Community Corner

Amtrak Foreman: 'Stuck Trucks' the Fault of Drivers

Do you ever wonder if the bridges get damaged?

It happens often around here. Truck drivers drive their trucks under the Paoli/Thorndale line overpass and never make it out the other side.

It happened just yesterday on Monday, Nov. 26 on King of Prussia Road in Radnor. As the towing company slowly pulled the truck out, Amtrak Track Foreman Dave Sands explained why they don't damage the tracks above.

"Bridges are pretty sturdy. Trucks are not," he told Radnor Patch.

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"The bridge usually always wins, but it has to be checked, just in case," Sands said. And that's his job. Once the truck is extracted, he visually inspects the beams to ensure they have not been moved. There's has not been a recent case in which a bridge has failed his inspection.

Sands said that the drivers are fined by police and are often fired for the costly error. And they are the drivers' mistakes, he said. Sands said that the height signs are indeed accurate. He said many of these stuck truck cases are rental trucks not driven by professionals.

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Maps that include overpass heights and GPS systems that include that information are available for truck drivers, he noted.


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