Septa Route 10 Trolley Collision

Bad day today for public transit, first the LIRR derailment, now a Septa Route 10 trolley collision in West Philly, looks like 38th and Lancaster. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/loc ... 73105.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One rear ended the other, this begs the question I thought they have some sort of ATC that keeps them from getting too close to each other? I know from riding them that they have a fairly aggressive overspeed warning, which I also thought was to prevent this kind of collision from happening. I could be wrong about that. I have seen them get fairly close headways sometimes, but I wonder what caused this.

34thStreet wrote:Bad day today for public transit, first the LIRR derailment, now a Septa Route 10 trolley collision in West Philly, looks like 38th and Lancaster. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/loc ... 73105.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One rear ended the other, this begs the question I thought they have some sort of ATC that keeps them from getting too close to each other? I know from riding them that they have a fairly aggressive overspeed warning, which I also thought was to prevent this kind of collision from happening. I could be wrong about that. I have seen them get fairly close headways sometimes, but I wonder what caused this.

The trolleys are equipped with a CBTC system and that's only in place in the subway tunnel. While on the surface streets, they have to adhere to regular traffic laws.

I don't see how this is any bigger a deal than if a bus rear-ended another bus.

If the NTSB recommends CBTC on the street, the climate of rail safety will have officially gotten ludicrous.

SCB2525 wrote:I don't see how this is any bigger a deal than if a bus rear-ended another bus.

I agree. Overspeed indicators wouldn't have helped in this case. But I wonder if the new low-floors (if & when they arrive) might have some of the same collision-avoidance technology that's becoming standard on cars.

If the NTSB recommends CBTC on the street, the climate of rail safety will have officially gotten ludicrous.

True, that! (but see prev. paragraph)

JeffK wrote:

SCB2525 wrote:I don't see how this is any bigger a deal than if a bus rear-ended another bus.

I agree. Overspeed indicators wouldn't have helped in this case. But I wonder if the new low-floors (if & when they arrive) might have some of the same collision-avoidance technology that's becoming standard on cars.

If the NTSB recommends CBTC on the street, the climate of rail safety will have officially gotten ludicrous.

True, that! (but see prev. paragraph)

Perhaps ludicrous in our current human-driving society. But, assuming self driving vehicles eventually take over...that technology could actually work very well. Or terribly given technical incompatibility BUT the potential for success is there.

I wasn't even thinking of self-driving vehicles yet, just some of the avoidance tech that's pushing its way down to mid-price cars. E.g. radar-based front and rear obstacle detection that issues a warning and applies the brakes if it senses a possible collision.