Railroad Forums 

  • Vehicle collision in North Wilmington (1/21/2022)

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1590105  by GaryGP40
 
HA!! I know., right? I live in Wakefield. I actually didn't mind the horns but oh what a debacle THAT was!! Yikes.

There are places like Prospect St. southbound where the train is coming around a curve and if they gates aren't working then it's going to be a turn around and the T will be asked "Why AREN'T the trains sounding their horns?" I hope that never happens, but, well, the odds are that it will. I've seen them not working many times over the years.

And this is the only train on the regular schedule (that doesn't originate/terminate in Reading, which none currently do) that does NOT stop at N. Wilmington. That's very odd. If the train had been slowing down for a potential flag stop that might also have played a part. Not sure why that's the only time the train doesn't stop there on the regular schedule currently in operation.
 #1590116  by GaryGP40
 
Thanks for that find! Ugh. I wonder if this was the first train after they had finished that went through the crossing?
Last edited by CRail on Mon Jan 24, 2022 3:09 am, edited 1 time in total. Reason: Unnecessary quote removed. Do not use the "Quote" button as a "Reply" button.
 #1590124  by l008com
 
As details come out, I have two questions that seem pretty relevant.

First, does anyone know any details of how the electronics in crossing gates work? How many "modes" do they have, and what are the properties of each mode? Why did the mode they were left in cause the gates to come down, but only after the train went through? I'm very curious about how this technology works.

SECOND, even though I give horn complainers tons of crap, I can see how 4am train horns would be kind of annoying. HOWEVER most automative traffic is driving over the crossings during the daytime. And daytime train horns aren't really a problem for local neighborhoods. People might still complain, but the complaint of "train horns at 2am, 3am, 4am every day stop me from sleeping" holds a lot more water than the complaint of "4pm horns annoy me because I don't like the sound".
Point being, why not at the very least implement something like night-time only quiet zones along the route. So you get beeps during the day but quiet at night. If train horns are crossings are another layer of safety, then going quiet only at night would still cover the vast majority of crossing drivers under that layer of safety.
 #1590130  by GaryGP40
 
Unless the PR department is trying to spin it as "we hired subcontractors to do this work as we were short-staffed and they failed to comply with all regulations."

I'm not saying it wasn't a Keolis employee at all, just that they might be spinning it off them as a PR move in light that quite a number of people (I am sure the poor woman's family chief among them) who were shocked that this happened.
Last edited by CRail on Mon Jan 24, 2022 3:11 am, edited 1 time in total. Reason: Unnecessary quote removed. Do not use the "Quote" button as a "Reply" button.
 #1590131  by eolesen
 
l008com wrote:
First, does anyone know any details of how the electronics in crossing gates work? How many "modes" do they have, and what are the properties of each mode? Why did the mode they were left in cause the gates to come down, but only after the train went through? I'm very curious about how this technology works.
Put simply, the wheels of the train complete a loop electrical circuit that tells the gates to go down or up when a certain voltage and/or impedence is reached.

There are loops on both sides of a crossing, and my guess is only one appears to have been locked out, leaving the second loop to be triggered when the train went past the crossing...

I always check crossings before proceeding, even in the city.. I don't care if other drivers flip me off or honk their horns... I grew up with 70 mph commuter trains going thru our town and regularly drive thru a crossing where a school bus was hit by an express, killing seven high school students.
Image
Last edited by eolesen on Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
 #1590136  by Trinnau
 
GaryGP40 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:15 pm
chrisf wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:55 am To clarify, the employee worked for Keolis, which operates MBTA's commuter rail in its entirety. It's some legal spin on the part of MBTA to claim this is just a contractor.
Unless the PR department is trying to spin it as "we hired subcontractors to do this work as we were short-staffed and they failed to comply with all regulations."

I'm not saying it wasn't a Keolis employee at all, just that they might be spinning it off them as a PR move in light that quite a number of people (I am sure the poor woman's family chief among them) who were shocked that this happened.
Doesn't appear to be any spin, it's just factual. MBTA hires Keolis to operate the CR system on behalf of MBTA, so they are technically a contractor. It's a little different than a contractor hired to do construction or emergency work, but still "under contract".

Fair-use quote, for clarity:
Boston Globe wrote: An employee known as a signal maintainer from Keolis Commuter Services, which has a contract with the MBTA to operate the railroad, was performing regularly scheduled testing and preventative maintenance shortly before the crash, Poftak’s statement said.