Bellingham: Bicyclist dies in collision with Amtrak train at F Street crossing

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I saw the alert this morning. "Trespasser incident" means that someone got hit by a train.

Amtrak Cascades Train 517 is currently stopped north of Bellingham (BEL) due to a trespasser incident. We will update as more information becomes available.

Link to tweet

Here are the articles:

F Street closed after bicyclist hit and killed by Amtrak train
BY LACEY YOUNG
MARCH 26, 2019 10:19 AM

A male bicyclist was killed after colliding with an Amtrak passenger train at the F Street crossing in Bellingham, Wash., on Tuesday, March 26, 2019.

Bicyclist dies in collision with Amtrak train at F Street crossing
BY DENVER PRATT AND

DAVID RASBACH

MARCH 26, 2019 09:15 AM, UPDATED 23 MINUTES AGO

A male bicyclist was killed Tuesday morning after colliding with an Amtrak Cascades passenger train on F Street between Roeder Avenue and Holly Street, according to Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy.

Minutes before 8:30 a.m., Bellingham Fire and Police responded to F Street for the report of a train and bicyclist collision.

Amtrak Cascades passenger train 517 was coming from Vancouver, B.C. and was due to cross the intersection on its way to Portland, according to Murphy and Olivia Irvin, public relations manager with Amtrak. The electronic arms had come down alerting the train’s arrival.

Due to active construction happening near the waterfront on the westbound side of Roeder, flaggers were out to help direct pedestrians and traffic on both sides of the street. The bicyclist, who was coming from Roeder, ignored both the flaggers and the electronic arms, continued up and onto the tracks and was hit by the oncoming train, Murphy said.

UPDATED 23 MINUTES AGO

I'm looking at Google maps.

https://www.google.com/maps/@48.7546949,-122.4885257,3a,60y,78.18h,76.24t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQS41wf579dcrESjo-KeB3A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

The crossing is wide open. There's no obstructed visibility. "The bicyclist, who was coming from Roeder, ignored both the flaggers and the electronic arms, continued up and onto the tracks and was hit by the oncoming train, Murphy said."

[samnsara]

1. :(

[DRoseDARs]

3. Per the info the idiot IGNORED both flaggers working and the electronic warnings. Darwin'd himself.

Being that ignorant and incompetent, he was a danger to everyone around him. His body or bike could have derailed the train, killing a whole lot more people.

Be sad not for him, but for all the people who've been traumatized now by watching him unintentionally commit suicide.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. "His body or bike could have derailed the train,..."

Unlikely. A car or truck frame could wedge under the locomotive and cause a derailment, but not a bicycle frame. Trains don't often derail when they go into emergency.

Amtrak Cascades train #517, with substitute Superliner equipment, approaches the south signal at Brownsville.



Copyright Notice: This image ©steve arnot all rights reserved.

That's from 2008. I'll have to wait until someone posts at Trainorders to find out what equipment was on Train 517 today.

Try this:

WEEKEND ESCAPE: 48 HOURS IN VANCOUVER, BC BY TRAIN



March 22, 2019|In Vancouver|By Brenna Ciummo
Originally published July 21, 2017 | Updated March 22, 2019



Wind your way past forests and rivers on the way to Vancouver. Credit: Amtrak Cascades

[DRoseDARs]

5. I find it interesting that DU isn't showing that you edited that. There was a Wiki link to this...

..now there isn't, replaced with your different link

Anyway, not everyone struck by a train strikes in the front, some do manage to plow into the sides where there is no cowling. Metal bikes are a fair bit larger than pennies on a rail and can easily do some damage if they get between the wheels and the rails. Perhaps this particular line was safer, perhaps not, we lack full info.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. I'll repost that right now.

The picture at the Wikipedia entry was taken in 2006. I wanted to show newer equipment.

Amtrak Cascades



The Cascades near Edmonds, Washington in 2006

I see that that is the same locomotive in the picture that Amtrak provided for the "48 hours in Vancouver" article.

Washington State DOT got some new locomotives from Siemens last year. One of them wrecked just south of Tacoma in December 2017 on the train's first revenue run.

I can see my own edits, but they might not be visible to others.

[DRoseDARs]

7. Thank you, though I wasn't concerned by that part. I thought we were suppose to see edit histories.

That's not on you, either something has changed or I was mistaken. I thought that was a forum feature for transparency introduced years ago.

Edit: And *that* post was edited to add more but no history is shown lol. Yeah, I remember a few times I've seen others' posts with histories, but it's been a while so perhaps it did change.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Someone at Trainorders will know what equipment was in the consist.

I'll get that when I can.

Gee whiz: lowered crossing gates, flaggers....

[DRoseDARs]

9. Yeah, regardless of anything else, idiot did the right thing in removing themself from life.

Harsh yes, but if not here and now, where else and how many others would have been put in danger because of him? Zero sympathy for him, and relieved he didn't hurt anyone else with his recklessness.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. I'm going to reserve judgment. I'll wait to hear more. NT

[DRoseDARs]

2. Edit: Nevermind, I misread your comment.