Train strikes crossing gate in Menlo Park

The idiot who tried to run the gate who caused the damage should be fined $10 for every person-hour wasted as a result of their stupidity!

So, how did the crossing gate get onto the train tracks? Did a car run all the way across the tracks with the gates down? What intersection? This story has holes big enough, yep, for a train to tunnel through.

To "Rest of the story":

The first two paragraphs of the "story" are below. Try reading it again.

The remains of a crossing gate lying on the Caltrain railroad tracks at OAK GROVE Avenue in Menlo Park disabled a southbound train at about 5:50 p.m. Tuesday (July 14) after a piece of the gate damaged an air hose on the underside of the train, according to Caltrain.

A witness told transit police that a vehicle had crossed the tracks and run into the gate, damaging it, then left the scene, Caltrain spokeswoman Jayme Ackemann said.

What more do you need to know?? Yikes

to "Menlo Resident"

the original posting did not include all the details that you saw this morning, see the updates at the top of the article.

Yikes indeed.

My husband was on the second train. The passengers were not allowed off that train for over 1 hour. I'm surprised there wasn't a passenger riot. Next time, do a better job taking care of your passengers, caltrain!

This once again points up the need for grade separation at all these crossings. The law-and-order part of me wishes the crossing gates were heavy enough to have given that scofflaw driver what (s)he so richly deserved--an airbag in the face. However, that's rather childish, like believing in the effectiveness of the death penalty or the validity of "intelligence" obtained through torture. We can't keep idiots off the road, but we can keep them off the Caltrain tracks via grade separation. It's infrastructure spending, people. American jobs, don'tcha know?

Marjorie
Calm down. They were taking care of the passengers. Preventing injuries by not allowing them to detrain from quite a height and then not stumbling over the rock, ties, and rails. Oh yeah, and not getting hit by other trains using the tracks while wandering around.

whatever, would you be saying "calm down" to someone who had posted with a male name?

I agree with Marjorie: Caltrain treats passengers pretty shabbily.

to mcp

"would you be saying "calm down" to someone who had posted with a male name?"

Geez, get a life.