Re: New questions for rail experts

["Dave Proctor" <daproc@spambait.ozemail.com.au>]

"Chris Gordon" <cmgord@alphalink.com.au> wrote in message
392A8A33.CC8A7D34@alphalink.com.au">news:392A8A33.CC8A7D34@alphalink.com.au...
> > > Train stops, if a electric train (diesel are not fitted with the trip
> > > arm)
> >
> > And then says:
> >
> > > dumping all the air from the breaks and the train will stop.  In
Sydney
> > > for some stupid reason they sometimes have catch points after the
> > > signal, so after a train passes through the signal at stop, the breaks
> > > are applied and if the train is going too fast then it will get
> > > de-railed as well.  If you ask me it is totally stupid to have catch
> > > points on a main line.
> >
> > For diesel trains not fitted with train stops?
>
> Correct, that is why they have a second person (or did have a second
> person).

Endeavours? XPT's? Xplorers? 620's?

> I think that a train with no trip arm or no second person is not safe.
> I don't think driver only operation of a diesel train is a good idea.

Happens all the time, all over Australia.

> I also don't think you should be de-railing trains that have past a red
> signal, that is what overlaps and correct deisgn is ment to protect.
>
> > >  That is why Sydney had so many derailments, and
> > > Melbourne only has SPADS, or the odd crash where a train is doing like
> > > 130 km/h through a red signal and crashed into the back of another
train
> > > (Sydney station accident about 10+ years ago).
> >
> > Which accident was that?
>
> Smashed up a Hitachi motor totally bent in half.  I don't know the
> correct detials, but something along the lines of train driver going too
> fast down hill, straight through two red signals, because he was going
> too fast the train stop/trip arm had little effect and ran straight into
> the back of the train sitting in Sydnal Station.  (both trains were
> going in the up direction).

So a catchpoint *might* have worked then?

Dave