Sad day for metro (crash in D.C.)

[jettrainfan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8115654.stm

My Dad told me about this over the phone today. I have just watched the video and stunned! Best wishes to the family's loved ones in the wreckage. This is one of those things you never wanna here about,but sadly it happens.

[jward]

remember, the computer can always do things better than humans can. here is your proof.....

i wonder if the computer was sending text messages to its girlfriend?

[BestSnowman]

remember, the computer can always do things better than humans can. here is your proof.....

i wonder if the computer was sending text messages to its girlfriend?

The humans didn't do too great on this one either though, the one had been recommended to be replaced or at least made safer but the response was essentially that collisions between trains will be bad no matter what. To me that seems like a bad way to approach safety when lives are at risk.

[jward]

so much for the fail safe protections used there in dc.

on pittsburgh's light rail they have a double red signal system. that is, signals at stop for 2 blocks behind any occupied block. the driver has the option to key by the first red, after coming to a full stop. the only collision we've ever had on sections with this system was caused by catastrophic brake failure on a 6% grade.

[Santa Fe buff]

Terrible. I think that it was simply terrible.

Joshua

[Guilford Guy]

From another forum...


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Reports say the emergency brake was pulled, but the train didn't respond.

[pdlethbridge]

I  thought telescoping was eliminated when wood cars were done away with.

[jward]

evidently subway cars aren't built to the same standards as regular passenger cars. it's hard to imagine this happening on a real railroad. remember the similar collision in LA last year? those cars didn't telescope.

i think you'll see some major fallout on this one. the FRA supposedly told WMATA to get rid of those particular cars and they refused. the FRA had concerns about just this sort of thing happenning in a collision.

[rustyrails]

Before I retired, I used to live in the Balto/DC area and rode the Metro a lot.  Nobody I knew would willingly drive into DC when we could go to Silver Spring, park in an all-day garage, and walk a block over to the station.  Sheesh....sends shivers up my spine.  I remember that years ago there was a problem with some of these cars.  During rush hours when the trains were very crowded, sometimes the doors wouldn't close.  Turned out that the car floors were flexing under load and warping the door tracks.
Rusty

[ebtnut]

Just as an update, the NTSB inspectors have discovered some anomalies in one set of the track control circuits.  They have been doing futher tests with live trains to see what else turns up.  Indications are that the operator did indeed hit the emergency brake, but not soon enough to avoid the collision.  A 6-car train doing almost 60 mph takes a good distance to bring to a stop.  And Metro is going to begin putting these old cars (which comprise about 25% of the fleet) in the middle of trains to help reduce the potential risk somewhat. 

[RAM]

I would think that the old block signals were still active.  That being the case then the operator should applied the brakes as soon as she saw that they were not going to stop for the red block signal.

[jward]

if i recall correctly from my last ride on wmata in 1985, they used a bizarre signal system where white was a clear signal. i say bizarre because white was rejected by major railroads in the late 1800s in favour of green......

there was a major wreck near pittsburgh on the pennsy when white was used as a clear signal. a passenger train, running in foggy conditions, passed a white signal and plowed into the back of a standing freight at track speed. in the investigation of the wreck, it was discoverred that the red lense that should have warned the passenger train to stop had slipped out ofits holder on the semaphorre type signal, and its broken remains were found on the track below the signal bridge......

white as clear means any broken signal lense will be mistaken for a clear signal. that is why on railroads that use white, it is a very restricted speed indication, usually just better than an absolute stop.

it would be interesting to find out whether they are stilll using white.

track circuits, at least the old relay type ones, were designed so that any failure would drop the signal to stop......better to have trains stop needlessly, than to have a false clear and risk what happened on wmata.....

[RAM]

The story I read in an old railroad mag. said that they ran the red signal and they sent the breakman back with a hammer to break the red lenses .  What ever it was i amde an interesting story.

[MARC TRAIN]

I know she had to see the other metro coming toward her did she even blow the horn.

[RAM]

The other train was stopped.