pop_54
The young Aviator LOL
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Tatelou said:'Several die in train derailment: BBC News
Yet another bad one. This seems to happen at least once a year. When will something be done to better ensure the safety of those who travel on the railways in Great Britain?
Shocking.
Lou
So right dear, profit above safety, did you see the documentary about shoddy rail repairs the other night? This seems to have been the result of a train hitting a car, possibly broken down car, on the track at a level crossing, should be some way of alerting train drivers of such obstructions, wouldn't have happened in the old days of "manned level crossings"
G
Guest
Guest
Re: Re: More Tragedy On The Rails
Yeah, I did see that, made me fearful of travelling on the train again, especially with my kids.
You are so right. It just didn't happen when there were manned level crossings. You'd think they'd, at the very least, use cameras, or something. That wouldn't eat into too much of their profits, surely.
Lou
pop_54 said:
Yeah, I did see that, made me fearful of travelling on the train again, especially with my kids.
You are so right. It just didn't happen when there were manned level crossings. You'd think they'd, at the very least, use cameras, or something. That wouldn't eat into too much of their profits, surely.
Lou
R. Richard
Literotica Guru
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Re: Re: More Tragedy On The Rails
Pop_54:
The Amtrak people here in the US have discovered a way to avoid shoddy rail repairs. As a matter of policy, they do not do rail repairs at all until replacement is necessary. Simple and frightening.
pop_54 said:
Pop_54:
The Amtrak people here in the US have discovered a way to avoid shoddy rail repairs. As a matter of policy, they do not do rail repairs at all until replacement is necessary. Simple and frightening.
dr_mabeuse
seduce the mind
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At least you guys still have trains. The US passenger rail system is practically non-existent now. You either fly or drive or stay home.
---dr.M.
---dr.M.
davidwatts
Really Really Experienced
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What's left of the U.S. system is primarily up here in the Northeast corridor, and the feds seem to be trying to finish that off as well. Amtrak is run badly, like almost everything else these days, but it gets a lot of people off the roads in the Boston-NYC- Washington routes. We seem to be able to find money for roads fairly easily, but mass transit does less well at the public trough.
Alex De Kok
Eternal Optimist
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Re: Re: More Tragedy On The Rails
Alex
An acquaintance of mine - who works for one of the rail companies - told me that a train running at 'track speed', whatever that is, would probably not be able to stop in time anyway. Considering that the East Coast main line, not a hundred yards from me as I type, carries trains doing speeds of up to 150mph, I believe him.pop_54 said:
Alex
pop_54
The young Aviator LOL
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Re: Re: Re: More Tragedy On The Rails
Shit I certainly aint going by train again if it takes from London to Plymouth to stop it... Seriously nothing could be done if the car was on the track a few seconds before the train, but it could have been there 10 minutes broken down, who knows, but we all know the rail system has deteriorated since privatisation, and half the staff have been done away with to maximise profit... well minimise loss should I say.
Anyway nuff said, deepest sympathy with the families of any deceased from this awful accident... and speedy recovery to any injured.
Alex De Kok said:
Shit I certainly aint going by train again if it takes from London to Plymouth to stop it... Seriously nothing could be done if the car was on the track a few seconds before the train, but it could have been there 10 minutes broken down, who knows, but we all know the rail system has deteriorated since privatisation, and half the staff have been done away with to maximise profit... well minimise loss should I say.
Anyway nuff said, deepest sympathy with the families of any deceased from this awful accident... and speedy recovery to any injured.
Wildcard Ky
Southern culture liason
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Tatelou said:'Several die in train derailment: BBC News
Yet another bad one. This seems to happen at least once a year. When will something be done to better ensure the safety of those who travel on the railways in Great Britain?
Shocking.
Lou
I'm completely unfamiliar with any types of rail problems that may be going on in the UK, but by the sounds of that article, it was caused by a car being on the tracks as the train came through.
Can you point the safety question at the train company on this one? Why was a car in the crossing with a train coming?
It seems to me that any reasonable driver would be able to see a train coming, and not enter the crossing.
Weird Harold
Opinionated Old Fart
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Re: Re: More Tragedy On The Rails
The question I have is why did hitting a car cause the train to derail -- unless there was something wrong with the rails or train, it should have just destroyed the car and stayed on the tracks; a train, even a "light rail" passenger train, has a mass advantage of about 100:1 over a stalled car.
The key words in your second statement are "reasonable driver." When was the last time you encoutered a preponderance of "reasonable drivers" on your way to the mall?
When I was stationed in England circa 1974 there was a movement to ban ALL level grade crossings. It apparently wasn't sucessful (not that I ever thought it would be, mind you.) Still, from documentaries and such I've seen and read in the intervening 30 years, doing away with grade crossings does seem to be the only effective way to eliminate this kind of tragedy.
Wildcard Ky said:
The question I have is why did hitting a car cause the train to derail -- unless there was something wrong with the rails or train, it should have just destroyed the car and stayed on the tracks; a train, even a "light rail" passenger train, has a mass advantage of about 100:1 over a stalled car.
The key words in your second statement are "reasonable driver." When was the last time you encoutered a preponderance of "reasonable drivers" on your way to the mall?
When I was stationed in England circa 1974 there was a movement to ban ALL level grade crossings. It apparently wasn't sucessful (not that I ever thought it would be, mind you.) Still, from documentaries and such I've seen and read in the intervening 30 years, doing away with grade crossings does seem to be the only effective way to eliminate this kind of tragedy.
cheerful_deviant
Head of the Flock
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Re: Re: Re: More Tragedy On The Rails
THe problem is the rail and wheel design of the railcars. When a rail car hits something, a stalled car, fallen tree, whatever. The rail car certianly weighs more. But the debris left over from the impact travels under the train and gets between the steel wheel and the track. The train wheels only have to be lifted a couple of inches by the debris before the lip of the wheel clears the rail and the car is free to go wherever it wants.
Modern trains no longer have "Cattle Catchers" as they used to be called in the States to clear the debris from the rails.
Weird Harold said:
THe problem is the rail and wheel design of the railcars. When a rail car hits something, a stalled car, fallen tree, whatever. The rail car certianly weighs more. But the debris left over from the impact travels under the train and gets between the steel wheel and the track. The train wheels only have to be lifted a couple of inches by the debris before the lip of the wheel clears the rail and the car is free to go wherever it wants.
Modern trains no longer have "Cattle Catchers" as they used to be called in the States to clear the debris from the rails.
Weird Harold
Opinionated Old Fart
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Re: Re: Re: Re: More Tragedy On The Rails
That depends on the train -- an American freight train can take as much as five miles to go from 50mph to zero in an emergency stop.
One-quarter mile is an exceptionally good stopping distance for even a light-rail passenger train.
I don't know what the solution is, but vertical separation (doing away with grade-level crossings and putting the cowcatchers back on seem like good starting points. (Except for Amtak's high speed passenger service, American trains never lost their cowcatchers -- of course we still have free-range cattle in many states and the cowcatchers are needed for cows as much as they are for cars.
)
Xelebes said:
That depends on the train -- an American freight train can take as much as five miles to go from 50mph to zero in an emergency stop.
One-quarter mile is an exceptionally good stopping distance for even a light-rail passenger train.
I don't know what the solution is, but vertical separation (doing away with grade-level crossings and putting the cowcatchers back on seem like good starting points. (Except for Amtak's high speed passenger service, American trains never lost their cowcatchers -- of course we still have free-range cattle in many states and the cowcatchers are needed for cows as much as they are for cars.
)
Virtual_Burlesque
Former Ecdysiast
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What British Rail says:
Train barriers 'extremely safe'
The Berkshire fatal train collision happened at an automatic level crossing with half barriers on each side of the road, Network Rail said.
The type of barriers have an excellent safety record, rail experts said.
Accidents were usually the fault of drivers attempting to dodge the barriers or when vehicles are deliberately left in the way of trains.
"This is more like a road accident that has caused a train crash," said Rail magazine editor Nigel Harris.
There are three main kinds of level crossing: the full barrier crossing, generally in use on main roads; the automatic half barrier, used on B roads and the farm crossings on agricultural land.
Full Article'
Train barriers 'extremely safe'
The Berkshire fatal train collision happened at an automatic level crossing with half barriers on each side of the road, Network Rail said.
The type of barriers have an excellent safety record, rail experts said.
Accidents were usually the fault of drivers attempting to dodge the barriers or when vehicles are deliberately left in the way of trains.
"This is more like a road accident that has caused a train crash," said Rail magazine editor Nigel Harris.
There are three main kinds of level crossing: the full barrier crossing, generally in use on main roads; the automatic half barrier, used on B roads and the farm crossings on agricultural land.
Full Article'
