Re: Beresfield Accident Findings

[Eddie.Oliver@efs.mq.edu.au (Eddie Oliver)]

Bob <gioia@fastlink.com.au> wrote:

>
>  One option under sreious consideration is to use the same system that is used
>in the suburban area with trips at all signals. This would stop any train that
>passes a stick at stop. The RSA and rail acess are all for this idea as it will
>create hundreds of millions of dollars of work for them. The question is who
>would pay for this? As we live in a bankrupt state because of the bloody Olympic
>games it is unlikeley that this will happen. What is likeley however is the lets
>hope they forget attitude and do nothing. My money is on this one!

I cannot imagine that even the most idiotic members of the RSA or RAC are
thinking of installing trip stops on signals outside electrified areas. The mechanical
stresses on such things would be enormous; trains would be tripped all the time
from hitting objects other than the trips (imagine how many times a coal loco  would
hit a piece of coal!) and the recurrent damage from primitive emergency braking of huge
coal trains would be enormous.

AFAIK no railway in the world uses trip devices for heavy trains.

Cab signalling and various forms of automatic train control are widespread, but please
don't reduce this to the trivial level of mechanical "trip" type train stops.

Eddie Oliver