Eating a hamburger in Fudrucker's this afternoon a line on the bottom of the TV screen said something about a train/bus accident in Texas. I only caught a glimpse and didn't see a repeat. Anyone know the details? Doc
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou070130_ac_trainax.33d840d5.html http://www.click2houston.com/news/10878501/detail.html http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=6011303
I was closely involved with a project in that refinery a few years ago, back in 2002-2003. The tracks (several of them) practically bisect the refinery. Lots of train traffic (all slow speed) and lots of vehicle traffic (also generally slow speed). Crossings only marked with stop signs, but all drivers working within the refinery are aware of the situation. Fortunately it appears that there were no serious injuries. Regards Ed Regards Ed
I also did a lot of work in that plant back 30 years ago doing installation and maintenance on their page/party phone systems. We had a Gai-Tronics "explosion proof" system and an "intrinsic safe" system that I helped design installed on the docks. I never rode the bus, just drove my van down to the docks along the ship channel after checking in.
When you have a job where you have several hundred workers, there's only one way to get them from the assigned parking areas (on the outer perimeter of the refinery) to where the unit is being built, and that's by bus. They won't be allowed to walk in (exposure, road congestion, no walkways, etc) and you can't let that many small vehicles into the plant. Ed
As a former manager in the chemcial plant, that was part of the Shell Oil Company Deear Park Manufacturing Complex.....we had ongoing concerns about the train crossings and vehcile movement. The need to be someplace quickly sometimes caused vehcile to cross in front of locomotives......a crew bus that had to wait for a late arrving worker but had to get the crew to the job site before 6:30 AM.
