Re: Big train wreck in England!

["Lineman" <grime@dcsi.net.au>]

David Ready <ds_ready@usa.net> wrote in message
HdtK3.509$e6.152330@amsnews02.chello.com">news:HdtK3.509$e6.152330@amsnews02.chello.com...
>
> Jennifer Richmond <richmond@melbpc.org.au> wrote in message
> 37F9CAC6.8D372241@melbpc.org.au">news:37F9CAC6.8D372241@melbpc.org.au...
> > Kingpin wrote:
> > > Just heard on the radio that there has been a major train crash near
> Notting
> > > Hill.  Many people are injured.
> > They seem to have more major rail accidents in England than anywhere
> else... is
> > it due to the fact that they run more trains than anywhere else, are
they
> just
> > unlucky ore are their safety standards more lax than anywhere else?
>
> Officially there have been 700 incidences of drivers going through red
> lights in the last 12 months, "most instances are trivial" it was reported
> on the 9pm Tuesday news here on the BBS news in The Netherlands.
>
> This latest crash is simply another driver going through a red light, on
the
> same track as the Southall crash 2 years ago. The Thames train, crossing 3
> tracks went through a red across the path of an oncoming Great Western
> Train, (Great Western was the company fined for causing the Southall
> crash.... yet another driver going through another red light). The sad
thing
> is that the Southall enquiry just started a week or so ago and was
adjourned
> this week.
>
> 26 confirmed dead now, and still more to come. I'll never know why the
brits
> don't have a system like NSW where a train gets derailed if it goes
through
> a red light or has its brakes automatically applied.
>
> But 700 red light instances a year is a joke in major proportions.
>
> David
>
> It is a sad reflection on the UK railway system indeed,that such accidents
happen.
Considering the early pioneering work done in train crash investigation in
this country(UK) which gave birth to many of the safe working systems in
this country (Aus.) designed to fail safe, operate trains on single
lines,etc.and seem to work very well over many many years, generally.
However it is very difficult to over come the scenario of a train proceding
through a red signal with out spending vast amounts of money at every
signal.
It would be ideal to fit train stops at every signal at every location,would
we do it ? I think not.
In dense suburban traffic areas of the Melbourne metro sysem  this is common
,but that suburban train could untill recently venture out past
Pakenham,travel at high speed enter the single line section at Bunyip and
meet another train coming in the opposite direction having past quite a few
signals with no train stops and no fail safe built into the single line safe
working system to derail it or protect the train in the other direction.
The distance from Pakenham to Bunyip a mere 13 miles.
As with most things today Cost is the over-riding factor,safety appears to
come a distant 2nd.
Im sure there would be other areas of our own Australian system where other
forms of modern safe working might be considered dodgy.
In closing this little reflection I remember the quote from the early
British rail engineer when asked what would he do if he saw a train coming
in the opposite direction,"Why I would put on more speed and by means of my
superior velocity blast the other train off the rails"
Lineman