Virginia Train Names Changed
Craig Hinners
of the Washington Post, Metro Section.
*****
VA. TRAIN NAMES CHANGED
Amtrak has changed the name of its only daily passenger service
between Newport News, Va., and New York because of two derailments
earlier this year at nearly the same spot.
The Amtrak Colonial on Sunday became the Old Dominion, and the
weekend Old Dominion train became the Tidewater.
Howard Robertson, an Amtrak spokesman, said Amtrak wanted to
advoid the "bad connotations" of the Colonial name because of the
accidents in Newport News on April 29 and Aug. 12.
Dozens of Colonial passengers were injured in the two derail-
ments, although most injuries were minor and no passengers died.
However, the driver of a dump truck was killed in the April
accident, which occured as the train was leaving Newport News. The
Colonial jumped the tracks after slamming into the truck, which
tried to cross the tracks as the train approached at the posted
speed of 79 mph.
The FBI launched an investigation of the August derailment
after evidence of tampering was found at a siding switch just yards
from where the April derailment occured. The investigation is
still underway.
The Colonial was also involved in a January 1987 crash near
Baltimore in which 16 people were killed and 175 were injured.
*****
crh *** c...@wam.umd.edu *** civil engineering--transportation
Robert Coe
> VA. TRAIN NAMES CHANGED
>
> Amtrak has changed the name of its only daily passenger service
> between Newport News, Va., and New York because of two derailments
> earlier this year at nearly the same spot.
>
> The Amtrak Colonial on Sunday became the Old Dominion, and the
> weekend Old Dominion train became the Tidewater.
>
> Howard Robertson, an Amtrak spokesman, said Amtrak wanted to
> advoid the "bad connotations" of the Colonial name because of the
> accidents in Newport News on April 29 and Aug. 12.
> The Colonial was also involved in a January 1987 crash near
> Baltimore in which 16 people were killed and 175 were injured.
Good thinking! This change should save many lives and prevent a lot of un-
necessary property damage by ensuring that there will be no more derailments
of the "Colonial", a train that was obviously jinxed. It's a little less
clear why they couldn't just rename the "Colonial" to be the "Tidewater" and
leave the "Old Dominion" alone. But of course I'm not paid to understand
such things and will leave it to the experts.
The existence of the "Colonial" dates back at least to the mid-1950s. I
wonder why it took so long for the problem to surface.
___ _ - Bob
/__) _ / / ) _ _
(_/__) (_)_(_) (___(_)_(/_______________________________________ b...@1776.COM
Robert K. Coe ** 14 Churchill St, Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776 ** 508-443-3265
Joseph Brennan
>The existence of the "Colonial" dates back at least to the mid-1950s. I
>wonder why it took so long for the problem to surface.
It goes back about a hundred years. You'd think sure the name would
have been debugged by now. Of course its original usage was for a
Boston--Washington run, and the problem occurred in this new Norfolk
segment, so it's hard to blame the original namers.
--Joe Brennan
William Adams
There you have it. Any engineer will tell you that if you
push a name beyond its original design specs, you're asking for
trouble. Sure, there's usually a bit of a "safety margin" figured
in, but an extension of that size requires re-engineering. Maybe
they should have reinforced the name when the extension was decided
upon, "Colonial Extended" for example. Just something to help
relieve the additional stress.