Washington subway crash

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by joelnwil

... It will probably turn out that somebody at the Metro did something stupid, was high on coke, or something else. Or maybe texting, like the driver in Boston.
...

Originally Posted by glatt

... In a nutshell, the trains are driven by computers. Autopilot, if you will. The computers get their information from thousands of sensors throughout the system. Those sensors are on the trains themselves (mainly in the doors) and also on the tracks. Either there is a problem with the computer, or there was a faulty sensor somewhere. The thing is, there are supposed to be multiple layers of safety so that one faulty sensor won't result in a crash. Sensors in trains fail all the time, and they take those trains out of service and fix the sensors. Those failed sensors never result in a crash, so there has to be more going on here. Probably some sensor on the track.
...

Uh-oh. Stupid, stoned, texting computers. What next?

[joelnwil]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090623/...ain_derailment

"The subway train that plowed into another stopped train, killing at least seven people and injuring scores of others in the nation's capital, was part of an aging fleet that federal officials had sought to phase out because of safety concerns, an investigator said Tuesday.

But the Metrorail transit system kept the old trains running despite warnings in 2006, said Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board."

"Hersman said investigators expect to recover recorders from the train that was struck. The train that triggered the collision was part of an old fleet that was not equipped with the devices, which can provide valuable information to determine why the crash occurred, Hersman said.

She told The Associated Press that the NTSB had warned of safety problems and recommended the old fleet be phased out or retrofitted to make it better withstand a crash. Neither was done, she said, which the NTSB considered "unacceptable.""

Our leaders at work.

[classicman]

ok, fine if thats the case - find out who is in charge? "insert name here" Now cut his or her balls off. If its a committee, make a party of it and do them all. Our leaders NEED to be held accountable again.

[joelnwil]

"The leading train had stopped because it was waiting for another train to leave the Fort Totten station, officials said.

It was unclear why the following train had not received the signal to stop as well, or why the operator did not stop her train manually when she saw the tracks blocked ahead of her, officials said.

Passengers on the second train said it did not slow down at all before impact. "There was no attempt at braking. We just slammed into whatever we slammed into," passenger Theroza Doshi told Reuters."

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...55L69G20090623

Not paying attention.

Bad leadership in providing obsolete equipment (the board is appointed by our glorious representatives), and bad operator.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Beestie

The death toll has risen to nine.

I believe HM takes the train.

Sound off, HM.

I take the train whenever possible, but it's not possible for my commute.

My dad and sister both commute on the Red Line, but neither commute crosses the accident site. My dad got caught for a bit when they stopped all trains on the line, and they'd restarted everything by the time my sister got to her stop.

[classicman]

glad to hear you are ok as well as your family!

[tw]

Compare this to a crash nearby the Cellar in a place called Warminster. That is a single track. In that case, the signaling system did something the train engineer never saw happen. She kept calling for clarification even though the light said go. But her calls went unanswered. So she refused to move for over 5 minutes. As anyone knows, everything must always have a backup. The backup did not work. So she did what responsible people do: assume the worst and take appropriate caution.

Well, another train was racing towards her. Since she was stopped, the damage and dead were minimal.

Do you have the necessary attitude? Do you always set the parking brake - or so hate humanity as to trust that silly little pin triggered by a transmission in park? Same concept. How many will be so critical of an engineer now killed in the crash - rather than admit they too are just as irresponsible?

[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by classicman

ok, fine if thats the case - find out who is in charge? "insert name here" Now cut his or her balls off. If its a committee, make a party of it and do them all. Our leaders NEED to be held accountable again.

Yes, and we NEED to spend on aging infrastructure! WTF is WRONG with people in power?

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by sugarpop

Yes, and we NEED to spend on aging infrastructure! WTF is WRONG with people in power?

Simple.

Build a flshy new sports stadium = lots of publicity = votes.

Maintain and repair the stuff you already have = boring = look like you're doing sod all = no publicity = no votes.

, but what ya gonna do?

[Elspode]

Flashy sports stadia generate money for the teams inhabiting them, therefore they generate campaign donations for the election of people who got them built.

Infrastructure doesn't generate enough ongoing profit for those involved. Infrastructure is more along the lines of a one time bribe or graft under the table to secure the contracts, get it made into a Davis Bacon project so the unions get their cut, that sort of thing.

[Aliantha]

I'm not sure that's exactly how it works over here Els. If I'm right, Zen is refering to a recent election campaign here in Qld.

[Beestie]

Well when the system can't even get enough ridership to support itself then money has to come from somewhere else. Metro doesn't belong to DC, MD or VA so no elected leader is truly directly responsible for providing for it nor is the tax base of either jurisdiction.

Fares and parking are already too high so there really isn't much they can do.

Besides, I'm not about to blame the "sensors" when you can see from a mile away that you are about to run into something big that ain't moving.

[glatt]

Until an autopsy is performed that shows the driver was conscious just before the crash, I think it's not appropriate to blame this on the dead driver.

Maybe she was slumped over in her seat having just had a heart attack. Maybe she tried to stop, but the brakes didn't work. Nobody knows at this point.

[sugarpop]

How about this, the companies who operate the stuff should be REQUIRED to upgrade it every so often, at their own expense. Like, power companies should be responsible for their own upgrades. Why the hell should "we the people" have to pay for this shit with our tax dollars when we also have to pay for the service? It's just WRONG. And once the infrastructure is upgraded, with our tax dollars, you can bet your ass the power companies will raise the rates for the "new and improved" service.

[classicman]

WE need a new program like the one that built the Hoover dam! My vote is currently for a friggin wall much like the Great wall of China - Heck that thing is 400 miles long. Ours won't be nearly that long. We can also put nice clean medical facilities on the Mexican side so that the illegals can have their children safely on THEIR side. This creates a huge number of long lasting jobs, prevents the illegal immigration problem an reduces the American burden on everything, most importantly healthcare.