Wednesday afternoon a train in Clinton, IA, plowed into another train travelling in the same direction. Two crewmen were killed in the accident. Both trains were cleared to be on that track. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the accident.

Perhaps someone has heard whether it was a computer malfunction.

regards,

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), August 12, 1999

Answers

Does everything have to appear in this message board?. Is everything going to be suspect of Y2k implications.

-- y2kfreeeek (y2kfreak@geek.com), August 12, 1999.

I heard the driver was distracted at the time of the crash - he was laughing at all the y2k wackos he'd been reading about. That makes this a y2k problem!

-- weare (laughing@you.com), August 12, 1999.

I agree. Why does an account of every disaster have to get posted here? It just makes the occasional :-) on-topic article get moved off New Questions faster.

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), August 12, 1999.

Considering the fact that the trains use computers, this is a possible y2k related item.

Most likely it will be blamed on 'human error.'

In the mean time, remember that breaking news stories are posted here regularly, y2k related or not.

Consider this: A woman is reading the threads for information and comes across this thread of a train wreck that just happened. "Hmm, my husband works on a train, let's see if it says where it is." So she clicks on it and finds out that in was in Clinton IA. "Hmm, my husband said he was going that way." She disconnects from the internet and her phone hangs up. Then it immediately rings and the hospital is there calling her to come down and identify her husband's mangled remains.....

Reason enough?

-- J (jart5@bellsouth.net), August 12, 1999.

Calm down now. There's nothing wrong with speculating about disasters or events that happen, especially when the disasters in question involve or use some form of computer or computer hybrid systems to function.

Every disaster is not discussed as having possible computer malfuctions, just those that DO rely on integrated systems. Nobody postulated that the shootings at the day care center might have been caused by a glitch, for example. See my point here. I'm not by any means saying that disasters are computer related, but whats wrong with asking?

So many accident's that are happening now come and go without any real explanation of cause, therefore speculation is inevitable.

-- CygnusXI (noburnt@toast.net), August 12, 1999.

We all worried this would happen as we got nearer to 1/1/2000 but the last week or so proved it: EVERYTHING WILL BE BLAMED ON Y2K.

Yes, still got 4 months to go and we question things we never paid attention to. Its going to get very busy here from now on.

-- Fat Tony (FatTony@youmammashouse.com), August 12, 1999.

I believe it is relevant to ask if this could be a telco related problem.

Quote from a thread on this week's power failures in Chicago:

"The Chicago Mercantile - commodities traders? Had no phone service? MCI-related?"

-- james burke (connections@who.knows), August 12, 1999.

-- Tom Beckner (tbeckner@erols.com), August 12, 1999.

Gene: My son is a railroad engineer with a shortline. Last winter he was hauling 25 cars loaded with steel. At a crossing, he followed all the rules and regulations, but a car loaded with people decided they could beat the train. They went around the gates and the train plowed into car and dragged them down the track. There were 7 people in a 4-seat car and several were seriously injured. They claimed the gates were not down, there was no signal warning, and the train appeared out of no where! They were sure it was an electronic error. My son was immediately drug tested along with the conductor. My son and the conductor were cleared of any wrong doing and it was the driver of the cars fault. I'm repeating this story because maybe there will be some failures at railroad crossings. I plan to stop and look both ways regardless!

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), August 12, 1999.

Bardou, here in northwestern Ohio, we routinely have drivers crossing tracks and getting smashed by trains. The latest was a 17 year old girl who had just finished her babysitting job and was getting ready for her important evening plans. She never saw the train coming as she was too preoccupied in her mind.

There weren't any crossing gates. In our neck of the woods we need at least three dead bodies before someone decides to plan on installing crossing gates at the tracks. Of course, by the time the new equipment is installed, there's been at least one more accident.

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), August 13, 1999.

Randolph: There have been people killed walking around a railroad gate to beat the train. People don't realize that a train cannot stop on a dime. My son hasn't looked back at the incident, it was unavoidable.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), August 13, 1999.