Re: Train Accident in Blue Mountains

[Dion Williams <onamission@start.com.au>]

David Johnson wrote:
 
> Rod compares V sets with Melbourne ComEngs and writes:
> 
> > exactly my thoughts. I have never let a knocked beer glass hit the ground,
> > my reflexes are that good that I can continue drinking the contents, but I
> > would never have been able to squeeze out from behind the desk of a
> > Melbourne Comenge, find my keys
> 
> No keys necessary to exit a V set in an emergency.
> 
> > and open the door and run 30 feet into a
> > crowded car, against the gravity of a full emergency brake application!!!
> 
> V set emergency brakes are, well, ho-hum.

Judging from the penetration of a half-full motorail wagon a good 10-15
feet into the front of a four car IU and the impact derailing both to a
30 degree skew from the running line, surely that doesn't suggest an
impact of less than 50km/h. The V set may still have been accelerating
at the time and may have been travelling at only 60-70 km/h when the
driver saw the rear of the IP ahead, but by the time the brakes came on,
the distance left to impact would have been even less than the 100
metres quoted. At that separation they would have had minimal effect.

Dion