Wednesday, March 7, 2012

What do train crews in the event a tornado warning is issued?

I have always wondered what the procedures are for train crews in the event a tornado warning is issued, do they stop the train and seek shelter in a ditch or try to high tail it out of there? Finally how do dispatchers get tornado warnings? Please let me know thank you.What do train crews in the event a tornado warning is issued?
Yeah, we have to stop too. Hasn't ever happened to me to me though. I have seen tornadoes from the train twice years ago. Both were a mile away or more. There wasn't a tornado policy at that time, and I just kept going because the threat was too far away. I will say though that through North Dakota the sustained high speed of the wind has shut me down two times. Both incidents were while pulling empty coal buckets. The wind was hitting the train at a 3/4 angle effectively pushing the wheel flanges against the down-wind rail and creating so much resistance that speed was down to 12 mph. We had to stop the train, get a van ride to town, and wait for the wind to die down. North Dakota is always windy. The only time it stops is the few moments it takes to change direction.What do train crews in the event a tornado warning is issued?
They make us stop.There are no guidelines about what we should do to protect ourselves(i don't think they really care about us as long as their freight doesn't get damaged).They also make us stop if the wind speed is to high.Here on the UP every train has a wind speed limit(every train is different depending on the type of cars it's hauling).They get the weather alerts from the national weather service.
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