Rail in the USA, Canada

[techblitz]

http://news.yahoo.com/probe-seeks-cause-fatal-nyc-072353605.html

For decades, the NTSB has been urging railroads to install technology that can stop derailing caused by excessive speed, along with other problems.

A rail-safety law passed by Congress in 2008 gave commuter and freight railroads until the end of 2015 to install the systems, known as positive train control. PTC is aimed at preventing human error — the cause of about 40 percent of train accidents. But the systems are expensive and complicated. Railroads are trying to push back the installation deadline another five to seven years.

[ozbob]

http://www.nasa.gov/content/expedition-40-preflight-soyuz-rocket-rolls-out/#.U4VuwSiv9ma

Expedition 40 Preflight: Soyuz Rocket Rolls Out

The Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft is rolled out to the launch pad by train on Monday, May 26, 2014, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for May 29 and will send Expedition 40 Soyuz Commander Maxim Suraev, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst, of the European Space Agency, ESA, and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA on a five and a half month mission aboard the International Space Station.

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

[ozbob]

LA Times  --> Finally, a train to the plane in L.A.?

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow

Rail links to two L.A. airports http://shar.es/MFyLK

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Oil train ablaze in West Virginia after derailment

[ozbob]

BBC News --> California train derails after collision with truck

... The driver of the truck that collided with the train fled the scene, and was "taken into custody south of the scene less than a mile," Capt Lindbery said.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the agency that leads transport investigations for the US government, said in a tweet, "We are aware of the rail accident near Oxnard, CA and are currently gathering information about the event." ...

[bcasey]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/amtrak-train-crashes-in-philadelphia-1431483143

[ozbob]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/amtrak-train-crashes-in-philadelphia-1431483143

^

Twitter

NTSB ‏@NTSB 13 minutes ago Washington, DC

NTSB confirms preliminary data shows #Amtrak train speed exceeded 100 mph prior to derailment. Further calibrations are being conducted.

==============

This is twice the speed limit on that section.  No ATP ..

[dancingmongoose]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/us/amtrak-train-derails-crash-philadelphia.html

Meanwhile in Australia, we can only dream of trains that fast. I guess that's the positive of poor alignments and track conditions

[pandmaster]

This has got me very concerned. The Republicans starve Amtrak of funds and then complain about how bad it is (IMHO they are pulling off a miracle to provide the services that they do with the pitiful subsidy they receive). This is a great reason for the Republicans to sell off Amtrak, slash services and/or funding. Hopefully Biden would convince Obama to veto it should it come to that.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Amtrak engineer has 'no recollection' of what happened during train crash, as eighth body found 

... Investigators said there is technology available, known as Positive Train Control, that prohibits trains from exceeding speed limits. The system is in place in much of the north-east corridor, but Amtrak had not installed it on the section of track where the derailment happened.

Congress has mandated that the system be installed throughout the US rail system by the end of this year.

"Had such a system been installed on this section of track, this accident would not have occurred," said Sumwalt ...

[ozbob]

[ozbob]

https://www.aar.org/policy/positive-train-control

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_train_control

POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL (PTC)

Positive Train Control is an advanced automatic train protection system that enforces movement authorities, speed restrictions (signal and civil), and protection of roadway workers. This term is mainly used for radio-based systems in North America.

http://www.joernpachl.de/glossary.htm

[ozbob]

CNN --> What U.S. can learn from European train safety systems

[ozbob]

NPR --> Amtrak Ordered To Take Steps To Improve Safety

[ozbob]

AMTRAK --> Our Commitment to Passengers and Employees: Safety and Positive Train Control

Our Commitment to Passengers and Employees: Safety and Positive Train Control
by Amtrak May 16, 2015

SAFETY: OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY
At Amtrak, safety is a way of life that's deeply ingrained in every aspect of our operations and company culture.

Last year, 31 million passengers traveled across Amtrak's 21,000-mile national network. One third of those passengers traveled on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC), which accommodates more than 2,000 Amtrak and commuter trains every day. A rail network this large requires the utmost vigilance and dedication to a company culture that always places the safety of passengers and employees first.

Amtrak has a very strong safety record and never stops looking for areas to make further improvements. From 2000 to 2014, the total annual accident rate per million passenger miles fell from 4.1 to 1.7, and annual derailments fell from 80 to 28 over the same period. Many derailments occur in rail yards. According to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the overall count of Amtrak accidents decreased from 148 incidents in 2000, to 67 in 2014. While any train derailment is unacceptable, it has been 28 years since a derailment resulting in a passenger fatality occurred on the Northeast Corridor.  Also since 2000, accidents caused by track problems fell by two thirds and accidents caused by human error have been reduced by 50 percent.

Amtrak leads other Class 1 railroads in the installation of Positive Train Control (PTC), a safety technology designed to analyze track conditions and equipment speed for optimal safety. Amtrak is in the process of implementing a form of PTC known as the Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) to ensure trains are operated at safe speeds along the Northeast Corridor.

Amtrak has spent $110.7 million since 2008 to install PTC. Despite funding and bandwidth obstacles that have precluded faster implementation of PTC along the entire Northeast Corridor, Amtrak remains on schedule to complete the full activation of PTC in accordance with the federal deadline of December, 2015. No other Class I railroad is as far along in installing PTC systems as Amtrak.

In April 2012, we created the Emergency Management and Corporate Security (EMCS) department to lead an integrated enterprise-wide system to prepare and protect Amtrak employees, customers and assets. One effort led by EMCS is the Passenger Train Emergency Response (PTER) program to enhance safety along the rails. It provides classroom and hands-on training for emergency response agencies, emergency managers and public works employees. In 2014, EMCS emergency managers trained 3,134 first responders nationwide, and they plan to reach another 3,500 responders in 2015.

We also collaborate with Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OL), a national non-profit organization with a mission to end collisions, deaths and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and on railroad property. The current OL campaign encourages the public to "See Trains, Think Tracks." Nearly 100 Amtrak employees are trained as Operation Lifesaver Authorized Volunteers, and they help spread the word about trespassing dangers and grade-crossing safety to civic organizations, first responder classes, transportation groups and schools nationwide.

POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL: THE HISTORY, HOW IT WORKS AND AMTRAK'S LEADERSHIP
Since Amtrak took over the NEC in 1976, all Amtrak trains on the NEC have included a system called Automatic Train Control (ATC). ATC ensures that trains comply with the wayside signal system by providing a notification to the engineer through signals in the locomotive when the train approaches a more restrictive signal. If the engineer does not respond, the system will automatically apply the train's brakes, and protect the train against a collision.

In the 1990s, Amtrak worked with industry partners to develop the nation's first positive train control (PTC) system, known as the Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES). ACSES was developed as an integral component of Amtrak's plans for Acela; it was the first PTC system to be fully approved by the FRA for use in the United States, and the only one to be approved for speeds of 150mph.

ACSES has several components that build on the protection provided by ATC. ACSES provides protection against derailment from excessive speed, and includes programmable track transponders to store and transmit information on track condition and speed, a wayside interface unit, a temporary speed restriction server system, and an onboard installation on the locomotive. These systems are linked by radio (currently 900MHz slated for change to 220MHz), and the transponders are programmed with data about track configuration and permanent speed restrictions. ACSES provides protection against derailment from excessive speed.

Installations
All trains operating along the NEC are equipped with an ATC system including the segment of line owned, maintained and dispatched by Metro-North Railroad between New Rochelle and New Haven. Any locomotive entering the NEC are required to have an operational ATC system. ACSES went into operation in 2000, and is currently installed and operating on 206 of the 401 miles of track that Amtrak is responsible for on the Northeast Corridor spine.

The wayside components of ACSES have been installed on the Harrisburg Line and on the remainder of the South End of the NEC south of Newark, but the system is not yet operational (testing, FCC approval and equipment radio installation remain to be completed). Metro-North intends to install ACSES on their 56 mile line, which is in addition to Amtrak's 401 miles, but the installation is still several years away.

Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA)
In October, 2008, Congress passed the RSIA, which mandated PTC installations on certain segments of the American rail network (including the NEC) by December 31, 2015. Shortly thereafter, Amtrak initiated a program to complete the installation of ACSES on those portions of the NEC (totaling approximately 401 route-miles) for which it was responsible. This included installation of transponders in the tracks, and the placement of "wayside interface units" and radio systems.

Amtrak leads all other large railroads (Class 1) in the railroad industry in the installation of PTC systems, having spent $110.7 million dollars since 2008 to install PTC. On the Northeast Corridor alone, 206 of the 401 miles of track are outfitted with PTC.

The Bandwidth Issue
One of the lessons learned during installation of PTC in Michigan, was that a 220MHz radio was a superior alternative to the original 900MHz system that we were using on our Northeast Corridor fleet. The 220MHz radio transmitted information more quickly, offered better coverage, and more room for growth. However, the process for obtaining the necessary bandwidth proved to be a difficult one. Between 2010 and 2014, litigation and regulatory proceedings obstructed Amtrak's attempts to purchase bandwidth on the open market. Amtrak simultaneously searched for alternate solutions and sought repeatedly but unsuccessfully to obtain an allocation of the necessary spectrum from the Federal Communication Commission's inventory of unused spectrum. Amtrak was able to complete the purchase in December 2014, obtain the FCC's consent in February, and Amtrak took title in April 2015. The next step will be the installation and testing process for the radio system on our NEC locomotive fleet over the next few months. Provided the FCC's requirements are met, we intend to complete the system on the NEC by the end of 2015 and meet the federally mandated requirement. No other Class I railroad is as far along in installing PTC systems as Amtrak.

Signal Protection at Frankford Junction – The Site of Train 188 Derailment
Regional trains are allowed to move around the curve at Frankford Junction at 50 mph; those enroute from New York to Philadelphia (from the east) are slowing from speeds of 110mph, while those enroute from Philadelphia to New York (from the west) are slowing from speeds of up to 80mph. This situation was reviewed in conjunction with the FRA after the non-fatal Back Bay, Massachusetts, derailment in 1990. Because the approach speeds on the east side are too high for trains to pass the curve safely, a "code change point" was installed east of the curve to give engineers a warning on the ATS system, and force them to slow the train. A similar point was not installed on the west side of the curve because the maximum speeds were so much lower that a train that did not slow could still round the curve without derailing.

During the weekend of May 16-17, 2015, Amtrak will complete installation of a code change point on the west side of the curve, which will ensure trains from the west approach and enter the curve at 45mph. Trains approaching from the east must still approach and enter the curve at 50 mph.

We remain on schedule to complete the full activation of PTC in the Northeast Corridor—including Frankford Junction—in accordance with the federal deadline of December 31, 2015.

[ozbob]

ALJAZEERA AMERICA--> Older safety technology could have prevented Amtrak tragedy

More powerful locomotive: Amtrak 601, an ACS-64 "Cities Sprinter," was pulling seven cars when it derailed in North Philadelphia last week. Amtrak determined it didn't need certain safety technologies on northbound tracks because of minimal chance of an accident.
Nathan D. Holmes

Last Tuesday's derailment of Amtrak train 188 in North Philadelphia happened on a stretch of track where a decades-old safety system had not been installed, even though the technology, known as automatic train control (ATC), was in place on the same segment for trains traveling in the opposite direction.

Experts say that ATC could have prevented the accident, which left eight passengers dead and injured more than 100. The decision not to install the technology on the northbound track where the wreck occurred seems difficult to reconcile with the tragic, 72-year legacy of that particular area of track, as well as with recent upgrades to the locomotives traveling those rails.

On Labor Day weekend 1943, the Pennsylvania Railroad's Congressional Limited, an express train from Washington, D.C., to New York, derailed after an axle snapped on one of the passenger cars at Frankford Junction in the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington. The wreck killed 79 people and injured an additional 117.

For railroad workers and train engineers, the "Frankford wreck" is legendary. "We all know about the accident in the '40s there," one engineer told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Which makes last Tuesday's derailment at virtually the same spot, now often called the Frankford curve, all the more surprising — both because of the seemingly hard-to-explain high speed at which the wrecked train was traveling and because systems that might have slowed the train to a safer speed were not installed or not operational.

Today's announcement by the Federal Railroad Administration that — with the reopening of northeast corridor rail lines between D.C. and New York — the technology known as automatic train control has now been installed on northbound tracks at Frankford curve raises almost as many questions as there are brand new speed limit signs on that stretch of historically dangerous track.

First, automatic train control is not the same thing as positive train control (PTC), the federally mandated safety system that has been much in the news since last week's fatal derailment. As described by railway experts, PTC is a preventative system; ATC is a reactive system. ATC, which is decades old, is one part of a set of integrated technologies that make up the newer PTC system, which coordinates sensors on the track, on the train and at posts along rail lines to monitor train speed and location, along with track problems, and intervenes to slow or stop trains before accidents happen.

PTC requires wireless communications to keep all of the components in sync. How best to roll out that part of the system, and why Amtrak might have faced delays in doing so, has been the focus of some debate in the wake of Tuesday's fatal accident.

ATC measures train speed over portions of track and alerts an engineer by both lights and audible alarms if the train is going too fast. If the train does not slow in a matter of seconds, ATC will automatically stop the train.

On the Frankford curve, ATC was installed on southbound tracks long prior to last week's accident, but it was not installed on the northbound side. The derailment occurred on the northbound tracks when the train, traveling at more than 100 miles per hour, entered a curve with a speed limit of 50 mph. The fact that ATC was not in place on the northbound side reportedly came as a surprise to Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman.

"I didn't know that particular condition existed until this occurred," said Boardman in an interview last week with the Inquirer. "We probably would have changed it, but we didn't know about it."

Still, Amtrak has been quick to defend the decision not to install ATC on the northbound section near the curve. The assumption was that trains leaving the North Philadelphia station would not have time to accelerate to an unsafe speed in the relatively short distance to the Frankford curve. Official speed limits on that approximately 3-mile stretch range from 60 to 80 mph before entering the curve with the 50 mph limit. But because trains could, according to Boardman, negotiate the curve at 80 mph, track engineers considered ATC unnecessary at that point.

"You can get through it at 80," said Boardman in the Inquirer interview. "You could make it, though it would have been a rough ride."

For trains heading south, the speed limit before the curve is 110 mph, so having ATC in advance of the lower limit was considered more crucial.

But all of that logic is apparently decades old — incorporated into the track's safety planning well before new, more powerful locomotives were introduced. The derailed train was pulled by a "Cities Sprinter," an 8,600 horsepower locomotive that is touted by its manufacturer Siemens for its high rate of acceleration. Pulling seven passenger cars, as train 188 was last Tuesday, it would be able to reach its top speed of 125 mph in about two-and-a-half minutes.

Cities Sprinters started replacing 25- to 35-year-old locomotives on the northeast corridor in February 2014.

But whether Amtrak ever took their new locomotive equipment into account, the reality at the time of Tuesday's derailment was that as a new, more powerful Cities Sprinter approached the Frankford curve at more than twice the posted speed limit (and more than 25 mph faster than Amtrak's CEO said a train could "get through"), none of ATC's lights and alarms went off in the engineer's compartment and no technology triggered an automated braking of the speeding train.

Multiple calls to Amtrak were not returned at the time of this writing. The latest revelations, meanwhile, add to a host of questions about why technologies that could have prevented the fatal accident were not operational at the time of the derailment.

"The theory was to put it where it would result in an accident if you didn't have it," Boardman said in the same interview. For the unfortunate passengers of train 188, that theory was not based on recent and readily knowable data.

[ozbob]

As someone commented on Twitter

" Signal engineers need to constantly reassess legacy decisions when traction changes occur.  "

[Matt]

Bob,
        Good to see you are pushing ATC in QLD, as a bonus, it would enable more trains to run on the same track at the same time, surely a positive seeing as how there's no money for CRR.  Keep up the good work.
Matt.

[ozbob]

Bob,
        Good to see you are pushing ATC in QLD, as a bonus, it would enable more trains to run on the same track at the same time, surely a positive seeing as how there's no money for CRR.  Keep up the good work.
Matt.

[ozbob]

Midwest High Speed Rail Association --> Weekly Newsletter: Passenger rail safety and PTC

[colinw]

Has anyone here been watching the spectacular progress in Denver, Colorado, where a comprehensive rail transit system is being conjured out of almost nothing?  This incudes quite a bit of light rail, but also 25KV AC suburban rail, and some busway/BRT.

http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/main_26

[pandmaster]

I looked at the plans for Denver a while ago. It is absolutely incredible what they are doing.

[ozbob]

NTSB Preliminary Report: Railroad ​DCA15MR010

>> http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/DCA15MR010_Preliminary.aspx

[dancingmongoose]

Reviving the Dead Spaces Under Elevated Structures -> http://www.citylab.com/design/2015/06/bringing-the-dead-spaces-under-an-elevated-back-to-life/396236

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> The rails once built our society, and trains can do it again

[ozbob]

Twitter

Taras Grescoe ‏@grescoe  21m

#Chicago: Blue Line to O'Hare. #Toronto: UP Express.

What's #Montreal waiting for? http://bit.ly/1fhQ7JG

[ozbob]

Twitter

Taras Grescoe ‏@grescoe  7m

#Atlanta rail transit plan: stations to be surrounded by condos, shops—not Park 'n' Rides.

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/07/22/major-marta-expansion-could-transform-the-atlanta-region/#more-163565 ...

[colinw]

And we thought OUR Government was making a mess of rail.

Railway Gazette: Norfolk Southern to stop accepting traffic ahead of PTC deadline.

[ozbob]

San Hose Mercury News --> Has BART's cutting-edge 1972 technology design come back to haunt it?

... Rather than stick to the standard rail track width of 4 feet, 8.5 inches, BART engineers debuted a 5-foot, 6-inch width track, a gauge that remains to this day almost exclusive to the system. Industry experts say the unique track width necessitates custom-made wheel sets, brake assemblies and track repair vehicles. The agency also debuted a flat-edge rail, while other systems tilt slightly inward. That BART design requires more maintenance and is noisier, experts say.

Those one-of-a-kind systems lead to a dearth of readily available replacement parts. Maintenance crews often scavenge parts from old, out-of-service cars to avoid lengthy waits for orders to come in; sometimes mechanics are forced to manufacture the equipment themselves.  ...

[ozbob]

Action News --> 2 dead in Amtrak train accident in Chester; service suspended between Philadelphia and Wilmington

CHESTER, Pa. (WPVI) --
Two people are dead and dozens are injured after an Amtrak train struck a backhoe in Chester, Delaware County ...

... Amtrak officials say the train struck a backhoe that was on the tracks.

The impact derailed the lead engine of the train.

Amtrak say there were approximately 341 passengers and seven crew members on board.

Chester Fire Commissioner Travis Thomas said in a late Sunday morning press conference that the scene extended to Trainer, Pa.

Officials with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management confirm there were two fatalities. Officials say they were not passengers. It is reported one of the victims was the backhoe operator.

Thomas says 35 people suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

[ozbob]

^
Amtrak Statement on Train 89

>> http://blog.amtrak.com/2016/04/amtrak-statement-train-89/

[ozbob]

New Jersey train crash: over 100 people injured at Hoboken station https://t.co/Fch1tgDnXI

— Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) September 29, 2016

[ozbob]

US rail associations set out priorities for Trump and Congress https://t.co/6l1trWwS0W

— IRJ (@railjournal) November 10, 2016

[Matt]

LA Times  --> Finally, a train to the plane in L.A.?

  While in LA recently, we got the metro train up to Universal studios and back to the downtown area, well done.

[ozbob]

Railway Journal --> Trump proposes dramatic cuts to Amtrak operations and capital project grants

USA: In a blueprint for its proposed Financial Year 2018 budget, the Trump administration is planning to cut funding for the Department of Transportation to $16bn, a 13% reduction on that available for FY2017.

Under the proposals, swinging cuts would be made both to passenger train and municipal transport operations and to federal grants for capital investment in both main line and urban rail projects. Richard White, Acting President & CEO of the American Public Transportation Association, said he was 'surprised and disappointed' by the planned cutbacks, given President Trump's concomitant endorsement of significantly increased infrastructure spending.

In what is described as a 'skinny budget', the administration is seeking to withdraw all federal funding for Amtrak's long-distance passenger services.

Claiming these are operations 'which have long been inefficient' and incur 'the vast majority of Amtrak's operating losses', the document says the national passenger railroad corporation should focus its resources on state-funded services and on the 735 km Boston – New York – Washington DC Northeast Corridor, where it makes a surplus.

However, among the projects potentially affected by cuts to infrastructure spending is the planned Gateway project to provide additional tunnels on the NEC between Newark, New Jersey and New York Penn Station, which Amtrak regards as essential to sustaining its principal inter-city service into the future.

In response, Amtrak President & CEO Wick Moorman said that Amtrak covered 94% of its total network operating costs in 2016, adding that the cuts would eliminate Amtrak operations in 23 of the 46 states it currently serves.

Also proposed for withdrawal are the established New Starts and TIGER funding programmes, which have supported many commuter rail and urban transport projects in recent years. The Trump administration suggests that only those projects which have already secured Full Funding Grant Agreements would proceed; any other investment would need to be underwritten by states, other local authorities or the private sector. APTA says that more than 50 public transport projects in 23 states are now under threat of cancellation.

The FY2018 budget blueprint will now be submitted to Congress and the Senate for further consideration. Initial reports suggest that it is unlikely to pass without significant alteration.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/MachinePix/status/883081748145356804

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/The_Rail_Life/status/942839800477859840

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railwaygazette/status/943552754869587970

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/americanrails/status/960141753083973633