[PRCo] Re: METRORAIL DISASTER

[Schneider Fred]

By the way, tonight's newspaper printed the AP release indicating  
that they were unable to locate the test short circuit / vehicle /  
shunt or whatever in the block where accident occurred.   Would not  
have much mattered if the operator was watching speed codes or the  
train was running in ATO if the train ahead of it was not detected.
Now my next question is going to be for people out there like Russ  
Jackson or Jack May.   Years ago we worked signals with big clunky  
relays.   This were things that you could test and see if they would  
work.   It was sort of like my father tearing apart the washing  
machine every twelve months, looking for worn parts, replacing   
anything he felt would not last a year, and then reassembling it.    
Hey guys.   He actually did that for years and years and years.   But  
he never had a flood on the floor either.   Railroad signal  
maintainers did much the same thing.   They tested signals over and  
over.

Now my question is simple...   Has the entry into automatic train  
operation involved us into the computer era just as it has with desk  
top computers in that they fail at unpredictable points in time, and  
they only thing you can predict is that the failure rate follows a  
bath tub curve (high in the begining and end of its cycle and minimal  
at the end)?   Is it likely that ATO detection equipment fails the  
same way and that while you cannot test the equipment to determine  
when it will fail, it will increase dramatically after "x" years of  
service?

I am not asking to be a trouble maker.   I am asking to have someone  
out there educate me.

Fred Schneider


On Jun 25, 2009, at 11:43 PM, alschneider2 at juno.com wrote:

>
> Fred,
>
> I am the one who used  the word disaster.  It was a disaster in the  
> context of the Washington Metrorail system; in fact, the term was  
> used to describe the three fatalities on the Air Florida crash  
> day.  In the context of subways, it was a disaster; our military  
> casualties at Okinawa and Iwo Jima were, to my knowledge, never  
> considered a disaster, and they involved thousands killed  
> unfortunately.  It's all a matter of context, I think.  At least  
> that's what I was intending.
>
> I don't know the answer, but since WW II has there ever been a  
> subway accident with more than nine fatalities?
>
>                          Alan
>
>
>
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