Re: Train Accident in Blue Mountains

[Don Allitt <nahgfa@zeta.org.au>]

Correct,you or at least i drive my car or Hopkinsons bus so i can stop if an emergency
appears. The bus takes longer to stop at the same speed i know so you drive to suit wet
roads dry roads doesnt matter you drive to suit and i would hope that train drivers drive
the same way.Now if they say they drive to a timetable well maybe DOT should be involved.
Don.

david wrote:

> Matthew,
> I am wondering if Don was commenting not on his car, but that he knows his stopping
> distance, more or less. Could he be asking specifically on the braking diatances of
> the train, more or less. What a lot of us do not know is the normal stopping distances
> expected by similar V sets.
>
> As for the comparisons  you are right. Cars are not comparable to trains in stopping !
>
> Regards,
> David Head
>
> Matthew Geier wrote:
>
> > In article <384CC789.F66CEAE5@zeta.org.au>,
> > Don Allitt  <nahgfa@zeta.org.au> wrote:
> > >At say 40kph it would travel 11 Meters a second less braking time.So that
> > >is at least 10 seconds to get back to warn.So how good are the brakes on
> > >the trains?? I know if i jam the car brakes on i will stop in less than
> > >100 meters.Don.
> > >
> >
> >  Your car doesnt weigh around 500 tonnes. Probably less than 1.
> >
> >  I understand that an Interurban power car wieghs in at around 68 tonnes,
> > the trailers are a little lighter, but still its considerably more
> > weight than a car.
> >  The 68 tonne car has 8 wheels on the ground instead of 4, but the train car
> > weighs in at considerably more than 4 times your car. Also the friction
> > between the 'road' and the wheels is a lot less (One of the reasons why rail
> > is energy efficient, but there is a cost in stopping distance). Try 'emergency'
> > braking in your car on a gravel road. That would be more the feel of it.
> >
> >  Car drivers just dont realise. Try speaking to a truck driver who does
> > city deliveries some time. The number of car drivers who change lanes into
> > their stopping distance, thinking that the large gap in front of a slowing
> > truck is just that, free space for them, and NOT what the truck driver needs
> > to stop!.
> >
> >  Ive had a scary enough experience driving a railway trike with braking distances,
> > the rails were wet. Had the wheels locked up, hardly slowed at all.