Re: Train Accident in Blue Mountains

["Dave Proctor" <daproc@sd5.mailbank.com>]

Richard Wardle wrote in message <82l6l9$9k0$1@news1.mpx.com.au>...

>The reason why I "jumped in" as you put it is that I was an intercity train
>driver and the comments you are saying is absolutely silly. Most of the
>people here have absolutely no idea in the operation of a train. So I would
>choose my words carefully. By the same token the accident was not far from
>Glenbrook station. So if you think that the train was travelling at the
>speed that you have said before the driver applied the brakes he must have
>given it full weak field. Also he would have had nowhere near the amount of
>time to apply the brakes, climb out of the cab, and I mean climb out of the
>cab, run thru the vestibule and alert people before impact.

Yep - my thoughts exactly. Given the distance from the station (not all that
far) and given the sighting distances (not all that far either), for the
driver to have time to get out and get to where he did would have meant that
the train was not going all that fast. This raises questions about the
efficacy of the emergency braking system.

Dave