dana Hedgpeth June 28 at 9:37 AM

Dana Hedgpeth is a Post reporter, working the early morning, reporting on traffic, crime and other local issues. Follow @postmetrogirl

From the video in the WaPo article, it looks as if the two CSX employees were attached to a train westbound on the B&O toward Brunswick and Cumberland. Westbound trains on the B&O going from Philadelphia to Cumberland, and northbound trains on the RF&P going from Richmond to Cumberland, follow a convoluted route through DC. At the location of the incident, B&O freight tracks are adjacent to tracks of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Westbound B&O trains sweep around a broad curve, which is easily visible from Red Line trains between Metrorail's Union Station and Rhode Island Avenue stops. The B&O and Metrorail then run side-by-side all the way to Silver Spring.

Some scenes in the video were shot from the 9th Street, NE bridge over the tracks. It connects New York Avenue to Brentwood Road.

I'm using the old railroad names. The B&O and RF&P are all part of CSX now.

It looks as if there some double-stack container cars in the train. I think double-stack containers are too tall for Baltimore's Howard Street Tunnel. They fit inside the newly refurbished Virginia Avenue tunnel. This leads me to think that the train came from Richmond. This is just a guess on my part.

NTSB YouTube channel

ETA, 1:00 p.m. Thursday: The train was coming from Baltimore. Those stacks were not an issue in the Howard Street Tunnel.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4325853

Date: 06/28/17 09:05
Re: NEC Suspended at D.C. - 2 dead
Author: GenePoon

Confirmed information about the CSX employees struck and killed by Amtrak 175(27):

CSX Train Q137-27 westbound had triggered the defect detector at Laurel and train stopped on CSX Capitol Sub while crossing between tracks, with head end in Track 2. They had completed inspection of their train and were walking back to the head end when struck...so Amtrak 175 would have been approaching them from behind.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. CSX workers killed by Amtrak train were checking possible wheel malfunction

There are good comments to the article.

CSX workers killed by Amtrak train were checking possible wheel malfunction
By Dana Hedgpeth and Luz Lazo June 28 at 8:16 PM

Two CSX workers who were fatally struck Tuesday night by an Amtrak passenger train near Union Station had gotten off their freight train to inspect a problem, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.

Amtrak train No. 175, which had 121 passengers on board, hit the two men — a conductor and a conductor trainee — as the pair tried to identify what triggered an alarm that something was wrong with the wheels, causing the train to stop, NTSB officials said.
....

Dana Hedgpeth is a Post reporter, working the early morning, reporting on traffic, crime and other local issues. Follow @postmetrogirl

Luz Lazo writes about transportation and development. She has recently written about the challenges of bus commuting, Metro’s dark stations, and the impact of sequestration on air travel. Follow @luzcita

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. How freight trains get through DC

I'm taking the information from this post:

2016: CSX train derails in Northeast Washington, leaking hazardous chemicals and disrupting travel

This article had a comment:

Transportation

CSX train derails in Northeast Washington, leaking hazardous chemicals and disrupting travel

By Faiz Siddiqui, Luz Lazo and Michael Smith May 1, 2016
....

This was the comment:

Rain-Snow Line
5/1/2016 8:01 PM EDT [Edited]

How do freights get thru Washington if they are coming from Cumberland?

ETA -- GreaterGreaterWashington to the rescue.

From that article:



The employees were struck where the red and green lines are right next to each other.