Gates Down on the Front Bumper
5:50 p.m., light rain, a four-lane suburban road in the Pittsburgh area. You have a 45-foot coach with 44 passengers. The crossing ahead has flashing red lights and gates; both are dark and up, and the crossing is not on the exempt list. Traffic beyond the crossing is backed up. You stop at the stop line, open the door and your window, look and listen, see and hear nothing, and pull forward behind the car ahead - then that car stops. The bus comes to rest with the front bumper about 6 feet beyond the far rail and the rear axle still short of the near rail. The lights begin to flash, the bell sounds, and the gate on the far side starts down, its arm heading for the front of the bus. A passenger in row 2 starts shouting. The car ahead is not moving.
1. What do you do in the next ten seconds, and why?
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Drive forward through the gate arm and keep going until the entire bus, including the rear bumper, is clear of the tracks and clear of the gate. Do not stop on the crossing, do not back up, do not wait for the car ahead to move on its own - go around it if there is room on the right, and if there is not, sound the horn and go anyway once the path is open.
Three reasons. A train cannot stop for you; several thousand tons at track speed needs a mile or more. Gate arms are designed to break away - they are aluminum or fiberglass and will swing or shatter rather than trap a vehicle, so the damage is a phone call, not a catastrophe. And backing up is the worst option available: you cannot see behind you, you may back into the car behind, and you will still be foul of the track.
What you must not do is freeze, or stop with part of the bus on the rail to "wait it out." The whole point of the ten seconds is to not be there.
2. What decision earlier would have kept you out of this position? State the rule about stopping on tracks and the pre-crossing checks you owe.
Read the worked answer
The mistake was pulling forward before confirming there was room for the entire 45 feet of the bus on the far side. The car ahead was part of a backup; following it across a crossing with traffic stopped beyond it is how vehicles end up straddling the rails.
Before entering, you check that the far side will hold the whole bus plus clearance past the last rail, and if it will not, you stop short of the track and wait, even if the vehicle ahead has moved. Never stop on the track for any reason, including a light or a traffic signal that turns red as you approach.
At a crossing on the exempt-free list, a bus must stop - 15 to 50 feet before the nearest rail, no closer - open the door and the driver's window, look both ways and listen before proceeding. Look for a second train; one train can hide another, especially where there are multiple tracks. Cross in a gear that will not require shifting, and do not shift while on the rails.
3. You are clear of the crossing and stopped safely. What do you do now, and what do you report?
Read the worked answer
Stop well past the crossing, set the brake, and take stock before you move again.
Check the passengers first - the shouting in row 2 was fear, but somebody may have been thrown. Then walk the front of the bus and look for damage: a broken mirror, a cracked windshield, a bent bumper, a gate arm caught on the roof or in the wiper area. If any part of the gate is still on the bus, remove it only if it can be done safely; otherwise leave it and let the railroad deal with it.
Call 911 if there are injuries or the gate or signal was damaged, and report it to the railroad using the emergency number on the blue sign at the crossing (the one with the DOT crossing number) - a damaged gate that nobody reports can stay down for the next driver. Notify your carrier and complete an incident report with the crossing location, time, and what happened.
Do not resume the trip until you have confirmed the bus is safe to drive and you have told dispatch what occurred. Then talk to the passengers, briefly and factually, before you pull out.