That would be a great solution as then the driver would always be looking "in the right direction". Now let's convince the Luddites that it would be safer than filling the cab with displays.....

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

That would be a great solution as then the driver would always be looking "in the right direction". Now let's convince the Luddites that it would be safer than filling the cab with displays.....

...which detracts from what is supposed to be done in the first place, power up/down & brake with eyes on the road ahead.

Ah, the good old days! Never thought I would ever hear myself say that after hearing it for years from parents and grandparents :-(

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Chicago Airport train derails

"A spokesman said the train was likely to have been travelling too fast when it crashed in the early hours of Monday."

What is it with drivers and speed? Are they think they're driving their cars and forgetting that it is a train with passengers?

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Chicago Airport train derails

"A spokesman said the train was likely to have been travelling too fast when it crashed in the early hours of Monday."

What is it with drivers and speed? Are they think they're driving their cars and forgetting that it is a train with passengers?

The bigger question is, why didn't the automatic systems stop the train? The CTA has a lot of automated cab signaling that will make a penalty stop if the motorman doesn't comply with the allowed speed. He should have been going 3 MPH approaching the end of track (I think I heard).

Then there's the question of what speed the bumpers are designed for. In this case, it seems to have acted as a ramp up to the platform rather than a barricade to stop the train.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

On a different subject, I learned something interesting Friday night.

The State of Illinois experimented with barrier nets to stop vehicles before they can violate a railroad crossing. They found that a net strong enough to stop a truck loaded to its maximum legal weight and going at the maximum legal speed would kill the occupants of a car that hit it at maximum legal speed. So then you have to put a weaker net in advance of the strong one. Also, every time a net gets hit, it has to be replaced. The total cost quickly rises above feasibility.

The quad-gate systems they're installing on the Chicago-St. Louis line have magnetic sensors in the road (like those to activate traffic signals). If they sense a vehicle on the crossing when the gates go down, they will cause the exit gate for that vehicle to stay up until it clears. The system also sends a message to the train (Amtrak only) that the crossing is not clear and the train has to slow to 15 MPH. If the engineer doesn't comply, the system will do it automatically. Amtrak trains send a signal to the crossing to activate 80 seconds before arrival. That allows for the gates to be completely down and an all-clear signal to be sent back to the train by 60 seconds before arrival, which is enough time for it to slow from 110 to 15. Freight trains activate these crossings in the conventional manner, 30 seconds before arrival.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Chicago Airport train derails

"A spokesman said the train was likely to have been travelling too fast when it crashed in the early hours of Monday."

What is it with drivers and speed? Are they think they're driving their cars and forgetting that it is a train with passengers?

The bigger question is, why didn't the automatic systems stop the train? The CTA has a lot of automated cab signaling that will make a penalty stop if the motorman doesn't comply with the allowed speed. He should have been going 3 MPH approaching the end of track (I think I heard).

Then there's the question of what speed the bumpers are designed for. In this case, it seems to have acted as a ramp up to the platform rather than a barricade to stop the train.

Train operator admits she fell asleep, not for the first time. Video of train crashing.

They say the emergency stops functioned, but didn't accomplish their job. I'm sure that will be a major component of the final NTSB report. So will the operator's erratic work schedule.

From everything I've heard, though, the train was going at the normal speed, 25-30 MPH, as it went through the crossovers entering the station. It just never slowed down.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Can't understand the erratic work schedule part. Don't they operate on a rota system?

For example my rota while on the trains consisted of earlies/lates/nights.

Finishing a late shift on a Saturday & if on early the following week, we had Sunday off.

Earlies to lates & lates to nights was no problem due to the amount of time off before starting the next shift. It was a regular pattern so becomes easy over time.

Also been employed nearly 12 months but only on trains for the past 2? What was she doing for the other 10?

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Can't understand the erratic work schedule part. Don't they operate on a rota system?

For example my rota while on the trains consisted of earlies/lates/nights.

Finishing a late shift on a Saturday & if on early the following week, we had Sunday off.

Earlies to lates & lates to nights was no problem due to the amount of time off before starting the next shift. It was a regular pattern so becomes easy over time.

Also been employed nearly 12 months but only on trains for the past 2? What was she doing for the other 10?

Probably driving buses, but that's just a guess.

They said she was on the extra board. That means she had no set schedule. She'd work a shift, then after her federally required rest they could call her in for another shift with completely different timing than the previous one. The human body doesn't respond well to that. It wants a regular pattern for its sleep.

Most freight crews work that way too. Their unions have been making a stink about it for years, as has the NTSB, but no one ever does anything about it. At least most Amtrak and commuter crews have regular times. Being so low in seniority, she probably couldn't get assigned to a regular shift every day.

(Back in the 1970s, the Rock Island Railroad had a commuter engineer who had the seniority to run one train into the city in the morning, go off duty, work a regular 9-5 job in an office downtown, go back on duty, and run a train home again. I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happens on a few Metra trains today.)

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

(Back in the 1970s, the Rock Island Railroad had a commuter engineer who had the seniority to run one train into the city in the morning, go off duty, work a regular 9-5 job in an office downtown, go back on duty, and run a train home again. I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happens on a few Metra trains today.)

Sounds much like our split shifts. Start at say 07:00, cover the morning rush hour and finish approx. 10/10:30am Back on duty around 15:30 ending no later than 19:00. They were nice as they were only M-F no Sun or Sat that week and paid 60 hours.

I worked one only once, found that many loved them so changed over for nights whenever it cropped up on the rota.

I found split-shifts to be a PITA.

Gawd, if our railways operated that way with crews, there would be no trains running as everyone will be continuously on strike & I don't blame them. That's a hell of a schedule, even with all my transport experience, I would refuse to work one like that, it's too dangerous as this accident has just proved.

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I guess that this will fit in here.

Here's a bit of karma for a road rage incident.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/karma-never-tasted-so-good-watch-as-this-road-rage-idiot-crashes-his-car-after-giving-woman-the-bird/story-fnixwvgh-1226867250537

Cheers.

I guess that this will fit in here.

Here's a bit of karma for a road rage incident.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/karma-never-tasted-so-good-watch-as-this-road-rage-idiot-crashes-his-car-after-giving-woman-the-bird/story-fnixwvgh-1226867250537

Cheers.

That one's making the rounds. Got the link in a couple emails, then saw it on teh late news courtesy of CNN.

We have fools like that here in the Big Valley, too.

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

I guess that this will fit in here.

Here's a bit of karma for a road rage incident.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/karma-never-tasted-so-good-watch-as-this-road-rage-idiot-crashes-his-car-after-giving-woman-the-bird/story-fnixwvgh-1226867250537

Cheers.

I'm considering putting my GoPro on my dashboard in loop mode.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

I have one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/VISION-IN-CAR-ACCIDENT-CAMERA-Recorder/dp/B0085ZD17G/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1396026505&sr=1-4&keywords=dash+cam

Brought for my trip to New England last year, use it all the time.

Records for 5 hours in 5 minute segments on a 16GB SD card.

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Now this is sad. :-(

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/fedex-truck-hits-student-bus-nine-dead/story-e6frfkui-1226881244810

AT least nine people have died after a FedEx tractor-trailer crossed a grassy median strip on a California highway and crashed head-on into a tour bus carrying Los Angeles-area high school students.

Massive flames could be seen devouring both vehicles just after the crash, and clouds of smoke billowed into the sky until firefighters had quenched the fire, leaving behind scorched black hulks of metal. Bodies were draped in yellow plastic inside the burned-out bus.

OMG that is really bad news. Condolences of course to all involved.

+1:(

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

OMG that is really bad news. Condolences of course to all involved.

+1:(

+2

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Very sad indeed. Not only the loss of lives, but what imported docs didn't get delivered in time?

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

Practically all consignments these days are tracked, so Fed-Ex should know what was on the vehicle. So it should be straight forward enough to let the clients know.

The problem with artics is that many road users in their rush to get where they're going forget that artics are not cars or white vans. I'm unaware of US regulations regarding artics but here in Europe all tractor units must be fitted with ABS.

This has prevented many a unit from jack-knifing but ABS cannot prevent the stupidity of road users & sometimes the stupidity of the truck driver himself.

Until better transport solutions arise, we need trucks, after all, you want your smartphone, food, booze, computer components/computers, furniture, big screen TV's, clothes delivered.

One issue is worrisome in this incident. Trucks & buses use diesel which is not as instantly flammable as petrol so why the flare up so soon after impact?

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Diesel is harder to ignite than pump gas, but not impossible. Once you get it vaporized, it burns very nicely.

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Diesel is harder to ignite than pump gas, but not impossible. Once you get it vaporized, it burns very nicely.

Indeed. While the posted speed limit on US Interstate highways is usually 55 mph for big rigs, buses, and cars/trucks pulling trailers, and 70 mph for passenger vehicles, you find most traffic moves at 70-75 mph, including trucks and buses.

Assuming the FedEx truck lost little speed/momentum crossing the grass median, the nearly-head-on collision between the two large, heavy vehicles would produce more than enough heat to ignite diesel fuel from a ruptured tank.

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired