Re: Derailment at Concort West - Reason

[Bill <wguest@xtra.co.nz>]

If Loomi is correct, then I am very interested in this derailment. About 4 years
ago I investigated a derailment on Tranz Rail where a controller changed a
signal indication to divert a goods train through a loop to "de-rust" the rails
at the request of the sigs techs. Despite the availability of radio
communications, he did not inform the loco eng that the route he had travelled
about 100 plus times would be different this time. The loco eng did not
recognise the implication of the changed signal (a caution signal one signal
earlier than he was expecting) and hit a turnout at speed. He saw the signal,
but he interpreted it to fit in with the expectation he had formed of the train
movement.

My recommendation was that Tranz Rail should train its controllers to recognise
that a loco eng on his own may be lulled into a routine way of thinking and may
not interpret an unexpected signal correctly. Tranz Rail more or less told me to
get stuffed, and blamed the loco eng 100%. The investigation, and Tranz Rail's
response, are contained in the report issued by the Transport Accident
Investigation Commission in NZ.

Well, that was their black-hearted right, but last year it happened again.
Exactly the same!

It is my opinion that single manning is potentially hazardous unless
considerable support is given to the loco eng. Such support consists of
controller recognition of potential loco eng error; cab repeaters for signal
indications; and best of all, a still-to-be-developed automatic train protection
device. The latter is on the wish list of the NTSB, and is quite possible in
this era of computer  and remote sensing device development.

Loomi wrote:

> Hi,
>
> it seems that the driver may have supposed to switch into the refuge line
> for a rail clean (to run along the track so it doesnt go rusty- its not used
> often) and he has missed the signal indication that tells him and hit the
> points at a good speed
>
> regards,
>
> David
> .
> Robert Prentice wrote in message ...
> >Regarding the derailment at Concord this morning.. I heard that Northern
> >Line trains were terminating at Epping, with buses to Strathfield to join
> >trains to the City. Was this the go all day? Does anyone know what
> >happened yet? Apparently they were doing about 80km/h.. was it a track
> >problem that could've occurred a couple of hours later when full commuters
> >were heading into the City? Heard nothing this morning about 5.20am at
> >Newcastle.
> >