Posted on 01/27/2005 12:39:34 PM PST by kyperman
Would the train not have just pushed the SUV out of the way like a fly....or am I missing something. Was this a subway type of train?
If a train can be derailed by a rock on the track, why couldn't a Jeep Cherokee do it?
So9
They say a penny on the rail can do it.
The Metrolink trains run both ways, engine in front, and engine pushing in the rear. A passenger car hit the Jeep and the engine kept pushing it until it derailed.
The engine was in the rear pushing the cars so the car in the front had no real bumper or "cow catcher" to protect the undercarriage.
Also I think the car was down on the tracks and not on the crossing plate where it could have been more easily pushed aside.
OK...I can see that....I have seen car train accidents before and the car does not stand a chance and the trains don't derail....but thats with the engine in front.
Oh, no. I'd been asking around earlier today how the ambulance-chasing lawyers were going to make millions for themselves out of this when it was the fault of some total idiot. But now I can hear the "no-cow catcher" law suit coming. What a shame, because Metrolink is an excellent, inexpensive rail service - or was until these lawsuits get through.
Would that be at all helpful in reducing the difference in risk between 'puller' and 'pusher' trains?
Would that be at all helpful in reducing the difference in risk between 'puller' and 'pusher' trains?
It wouldn't help. What is needed is the weight of the engine to stay on the track and push the obstruction away. The other problem is that once the front stops, the pushing engine plows the intervening cars off the track.
All that is needed is for the switch yard to make up all trains with engine forward. It's just a matter of convenience which way they are connected.
SO9
I'm not saying it would be a panacea, but I would think that having something to absorb some of the energy would reduce the severity of crashes.
All that is needed is for the switch yard to make up all trains with engine forward. It's just a matter of convenience which way they are connected.
Many railway lines don't have facilities for reversing trains at the ends of lines.
All it takes is a siding to let the engine bypass the cars.
These boondogles are all built with Federal Tax dollars. The least they could do is spend the money competently.
SO9
Once I happened upon a train that had just driven right through the middle of a semi trailer loaded with cabbage and carrots. No one got hurt luckily, but the front of the engine was covered with cole slaw!
I don't know what California's railways are like, but can you imagine any plausible way of efficiently handling such a reversal at, e.g., Union Station (Chicago) where all the railway platforms are on dead-end spurs?
Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it.
Force is equal to the change in momentum per change in time.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action.
F = ma. It's not just a good idea, it's the law.
SUV's are EEEEEVIL!
According to one news account, the SUV was tightly wedged between the rails.
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