Southwest Chief runs over

WHILE EN ROUTE to Flagstaff from Los Angeles, Amtrak’s Southwest Chief struck down a pedestrian who had wandered onto the tracks in Kingman, Arizona, shortly after the bars had closed in the early morning hours of Friday, May 12, 2006. I felt the train slow down and stop. A cabin steward in the galley explained what had happened. Company policies require a crew change whenever an accident occurs. Our replacement crew would come by bus from Albuquerque which meant at least six hours of driving time to reach our stationary passenger train. As far as we knew, the impact killed the pedestrian and that’s what the counter staff thought in Flagstaff on arrival. Throughout the eight hours that we sat on a siding in the desert sun (think 30C–warmer than Belfast in the sun–and you know why we were glad to have air conditioning), I was glad I immediately called ahead to Flagstaff and told Misty that we would not arrive in time for her 10AM college graduation that day. Only a fortunate few were able to ring friends and relay their messages before the train settled into a resting place outside of normal cell phone signal coverage. Our travel delay felt even more of a burden because before we started moving again, I totally exhausted all episodes of Letter to America that I had on my iPod. So I shared my old episodes with fellow travelers and that amused several uninitiated American pensioners. Until then, those listeners hadn’t realised there was a division between North and South in Ireland.

NOTE TO SELF:   Always book a sleeper carriage on train trips scheduled to take more than six hours. You will appreciate your foresight when there's a major delay.

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