Runaway Train!

[Blackwolf]

On Tuesday the 17th, in the beginning of evening rush-hour traffic just before 5 PM, a Sacramento Regional Transit lightrail vehicle deceded it no longer wanted to be in the Yard and made a break for freedom!

The rogue vehicle ran through three active light-rail stations and several street crossings on a 1.5-mile, four-minute journey before gliding to a halt near Del Paso Boulevard.

The train almost immediately sped up to 43 miles per hour, according to an onboard computer. Before leaving the maintenance yard southbound, a few hundred yards north of El Camino Avenue, the train ran through a track switch. The switch caused one of the three sets of wheels to derail. That set of wheels re-railed moments later when it hit the edge of the Swanston light-rail station platform, agency officials said. The train at that point was going an estimated 30 miles per hour, Lonergan said.

Things were lucky in that the train, in its momentary derailment, also suffered a dislodging of its pantograph. This in turn led to the train eventually damaging the cantenary further down the line and causing it to snap, ending the train's journey.

Lonergan said it is hard to speculate what would have happened had the pantograph stayed in place, but he said the train might have derailed completely somewhere along the line because of its speed, possibly on a sweeping turn south of Arden Way and east of Evergreen Street.

And the cause of this? A screwdriver, and a technician in the Yard cutting corners to make his job easier.

Officials said the technician had been running the train back and forth on the maintenance yard tracks while doing troubleshooting. The technician then took several actions to keep the train engaged, including wedging a screwdriver onto a kill switch to keep it open, and exited the train to inspect a control panel on the outside of the train.

As for ways to keep this from ever happening again, they're limited aside from enforcing written safety rules. RT does not have any automatic stop or Positive Train Control capabilities on any of its lines or trains, so violating a signal or a speed limit comes with no automatic peanalties. And in the case of a runaway like this, no means to stop the train except cutting the power or waiting for physics to come into effect.

RT General Manager Mike Wiley said technology does exist that would automatically stop a train that passes through a red light but such an upgrade would cost millions.

"In the next several years, up to five years, we're going to be looking to replace our whole initial set of cars. That's an option that we'll have to take a look at," said Wiley.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article11246348.html

http://www.kcra.com/news/sacramento-rt-investigates-runaway-lightrail-train/31510470

 

[fairviewroad]

And the cause of this? A screwdriver, and a former technician in the Yard cutting corners to make his job easier.

FTFY ^_^

 

[SarahZ]

Would this be a firing offense? I have to imagine so.

 

[tp49]

They're lucky two things happened. First, that all of the crossings worked as required. I could only imagine what could have happened with an incident of this type on K Street downtown. Second, that there was no train in front of it at any of the stations it ran through. It could have been catastrophic if an LRV traveling at 43 mph rear-ended a stopped train.

 

[Blackwolf]

They're lucky two things happened. First, that all of the crossings worked as required. I could only imagine what could have happened with an incident of this type on K Street downtown. Second, that there was no train in front of it at any of the stations it ran through. It could have been catastrophic if an LRV traveling at 43 mph rear-ended a stopped train.

Absolutely. Had that train not derailed partially and dislodged its pantograph, this would not have been a story burried on page three of the Sacramento Bee a full week and a half after it all occured. It would have been a leadling headline on every major newspaper front page, and one with extremely high potential for injury and death. I see this as a dodged bullet in more than one way for Sacramento Regional Transit, and transit nationwide in many regards.

I honestly don't think RT would have functionally survived a 40+ mph free riding driverless LRT through any streetrunning portion of the system. It was very lucky this all happened on dedicated ROW that does not share traffic lanes and contains protected crossings. The three stations it barreled through also present lucky cases, since the platforms are not elevated and many stations along the RT system have passengers walking across active unprotected tracks to get from one side of the station to the other. Case-in-point is the photo of the station nearest my house, Watt-Manlove. That is asphalt and concrete sat flush with the rails:

This should be a MAJOR wakeup call for RT and every single system like it worldwide. I debate the "millions of dollars" claim that an auto-stop feature would cost, but then again I'm no expert.

 

[tp49]

I was shocked given the timing of the incident that someone didn't get hit at Arden-Del Paso given how people act around that station. I wasn't as concerned at Royal Oaks as I rarely see more than one or two people there.

It was the lead story on every television newscast both at noon and at 5, 6, and 11 but I agree that RT was very lucky and while they took a major ding managed to dodge a huge bullet.