Hi Trev I don't know about the American technology used these days on single line working but in B R days a token or tablet was used, this ensured only one train could use a certain section of single line track.

For the reasons that Les and Gandalf have pointed out it could well have been driver error.
I don't know a great deal about U.S.railroads but I believe that many of them are not equipped with the same safety systems that we have in Europe. Although a small number of passenger trains do use them, most lines in the U.S.are financed by freight carrying railroads and I have even read that many of them consider it more cost effective to accept the occasional accident than to invest in expensive safety systems:eek: That might be true for infrastructure and rolling-stock but I don't think the relatives of people killed and injured would agree.

Safety must be almost non-existent in the US if this can happen!

I still don't get it though. If the driver passed a red signal and thereby gained access to the main line, surely the points would have been set against him? Wouldn't he have de-railed? And if he was already on the main line, and had stopped at a red signal, then he would still have been in the path of the freight train.

Memo to self; "If ever in the US, do not travel by train".

The Drivers Rulebook passes the decisions to the individual TOC/FOC on how mobiles are used. Section G1/4.2 states "When on duty you must use a mobile telephone, your own or one issued to you, only as shown in your employers instructions".

The rules do state that in an emergency you must contact the signaller immediately by any means available. It doesn't matter where you're standing (so long as you're in a position of safety).

My employers require the mobile to be used in the same manner as the cab radio, ie; the driver must never allow him/herself to become distracted from driving by any communications equipment. At my TOC I'm required to have my personal mobile switched off whilst in the cab, and my company mobile must be in silent mode and in my bag - until things go wrong, at which point I can use them if I need to.

Trev, even when set against them, trains can force their way through trailing points without derailing although the points themselves will probably be damaged.
I don't know what happens in the U.S. but some railways actually use spring-loaded points at the entrance and exit of loops like those mentioned by Gandalf on the RH&DR. They are also quite common on Swiss metre-gauge lines.
One way to guard against this happening is to use trap points as was discussed in a previous thread.

I think you'll find that trains can still collide in the UK. Thousands of mainline signals are NOT fitted with TPWS, and not all conflicting moves are protected by trap points.

Humans make mistakes, SPADS still happen and there will still be fatal accidents on our Railway, I'm sorry to say.

Okay lads, fair enough I suppose. I've still got an awful feeling that the authorities are going along with the, 'blame the driver, it's easier' theory though. :(

Reports in the U.S. Press are saying that no type of train protection system was installed in the area of the crash. Apparently it was standard practice for the driver and conductor of the passenger train to confirm the indications of the colourlight signals by radio to the control-room but this wasn't done for the last two signals before the crash ie. yellow and red.