Train wreck in Canada

[tb-av]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/amazing_photos_quebec_town_evacuated_6eKixLeX6CXxf3UlVHChPP

[C-grunt]

That's crazy. Why did the train have no driver?

[Vash1023]

Driverless train??? Wtf

[Terracoma]

Sensationalistic journalism at its finest..... "Torpedoes"

Article title is horribly misleading. See the below:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323899704578589460837041312.html



"Joe McGonigle, Chicago-based vice president at Montreal Maine & Atlantic, said the train had been stopped outside of town for a crew change, and that there was no crew on the train at the time that it somehow started to roll. The train's engineer had inspected the train at just before midnight and all was secure. However, sometime after that, the train started to move, eventually traveling 6.8 miles, and part of it derailed and several cars exploded, he said.

Emphasis added.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Sensationalistic journalism at its finest..... "Torpedoes"

Article title is horribly misleading. See the below:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323899704578589460837041312.html

Now this makes more sense, Montreal has some automated "driverless" commuter lines but I had not heard of any automated freight lines.

[Nightvisionary]

The amount of negligence required for this to happen would almost be absurd. In most cases a 70 car train would be left in a siding for a crew change instead of blocking a main line. The engineer should have set airbrakes throughout the entire train, then set handbrakes on all the locomotives. The conductor or switchman should have set four or more handbrakes on the cars. If the train was left in a siding the switch and derail would have derailed the cars as soon as they went over. It would never have made it 6 miles.

[Honu]

a bit worse than forgetting to put on the parking brake !


Sensationalistic journalism at its finest..... "Torpedoes"

Article title is horribly misleading. See the below:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323899704578589460837041312.html




Emphasis added.

[Airhasz]

I don't trust anyone I don't personally know at the controls of vehicles I'm in. I like to be in charge of my safety because I know I will get competent navigation without relying on a worker that had unknown rest, drug, alcohol intake who cares less about my health than I do.

[Skyyr]

I don't trust anyone I don't personally know at the controls of vehicles I'm in. I like to be in charge of my safety because I know I will get competent navigation without relying on a worker that had unknown rest, drug, alcohol intake who cares less about my health than I do.

See how that works out for you on your next commercial flight. lol

[Terracoma]

The amount of negligence required for this to happen would almost be absurd.

Or a pair of bolt-cutters and a reverser key... But I'll wait for an official report before I make that jump.

Also possible that not enough handbrakes were tied and that the trainline recharged enough to release?

[TacticalSledgehammer]

Or a pair of bolt-cutters and a reverser key... But I'll wait for an official report before I make that jump.

Also possible that not enough handbrakes were tied and that the trainline recharged enough to release?

It sounds like a hippie eco-terrorist to me (think of fracking and its opponents). Most locomotives are equipped with lockable doors, although it may not have been locked. Reverser normally stowed. All you have to do is watch a YouTube video, and you can move one.
A lot of class 1 railroads have cameras and event recorders in locomotives. The railroad at hand seems to be a smaller operation with only 500 miles of track, so my guess would be they'd have old equipment lacking the camera.

[Terracoma]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/09/police-launch-unprecedented-criminal-investigation-into-lac-megantic-train-disaster/

Good article for the uninitiated on the braking systems of trains.

[Airhasz]

See how that works out for you on your next commercial flight. lol



I no longer fly, But I guess you never thought of that...lol

[SomeOtherGuy]

Here's some calculations on the train speed:

http://www.thecanadiandaily.ca/2013/07/09/climate-change-fighting-town-savaged-by-runaway-oil-train/

It seems there is some disagreement among the commenters regarding the slope. And some comments about brakes and rolling friction.

For those who know trains - do the cars have a sort of parking brake or spring brake like a semi-trailer does? I.e., heavy springs apply the brakes unless air pressure disengages them? I saw the general comment above about how many mistakes or safety violations would be needed for this to happen, and am wondering about the details.

[Terracoma]

Regarding handbrakes, all railroad locomotives and cars (both passenger and freight) possess mechanically-actuated brake shoes on at least one axle that act as a "parking brake" for that piece of equipment. Handbrakes on railroad equipment remain applied until tension is released from the handbrake wheel/lever. While tractor-trailer spring brakes are similar to railroad air brakes in normal operation, the handbrakes are effectively a separate system on the railroad.

I'll be professionally out of my lane on this, but the gist is that there should be a sufficient number of handbrakes applied on the freight cars within the train to hold the train cars in place. The number of handbrakes that need to be set will depend on several factors, including the railroad line's gradient, and the weight of the train in tons. Securing locomotives against movement is a similar procedure regarding handbrakes, except that a sufficient number of handbrakes need to be set to keep the locomotive(s) from moving when the throttle is advanced to the first (and lowest) position or notch.

[TacticalSledgehammer]

We had blanket guidelines set for handbrakes where I work. They've since done away with most of that stupidity and you tie enough to hold, then test them by releasing the air brakes for one minute. If the train doesn't move, then it's deemed a good test of the handbrakes. Every railroad is different/has different rules.