3.5 mile super freight train rolls through Los Angeles area catching officials by surprise.

[Liberal_in_LA]

has anyone ever been caught at crossing gate when one of these long long trains rolls through? I have. People actually get out of their cars and walk around... the wait is so long. You can't see both the beginning and end of the train.

Safety, traffic concerns raised when 3.5-mile-long freight train rolls through L.A. Basin

January 12, 2010 | 1:16 pm

An apparently unprecedented super freight train -- extending some 3½ miles -- rolled through Southern California over the weekend, catching state regulators off guard and prompting concerns about potential safety risks and traffic delays, The Times has learned.

Union Pacific said the train was a test of equipment and ways to improve operating efficiency, but that the company does not have plans to run such trains regularly.

Some officials are worried it may be a harbinger. “I will be asking a lot more questions,” said Democratic Rep. Grace Napolitano, whose San Gabriel Valley district includes part of the train route.

“If they’re testing to increase the size of trains in L.A., I have a problem with that.”

The state Public Utilities Commission raced a team of personnel to Imperial County on Saturday to monitor the train as it wound its way toward the Inland Empire. The train originally left Texas on Friday night and reached its ultimate destination, a large intermodal facility near the Port of Long Beach, on Sunday.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/safety-traffic-concerns-raised-when-35mile-freight-train-rolls-through-la-basin.html

[Cant trust em]

1. No one at Union Pacific thought to check with local authorities about...

a 3.5 mile long train running through the place?

[Nikki Stone1]

21. Shows you what they think of local authorities. ;)

:(

[Jazzgirl]

32. It is the UP.

They do what they want.

[hedgehog]

2. Funny how the train apparently got all the way from Texas to LA

without causing panic along the entire route.

"it would take three to five minutes for the train to clear a grade crossing."


But then - I grew up in the Youngstown/Cleveland/Akron area when waiting for a train to clear the crossing was a routine part of daily life. Sit at a crossing for 10 minutes staring at a train that isn't moving, then come cry on my shoulder!


FWIW - no train, however long or short, is going to stop for someone sitting on the tracks even if the wheels are locked. There's simply not enough friction between steel wheels and steel rails to overcome the inertia of a freight train to bring it to a stop in a short distance.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. no panic in LA, no need for LAPD to go into riot mode.

[ddeclue]

6. a 3.5 mile long train would take much longer than that in an urban area.

they aren't allowed to go barreling through L.A. at 60mph.

by the way this is a 175 car long train - pretty long.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. Yes, I've seen them move very, very slowly.

[hobbit709]

11. Yep, I lived in Marion

4 railroads going through town. You couldn't get from one side of town to the other in any direction without waiting on at least one train. There were quite a few that had more than 100 cars.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

29. what a small world

I have an aunt and uncle who live in and have lived in Marion since I can remember. I didn't know anyone else had ever heard of the place. We used to stop there on family vacations once a summer--the free-relative-lodging deal.

[hlthe2b]

3. How does one "get out and walk around" a 3 1/2 mile train?

Inquiring minds want to know? :shrug:

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. not walk around the train. walk around their cars, stand, chat. And the trains would move slowly..

taking more than 10 minutes to clear the intersection.

[hlthe2b]

9. Gotcha...

[Joe the Liberal]

8. Because the wait is long.....

they are sitting there waiting in their cars for the train to pass but it takes so long that they get tired of sitting and decide to get out and stretch their legs a bit. They're not on the train, they are at the railway crossing in their cars waiting to get across.

[blondeatlast]

22. Walk around their cars, not the train. nt

[Subdivisions]

10. I live within eyeshot of a rail that connects Houston,

San Antonio, and other points in south Texas with the DFW Metroplex and beyond. In 2009 I would see/hear trains pass by, going one way or the other, throughout the day and night, perhaps one every 1 1/2 hours on average. Since the the beginning of this year, that number has dropped to about half that many trains passing and the trains are longer than they were before. I don't have enough data to make any general conclusions but it's definately noticeable that something has changed.

[Jazzgirl]

35. All the Class I railroads increased their train length dramatically.

They are running them longer than ever. I hadn't heard about anything this long but 17,000 feet is a lot. I wonder about safety/emergency issues going through a city at this length and I work for one of these railroads....not the UP though. I know we are planning on running some experimental longer trains but hadn't heard anything like this.

[Paper Roses]

12. Light years ago, when I was a kid, we would routinely be stuck

at a crossing on Moody Street in Waltham MA while a huge freight train crossed. My sister and I would be assigned to count cars. I remember there frequently being 120 to 140 cars.

Now that was in the late 1940's and early 1950's. I doubt I've seen one that long since. Don't laugh...this makes me wonder.

Armaments? Yea, I know. Conspiracy theory and all that.

[LiberalFighter]

13. They should have a sign on the train

with expected time to clear the track.

[elocs]

14. I live in a railroad town and I believe the trains cannot block an intersection

for longer than 15 minutes or they will be fined. Evidently the fine is so small that they pay it. This probably had most to do with the fire department or ambulance answering calls.

Fortunately, today we have railroad overpasses that help that problem. When I am riding my bike there have been times when I wanted to avoid having to ride over the overpass and then got caught by the train near our Amtrack station which is a car switching area. There's nothing like waiting for a long train that crawls along and then when it is 2 cars away from being by you it stops and then backs up.

:grr:

[hedgehog]

16. Ah, memories! How about being a little kid in a car wanting to get home to

go pee and having that happen!

:rofl:

[elocs]

17. Hey, I've had exactly that happen while waiting on my bike.

Choosing the short route home over the railroad tracks because I really had to go, then having to wait for the slow moving train, then having to wait as it backs up.

:bounce:

[Obamanaut]

24. They block them in my small town on a regular basis. Recently, we

had a crossing completely removed at the behest of the railroad. That road now deadends, on both sides, at the track.

[OI812]

15. That's a normal train around here...loaded with coal going from Wyoming to Texas

but they go by pretty fast usually, around 50 or 60 mph. But sometimes they have to stop and wait for
one to pass by going back north and it isn't unusual for them to block the main streets in towns on the way for 20 or 30 minutes. Argh.

[Xithras]

18. They're reducing staff.

A bad economy means less freight to move, which means less money for the freight companies. If you make the trains longer, you reduce the number of trains running on the system. That means fewer staff, fewer engines to maintain, and lower operating costs.

I actually don't have a problem with the base premise of longer trains. Longer trains means fewer trucks on the road, and trains are less polluting than trucks for long cargo hauls. Spending an extra minute at the grade crossing is a minor inconvenience at most. If the cities and counties don't like it, they should spend the money to separate the grade crossings.

[hedgehog]

19. I suspect that the rail companies are using the wrong strategy here.

Companies will ship by truck even though it costs more because they can get a fixed delivery window. Maybe it's gotten better, but sometimes a loaded car would sit at the dock for four or five days before being picked up, and travel time across the country was anyone's guess. How long did it take to accumulate a train 3.5 miles long?

The Amtrack schedules across New York are only a close estimate because often the trains are held a mile or two from the station while a freight rumbles past. The freight companies either can't or can't be bothered to work around the schedule for the passenger lines.

What the rail companies really need to do is work on getting freight moved fast and on time.

[Renew Deal]

20. The back of the train was in Arizona when it arrived in LA.

:wow:

[blondeatlast]

23. How do you figure that? nt

[Renew Deal]

25. Is joke

:silly:

[blondeatlast]

28. Oops. Sorry; I'm usually quicker than that. nt

[CreekDog]

34. Give her a break

She's blonde! :P

:rofl:

[hedgehog]

26. I'd like to see a picture of that train and I wonder how they got it started.

It takes a while to pull all of the slack out of a train that long.

[A HERETIC I AM]

27. Want to see what a 4.5 mile long train looks like? Take 8 minutes to watch this vid

The video says this holds the Guinness record for the worlds longest train, a BHP Iron ore train in Western Australia.
7.353 Kilometers or 4.568 miles long.
Part of the text on the video;
"BHP iron ore did this to test locotrol which is where locomotives are evenly placed along the length of the train.
The locotrol setup was 2 locos-166 wagons, 2 locos-168 wagons, 2 locos-168 wagons, 1 loco-180 wagons then the last locomotive on the back.
This very long train is controlled by only one driver.
Certainly makes an awesome sight, enjoy! "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LsuNWjRaAo

If you click and watch, beware! It is a LOOOONG ASS train. As I said, it takes 8 minutes to pass the videographers position.

[hedgehog]

31. That must have been confusing to someone who didn't know what they were seeing.

[Stinky The Clown]

30. I sure hope they didn't try to run Cajon Pass!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajon_Pass

[damntexdem]

33. Their improved operating efficiency will need to include ...

funding overpasses or underpasses of ALL roads and streets crossing their tracks. I wonder how cost-beneficial that will prove. ;-)