Lowell Line collision at Woburn - 1/9

It was a terrible accident, and (this will probably come off horribly wrong) but derailing an entire (possibly packed) train, vs it striking track crews, well, I would not want to derail the train.

Just found this posted on Boston.com by Mac Daniel

"The Lowell line, and possibly the Haverhill run that uses that portion of Lowell line track, will not (repeat not) be back to normal tomorrow morning after today's tragic accident in Woburn.

The T will have 15 buses waiting at Anderson RTC station tomorrow morning to bus passengers to Winchester. Some trains will be able to make their normal run as one of the tracks remains in service, but there's no telling which trains. Act accordingly. Remember that there is plenty, plenty, plenty of parking at Anderson RTC, and the Logan Express idea (to Logan and into town via the Silver Line) is not half bad. Don’t forget the 352, the 354, and the 355 (afternoon) bus routes."

Washu234 wrote:Let me first say my thoughts are with the victims and their familes, this is an extremely tragic event.

I'm by no miens a rail expert (I'm just some kid who likes reading about trains) but I thought when track work was being done there was a devise that was put in place (along with warning flags and what not) to derail the train in the event that it entered a work zone. Does the MBTA not use this? Does the FRA not require it? If these devises do exist how severely would they derail the train (in other words - would it be worse to derail the train with the passengers on board)?

Thanks,

-Jody-

I believe that derail devices are typically used only in yards where speeds are slow. On actual lines it would probably do more damage to derail a train full of passengers at full speed then to let it through a construction site.

Why would you want your MOW equipment to NOT trip the signaling system to show there was a train (or something) in an area of track?

Also, I just found out about this incident a few minutes ago, however at about 4, I drove through winchester center and there was a train at the station that took off heading north, slowly, blowing its horn a few times. This would seem to contradict what I've been reading about bussing between Winchester and anderson.

Also, anyone know what they were doing? Someone said not replacing tie but working on a switch? Maintaining the team track at walnut hill? Removing it?

On TV they said the speed in that area is 60, but i think its actually 60 on one side and 70 on the other. Either way, thats incredibly fast for a collision, that track equipment must have been tossed so far. Do trains normally go slow through work areas? I know the welded rail installations on the lowell line that the trains often blow their horns when approaching or going through work areas. I love trains but even I was getting a little annoyed when they were installing all that rail.

Track equipment is designed not to shunt. Which means it doesnt show on the signal system.

Well, after these accidents, the MBCR may want to program these service vehicles for them to show in the signal systems to give a regular train like the doomed Lowell one a stop code until the service vehicles and tracksters (pickup trucks and vans with railwheels) are clear from the trackage.

Also, my condoloences go out to those MBCR employees that perished on this "day of hell" meaing the disaster. Also, this has happened too in WMATA Washington Metrorail with track workers killed by service trains in the Red Line at Bethesda and the Yellow/Blue Junction at Eisenhower Ave. Hopefully the MBCR will implement safeguards to prevent these crashes.

FYI IMHO the Wester Route is actually the "Main Line" through Reading. And Amtrak's DEs could have stopped at Reading and Bused passengers to Anderson/RTC to get to/from their cars.

My respects go out to their love ones.


Required to setup a manual block in the work area?

Manual block means:" to have warning device and flagpersons well before the work area." Traveling through work areas have a restricted speed when entering. Commuication between the flagpersons keep the worker safe within the area. Sad that this situation continues to happen every few years on the rails.

According to latest reports, trains had been switched to the other track all day. Therefore, they are investigating how and why this one train ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time...

While it is a tragedy, think of what could have happened had this been a non-work zone, and there were two trains heading for eachother on that track... Train dispatchers are more important than you think!

This morning, trains to/from Lowell are running. However, the Anderson Shuttles are being bustituted to reduce train traffic in the area. When I arrived at Anderson RTC at 6:30am, there were about two dozen T buses in the parking lot, including one artic(!). The supervisor confirmed the bustitution plan for the Anderson Shuttles.

It's interesting to note that all morning, the MBTA Web site and SmarTraveler are reporting "normal service" and not making note of the bustitution on some trains.

Last evening's trip from Kendall/MIT to Anderson RTC via Red Line, Silver Line, and Woburn Logan Express took exactly one hour, fifteen minutes. It was a good investment of $11.

Is there an event recorder in the dispatch room that records the time the switch was thrown incorrectly ? Or for that matter, the history of switch movements over some period of time ?

Robert Paniagua wrote:Track equipment is designed not to shunt. Which means it doesnt show on the signal system.

Well, after these accidents, the MBCR may want to program these service vehicles for them to show in the signal systems to give a regular train like the doomed Lowell one a stop code until the service vehicles and tracksters (pickup trucks and vans with railwheels) are clear from the trackage.

The issue with that is reliability. I have my speeder set up to shunt and it has done so each time, but it is widely reported that speeders, hi-rails, and other MOW "vehicles" do not shunt in an acceptable percentage and that it is safer for it to be noted on the board and have the dispatcher protect it. But remembering that protection is the key.

Advanced systems can "shunt" via GPS, and it works with items regardless of size or weight, but you would obviously have to have a system that supports it.

etna9726b wrote:Is there an event recorder in the dispatch room that records the time the switch was thrown incorrectly ? Or for that matter, the history of switch movements over some period of time ?

There maybe, but I am not aware of their system, but most log changes of "states" of the I/O commands. Also the Dictaphone or other recorder should have audio of the entire shift.

Without wanting to get into the "who did what" specifics of what caused this tragedy, I have a general rules/procedures question for the railroaders on this forum. To what extent are engineers normally advised of the presence of work crews on the line ahead of them? I thought that an engineer would normally be notified in advance by bulletin order or radio that there was a crew working on track X at location Y, but I may well have been wrong on that.

My condolences to those who knew the men involved.

etna9726b wrote:Is there an event recorder in the dispatch room that records the time the switch was thrown incorrectly ? Or for that matter, the history of switch movements over some period of time ?

Washington WMATA Metrorail trains do have such data recorders used to measure speed and monitor braking, but I'm not too sure if MBCR has them, or even the Red/Green Orange/Blue Lines has them. Hopefully they'll install these devices if they are not already installed.

TomNelligan wrote:Without wanting to get into the "who did what" specifics of what caused this tragedy, I have a general rules/procedures question for the railroaders on this forum. To what extent are engineers normally advised of the presence of work crews on the line ahead of them? I thought that an engineer would normally be notified in advance by bulletin order or radio that there was a crew working on track X at location Y, but I may well have been wrong on that.

My condolences to those who knew the men involved.

It depends on the railroad - Amtrak on the NEC (at least in New Jersey where I work) rarely make any mention of track work up ahead in their weekly bulletin orders or daily paper work.

Often times, they just say "NJ Rail, Train 3293, track B is out of service via a Form D, you'll be running on track 4 tonight" Now the Form D is for the MOW guys, NOT the train. If by chance the dispatcher screwed up, and routed a train into a work area, the engineer really would have no idea that the track was out of service. However, Amtrak does often use Shunting Barricades - which trips the signal system and shows track occupancy, so the train SHOULD roll up to a stop and proceed signal (if an automatic) and would be running at Restricted Speed, and able to stop short of any obstruction or anything else ahead on the track. But if that barracade sign for whatever reason didn't make a good connection, the signal system could be showing proceed signals, and the engineer really would have no idea of what lays ahead.

However, at NJTransit, in thier bulletin orders, they do things differently, and on the daily and weekly bulletin orders, ALL construction activity is listed, along with what tracks are going to be OOS or Obstructed and from where to where and from when to when. So if the dispatcher screwed up and routed a train into an Out of Service track, it would be on both the dispatcher AND the engineer, because the engineer should have known that the track was OOS or Obstructed as its listed in their required paperwork.

If MOW crews used devices on the rail to shunt in the area they are working in, couldn't they just radio to the dispather one they installed it, to verify that it worked? Seems kinda of easy?

We do not use barricades when the track is taken out of service between two interlockings(dispatcher controlled points). The dispatcher is required to apply electronic blocking devices so they cannot line a train into an out of service track.

CORRECTION: I have been corrected. I have reviewed my Timetable, and the rule states that if a Form D Line 4 has been issued, barricades must be installed.