Horn at a Passive Crossing
At 6:55 a.m., you are driving a 40-foot conventional school bus with 26 students toward a rural passive crossing: one track, no gates or lights, a stop sign, and a slight upgrade. A stand of trees is within 25 feet of the track on the right, and the sun is low behind you. You stop 20 feet from the nearest rail, open the door, and turn off the radio and heater fan. You hear a faint train horn, but you see no train. The crossing is 1.2 miles from your next stop. A student in the back asks why you are stopped. The bus is fully loaded for the elementary route, and the crossing has no second track. The horn sounds again, still faint.
1. Do you proceed across the track because you cannot see a train? Explain.
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No. A faint horn may be a train on this track, a train on a nearby track, or an echo, and the trees block your view to the right. The fact that you see no train is not enough. Keep the door open, keep the radio and fan off, look and listen in both directions, and lean forward to see around the trees. If the horn continues or grows louder, wait until you have a clear view and are certain no train is approaching. The stop costs a minute; a collision costs lives. The students may be impatient, but the correct answer is to stay stopped until the track is visibly clear. Do not let a student’s question push you into moving before you are sure.
2. What if the bus stalls with its front bumper over the near rail?
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Evacuate immediately. Get students out through the rear emergency door and move them at least 100 feet away from the tracks and upwind. Call 911 and, if a railroad emergency number is posted at the crossing, call it. Do not try to restart the bus while students are aboard and a train could be coming. Do not stand on the tracks waving at the train; a train cannot stop quickly. Account for all 26 students at the assembly point. If the bus is struck after evacuation, no one should be aboard. The bus is replaceable; the students are not.
3. After a train finally passes, what must you check before crossing?
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After one train passes, do not move immediately. Look and listen again for a second train on the same track or on a parallel track; the first train can mask the sound and sight of a second. Wait until you can see that the track is clear in both directions, then cross without stopping or shifting gears on the tracks. If a second train appears, stay stopped. The common error is to relax after the first train and pull forward. The second-train hazard is exactly why the procedure requires a second look, even at a crossing that appears to have only one track.