YEs, we're still taking the train every day on the Power Commute to Irvine or Los Angeles. Much of our conversation and photo-taking has moved over to Twitter. Call it the curse of the smart phone.
It's been a bad week for Amtrak this week, with three fatalities in the LOSSAN corridor. (2 in one day, on Wednesday). We don't know the situation with all of them, although apparently one of the ones on Wednesday was a guy wearing headphones and filming near the tracks.
That one cleared in a couple of hours, but the 2nd one, near San Clemente, took nearly 5 hours to clear. Lots of trains were canceled and there were rolling delays. Although Metrolink ran a bus bridge between Laguna and Oceanside, that doesn't help us Amtrak commuters; cab fare from Oceanside to Solana Beach is around $50. So it was time to get a Stone beer from the bar and read the news on line.
And our poor Amtrak crews-- what a brutal week for them. Regular commuters know our conductors and LSAs and some people even get to know the engineers. Trespassing incidents are tough on our crews.
People: if you see tracks, there are trains. They are big, they are fast, and they are surprisingly quiet.
Just respect the rail.
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3 comments:
Twitter is fine but will never replace the blogger. Good to see you back.
I oughta get onto twitter, but Facebook takes up enough of my time I don't want to add yet another Social Media account to my life.
2015 has been a rough year for the railroad in general. Trespasser incidents have increased by roughly 50% not to mention a few other, more specific high-profile accidents. Hopefully things will start to calm down sooner rather than later. I've already had three incidents this year (Nearly doubling the total number I've had in my whole 10-year career)
I haven't worked the San Diego corridor in about four years now and don't miss it, though I do miss some of my coworkers and passengers from down there. Glad to hear you're still hanging in on the power commute, but sorry you understand some of the railroaders' frustrations all too well.
Anonymous, nice to hear from you! We power commuters see ourselves as part of the railroader family, and we know and appreciate our crews. I am sad to hear that my perception of an increase in trespassing is indeed correct and that you have been affected.
:-(
I need to blog more -- I've got a buncha pictures, and will probably need your corrections!
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