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From: cb@MITRE-BEDFORD.ARPA (Christopher Byrnes)
Newsgroups: net.railroad
Subject: Re: VIA rail train collides head-on with freight.
Message-ID: <1066@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 18-Feb-86 13:23:41 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-smok.1066
Posted: Tue Feb 18 13:23:41 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Feb-86 20:36:00 EST
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Lines: 47

>1. Does Amtrak share tracks with freights?
  Generally, yes.  Even the NEC has some freight traffic on it
(despite Amtrak's efforts to get rid of it).  There are some lines
which see no freight traffic (the Hudson tubes) but even on
Amtrak-owned lines the need for freight revenue (and political
considerations) keep the freight trains running.  Naturally Amtrak has
to share the track when it is owned by a private railroad.

>2. Do American freights run on schedules?
  It varies from railroad to railroad.  Some railroads run almost all
their trains (except for a few extras) on a schedule.  Others have no
schedule (I think the DT&I is an example), everything runs on train
orders.  Neither method has prevented accidents.

>3. Are there shut off levers (as on many (ALL?) subway systems) which throw
>  the break on immediately if a train runs a red light?  (Otherwise, with
>  should the engineer have a heart attack, for instance, 
>  the train would just keep rolling).  The press is not yet indicating
>  whether such a system was in place on the freight, but it appears the
>  engineer was alone at the time of the accident.
  I don't know of any large railroad which has the type of shutoff
levers that subways have.  Transit systems generally have restricted
rights of way, so they would have more success maintaining that kind
of equipment against vandalism.  Railroads typically don't have the
traffic density that a transit line has, so in most cases they feel
they don't need it.  A transit train has a much shorter stopping distance.

  There are example of "failsafe" signaling systems which have been
used by railroads.  Examples are signal gates or "smashboards" which
are dropped across the tracks when something like a drawbridge is
raised.  Hopefully the engineer will notice when they drive through
the gate.  More drastic systems such as derails are used very
carefully, you don't want a system which causes more accidents then it
solves.  I'm surprised the dispatcher didn't notice that one of the
trains in the accident was on the wrong track.

  Most engines have a "deadman's" throttle, which requires that the
engineer keep his foot on it.  This is suppose to catch engineers who
drop dead or fall asleep, causing the train to stop.  I'm not sure
effective any of these devices would be in stopping a fully loaded
freight train from running into another track where a passenger train
has the right of way.

					Christopher Byrnes

					cb@Mitre-Bedford.ARPA
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