Re: Train Accident in Blue Mountains

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

Dave Proctor wrote:

> >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.

Given what we know so far that's just as likely. It's something we could
argue all day; how much time would he have taken?

This raises questions about the
> efficacy of the emergency braking system.

I think we might be hearing more about that as the inquiry goes on.

Dion