Metrolink Previews PTC

[WhoozOn1st]

Metrolink previews $200-million crash prevention system

"Metrolink officials plan to install positive train control on their 500-mile Southern California commuter rail network by December 2013, two years ahead of a federal requirement for the system to be deployed nationwide. Field testing of the equipment is taking place on nights and weekends."

"A 2015 deadline to deploy the safety system on passenger trains and freight trains carrying hazardous cargo was imposed by Congress after the Chatsworth disaster. But there have been recent efforts to relax the deadline by freight railroads and some public transportation agencies."

 

[WhoozOn1st]

An additional item on Metrolink's PTC from The Source:

Metrolink unveils first train with anti-collision technology

"With the fourth anniversary on Wednesday of the deadly crash in Chatsworth in 2008 that killed 25 people and injured 135 — many critically — aboard a Metrolink train, transportation officials on Monday showed media the work they're doing to ensure that something similar never happens again."

The Source story includes a historical reader comment...

"I give Metrolink credit for embracing PTC,even if it took a horrible accident to get them to change their safety culture.Almost 100 years ago, Pacific Electric, the main interurban transit company in L.A., had a horrible accident at their Vineyard station, resulting in 16 dead, and 200 injured. 3 days later Pacific Electric spent $350,000.00 on on absolute block signals, which were safety wise, state of the art for safety.Do you notice the similarities? There are lessons to be learned from history."

The P.E. Vineyard wreck happened on July 13, 1913. In addition to the change in signalling instigated by the crash, P.E. also never again ordered wooden railcars, even changing a design then on the drawingboard to steel following the splintering and telescoping of wooden cars at Vineyard.

Hi-rail SUV testbed fitted with PTC equiment. LACMTA photo.

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[WhoozOn1st]

Not worth a new thread, but a guy who runs PATH trains is coming to Los Angeles...

Veteran New York area transit leader to head Metrolink

"Michael P. DePallo, 58, current director and general manager of a rail subsidiary of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, replaces John Fenton, who unexpectedly left the agency in May to head a Florida-based rail company.

"The rail service overseen by DePallo carries more than 250,000 passengers a day between Manhattan and New Jersey, far more than Metrolink's daily ridership.

"DePallo will take over a railroad that has been trying to attract more customers, upgrade its operations and improve safety in the aftermath of the deadly Chatsworth crash Sept. 12, 2008, that killed 25 people and injured 135.

The guy received this hyperbolic and goofy endorsement:

"'Mike DePallo is one of the best public servants I have ever worked with. Not since California took the Dodgers has New York and New Jersey suffered such a loss,' said Bill Baroni, deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey."