This is the real story here.

Thank you for sharing this - and please keep telling your story. My condolences to you and your family.

You guys have had the best kicker ever for a while now, though. 

Dude. It’s Russia. Pretty sure you just do whatever you want there, and pay a bribe if necessary. 

Oh god - you are SO right!!

“slightly better than what we had” is a loooong way from good though :)

The Ford Aspire - for those that Aspire to something better but can’t afford a good car. 

Unfortunately that was sold here in the US new.

Express trains on the busier lines run 65-70 mph, maybe up to 79 mph on certain sections. Locals are much slower.

Inside city limits, they made an effort to eliminate grade crossings - over 100 years ago, believe it or not. So there aren’t all that many crossings, unless you’re close to the city limits (one big exception being just west/southwest of the Loop, in industrial areas). It’s in the suburbs along the Metra lines where…

Very cool! I think we are 100% F40-PHMs on the BNSF - not sure, but they might be geared differently than the rest of the Metra fleet.  Don’t know if it’s still true, but when I was in the industry 20 years ago, the BN was running at higher speeds than the rest of Metra.

Maybe there’s no quiet zone around you?  Train horns sound nice from a long distance - but up close, they’re annoying.

Almost all accidents around here are caused by people ignoring gates - not gate failure. The gates are extremely reliable - this is the first I’ve heard of one failing in the up position, though I’m sure it’s happened before. They’re supposed to fail down. 

“that’s the 5th time I’ve gotten rear ended this week! And not one of them was my fault!"

“actively ensuring no train” around me means coming to a virtual stop at every crossing. It sounds great in theory but is completely impractical around the Chicago suburbs. Limited sight lines and 79 mph trains mean that there ate some crossings that you could literally never cross. 

No. That accident happened near me (Fox River Grove IL) long after the requirement for busses to stop at RR crossings. In fact, that bus stopped before the crossing, then pulled across to turn, but didn’t clear the tracks. 

Each town has to apply for a Quiet Zone. Maybe Elgin doesn’t have one?

You are correct that the no horn rule would not apply- and the train crew should be alert to the gates being down.

Umm, the reason he wasn’t hit is because he *was* on the lookout.  Watch the video carefully - knowing where the train is coming from with hindsight - and see how much visual notice you have (and keep in mind that the locomotive is at the back of the train, so you’re not going to hear it).  

As I commented above, most of Chicago’s suburbs have ordinances against using the horn unless there’s imminent danger.  If the engineer realized the gates weren’t working (which he should have, theoretically) he would have used it.