The 9-car train with three P42 locomotives for power had just left its Milwaukee station stop minutes before the accident. The area’s posted speed limit is 60 mph for passenger trains and 50 mph for freights. The train did not derail, and there were no reports of injuries on board. The train traveled about a half mile before coming to a stop near the 100 milepost on Canadian Pacific’s former Milwaukee Road main line between Chicago and the Twin Cities.
Police shut down Brookfield and River roads and held the Builder for almost four and a half hours before it departed, and freight traffic resumed.
According to Operation Lifesaver, the grade crossing awareness and safety program, 274 people died in more than 2,100 crossing accidents in 2017, and another 800-plus were injured. 2018 statistics were not available as of this date.
I was on the empire builder when that accident took place very sad. It could have been avoided i feel for the train crew and for the family that lost a loved one. Gary Paschall Lansing Michigan
Must I say it again? Grade crossing accidents in Germany are common. Even with gate protection, vehicles and predestrians alike (even parents pushing strollers with small children) go around them. Many end up fatal!
I’d rather trains not be delayed and the deceased driver be thrown in the ditch and his estate billed for the damage. Unfortunately that’s not how it works. The vehicle must be removed from the tracks (in a wetland) and the tracks and signal circuits inspected for damage, along with the locomotive and cars. All passengers and crew must be interviewed to forestall later claims of injury.
Joseph, I believe the speed limit in Brookfield is 50/ 60 freight/ passenger. After Springdale Road (two miles west of Brookfield Road) some freights slow for the end of double iron at Forestgrove Avenue in Pewaukee.
Stuart – Quad gates look fine on paper. It’s out on the highway they look ridiculous.
Quad gates are a very bad idea for a number of reasons (1) cost (2) lack of uniformity from one crossing location to another (3) makes exit impossible for a vehicle caught on tracks to escape (4) like all safety measures that dumb down, only serve to transfer responsibility from the driver to infrastructure, ending up with less safe drivers.
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices has many good standards and is necessary. the downside is that it’s a document written for lawyers. More and more and more traffic control devices (lane markings, signs) only serve to create the need for more and more and more. (Roundabouts are ridiculous twice or three times the pavement marking and signs that are of any use, and the street lighting standard in a separate document is equally overkill.) Meanwhile, the drivers keep getting worse and worse and worse. The solution (as in Europe) is not more traffic control devices, but fewer. Empower – require – drivers to find their own way and negotiate with each other.
The experimental quad gate installed at the WSOR crossing near WisDOT headquarters in Madison is about 15 to 20 years old now, and to my knowledge has never been applied elsewhere in the state. Metro Milwaukee where I live doesn’t have any, as far as I know. For good reasons.
It seems that quad gates would be a good idea at this dangerous crossing.
If you would like to see how people in other countries respect gates, take a look at http://www.railcam.nl
Everyone stops and no one moves until all gates are up and flashing lights have stopped.
You will also see local and express passenger trains and an occasional freight traveling at the same speed.
They run every 5 or 10 minutes.
In one word: IGNORANCE! Nothing more, nothing less.
Germany has a high rate of rail/road crossing accidents as well, many fatal, where motorists completely ignore lights and gates. Despite the fact the Fatherland lacks an active organization such as Operation Lifesaver, that’s still no excuse for people’s total lack of judgement and God given common sense when operating a motor vehicle in public.
Question: When Milwaukee Road Hiawatha’s operated at speed under steam, what was the designated speed for the trains in cities and towns on this line? Were motorists injured or killed due to taking unnecessary chances when approaching grade crossings then as many are today? Newspapers of the period can possibly shed details on this subject.
Item: A major cause of many train/vehicle accidents in Germany are due to drivers being distracted while using their cell phones.
No details so far on Milwaukee newspaper’s web site. This is the nearest point on the rail system to my house.
Since death cannot be undone, tremendous scrutiny must be applied in the form of investigations by all stake holders and I’m guessing ALL the folks required for the detailed, deliberate investigation are not just hanging around locally to jump into action THUS 4 and one half hours. The stakes are quite high despite people seemingly reading about fatal accidents all the time, rendering them superficially mundane.
I have the same question as Mr McFarlane. Holding the train is not going to undo the unfortunate loss of life, and if the description of the scene was accurate, it should not take four hours to get the train or crash sequence related information from witnesses. Meanwhile, how many travelers were needlessly delayed? I, too, wonder if a national law is in order to limit any poor judgement by local officials.
WISN TV in Milwaukee posted info about the incident that indicated the driver drove around a vehicle in front of his and the crossing gates.
Go to http://www.wisn.com/article/car-vs-amtrak-train-in-village-brookfield/26397750 for article.
Report on line is that the deceased was second in queue, drove around the car in front of him then through the crossing gates. 6:30 Pm (Central Time) Tuesday.
Sounds as though the old guy just didn’t look to see if anything was coming. Situational awareness is important in any activity. Too bad this man wasn’t paying enough attention to where he was at. The only other reason I can think of is if he was having a medical problem of some kind: heart attack, stroke etc.
Back in the day, the Hi’s were doing much more than 60 mph westbound through Brookfield. There exist interesting period pix of the TMER&L ROW close to the Milw. Rd. main.
Why the hell did the police need to hold the train for 4 and half hours, that’s excessive, even with a death. I think this is something that should be part of a nationwide FRA regulation. Any railroad accident that involves either a vehicular or pedestrian death the train should only be held for as long as it takes to either, 1. replace the crew if the existing crew is unable to continue or, 2. enough time to get the names and contact information for the crew members to be interviewed at a later place, date and time. If there’s no damage to the engines or train that prevents safe movement, once either of those criteria are met the train is released to continue on it’s journey.
THOMAS _ While I’m not a fan of going around gates anywhere (we don’t know if that’s what happened here) you’re right, this isn’t the place to do it. WB trains (as in this incident) aren’t visible. EB trains are easier to see. It’s best to obey the crossing signals in either case.
We don’t know if the person driving NB (downhill) or SB, in either case, roads were clear and dry yesterday here in Brookfield.
This is a congested, urban-type area, built up and unplanned before anyone heard of traffic engineering. Locals call it the “Village”, the oldest settlement and the lousiest traffic pattern in the City of Brookfield.
River Road (parallel to CP Rail) comes into Brookfield Road (which crosses CP Rail) very close to the tracks, not ideal as there is signal on River Road. There is a similar situation on the other side of the tracks at the entrance driveway to Thomas Ristock’s Brookfield Highway Department yard, heavily used both by City vehicles and by the general public for recycling and yard waste. So from either side of the tracks, the highway yard or River Road, one can turn onto Brookfield Road and be right at the crossing gates. We don’t know if the deceased turned onto Brookfield Road right at the gates or if he didn’t.
There is a degree of congestion at the River Road – Brookfield Road intersection, just north of the tracks. If a traffic platoon suddenly breaks down (as can happen) clearance of a vehicle crossing the tracks can be halted. “Traffic calming” (narrowing the street) on Brookfield Road doesn’t exactly help clearance of the crossing.
Another problem is driveway off Brookfield Road which is sort of a continuation of River Road, right at the tracks. This half-a##ed driveway (into residential and commercial) doesn’t help anything.
While all streets are City of Brookfield jurisdiction, I would assume Waukesha County traffic engineering and the state highway department safety section will each get a copy of the crash report and look into it. While I live in the Town (township) of Brookfield I have a lot of respect for the City of Brookfield government. They have made some mistakes in traffic engineering but they’re pretty responsible.
I used to work for the City of Brookfield Highway Department in the mid 80’s and I can’t tell you how many people went around the gates and barely get missed by trains. It is a death wish to go around. I feel sorry for train crews because they cannot avoid the crash and they see the horrific results.