Posts tagged Metro Crash
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Breakfast links: Still out
Smart Growth couple to Columbia Heights; Why some golfers fear bike trail; Pepco’s blunders; In bikes; Peak of one peak; To th Examiner, it’s all Graham’s fault, no matter what; Gray: Too much process or just right?; And…. Keep reading…
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Recommendation to replace 1000 series wasn’t ignored
Jason Cherkis takes exception to my argument that the NTSB was being too harsh on the WMATA Board in its report yesterday. I argued that it wasn’t realistic for the WMATA Board to “psychically divine” that the safety reports the GM was providing them were omitting all the track signal alarms they were getting every day but ignoring. Cherkis says that WMATA… Keep reading…
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WMATA Board not at fault for crash, but needs to step up
The NTSB’s meeting on the 2009 Red Line Crash continued this afternoon with even more troubling revelations. They also criticized the Board’s lack of safety oversight, which seems unfair for before the crash, but the Board does need to step up now that they know there are problems. WMATA top management seems to have tragically ignored safety warnings and potential… Keep reading…
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NTSB blames track circuits, safety culture for Red Line crash
The National Transportation Safety Board is issuing their official findings from the June 2009 Red Line crash today. In this morning’s session, they criticized WMATA officials, the agency’s safety culture, and even the Board and Congress in the strongest terms. They identify track circuit failures as the cause of the crash, and furthermore, these “parasitic… Keep reading…
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Weekend links and deep thoughts
Airport carts analogous to cars?; Boston vs. DC or resident vs. driver?; Park all evening but not for free; Two tracks, phew; Clunkers policy a clunker; Crash victim speaks; Sarles speaks, acts. Keep reading…
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How track circuits detect and protect trains
As I pointed out last week, trains can’t always stop within a line-of-sight distance. That’s why signaling systems were invented. When they fail, the consequences can be fatal. Most railroads use track circuits to determine which sections of track are occupied by trains. These devices are actually fairly simple in design, and have been in use since 1872. In… Keep reading…
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Line of sight not enough to prevent June 22 crash
A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sight-distance test shows that the train operator in the June 22 crash probably wouldn’t have realistically seen the stopped train soon enough to prevent a collision when the signaling system failed. The operator appears to have applied the brakes less than three seconds after first “full sighting” when it… Keep reading…
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Senators threaten WMATA takeover; NTSB holding hearing on June crash
Yesterday, the top Senators with oversight over transportation sent a frustrated letter to WMATA Board Chair Peter Benjamin about a “troubling pattern” of safety incidents and threatening “all possible options … including direct federal intervention” if safety does not improve “immediately and comprehensively.” In the months… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Transit in your city and on your phone
Streetcars4NoVA; NextBus on your BlackBerry; NTSB wants hearings; Transit? Not for these elected officials; Not just one way for Laurel; MetroWest still on the horizon; The Chevy Chase parking force. Keep reading…
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The Price of Safety, part 1: Track workers face danger
Metro employees who inspect and maintain the system’s infrastructure are vital to safe and reliable operations. The training, morale, and by extension safety of these workers must be an top priority. Sadly, Metro has suffered the loss of several track workers in recent years. In 2006, Metro lost three track workers in two separate accidents. On May 14, 2006 senior mechanic… Keep reading…