by Jersey_Mike
I am sorry I missed this thread earlier, but for those of you who know me I have been ranting about SEPTA's bullshit switch to transit style signaling ever since I learned of their itiotic plans several years ago.
It appears that everything I had warned people about is comming true, but hopefully some agitation by SEPTA T&E employees and riders can remedy the situation.
Here's some further insight into 562 operations for those of you who do not know. First, where 562 is used on the freight world, namely on the former Conrail Boston, Fort Wayne and Cleveland lines, the freight trains are NOT equipped with the ASC units due to the handling issues that the SEPTA engineerer mentioned. If a freight has to jam on its brakes to prevent a penalty, it could derail.
On Amtrak, between REA and A, the interlockings are so close that it doesn't even needs to be called Rule 562 except between BERGEN and A and all trains get a slow speed progression even with clear signals at A and moreover, if your riding behind someone you'll get the bad signals all the way from ERIE into A. The other Amtrak 562 section in between MILL RIVER and Providence, RI. Here Amtrak left all wayside distants standing as well as felt fully descriptive home signals. This not only allows for smoother operations in case of CSS failure, but also gives the engineers the most possible information.
Both MNRR and LIRR almost exclusively use 562 and they don't seem to have so many problems regarding train control and penalty applications, I am not sure what they would be doing different. NJT firmly believes in waysides and uses them along with 1 mile blocks.
SEPTA has made two bonehead moves. One, closing the towers and replacing them with an insufficient number of dispatchers and two, trying to run a railroad like a transit system with automatic routing and go, no-go signals.
If we can get the word out to the riders and get them to bitch, we can get SEPTA to install a proper 562 system
It appears that everything I had warned people about is comming true, but hopefully some agitation by SEPTA T&E employees and riders can remedy the situation.
Here's some further insight into 562 operations for those of you who do not know. First, where 562 is used on the freight world, namely on the former Conrail Boston, Fort Wayne and Cleveland lines, the freight trains are NOT equipped with the ASC units due to the handling issues that the SEPTA engineerer mentioned. If a freight has to jam on its brakes to prevent a penalty, it could derail.
On Amtrak, between REA and A, the interlockings are so close that it doesn't even needs to be called Rule 562 except between BERGEN and A and all trains get a slow speed progression even with clear signals at A and moreover, if your riding behind someone you'll get the bad signals all the way from ERIE into A. The other Amtrak 562 section in between MILL RIVER and Providence, RI. Here Amtrak left all wayside distants standing as well as felt fully descriptive home signals. This not only allows for smoother operations in case of CSS failure, but also gives the engineers the most possible information.
Both MNRR and LIRR almost exclusively use 562 and they don't seem to have so many problems regarding train control and penalty applications, I am not sure what they would be doing different. NJT firmly believes in waysides and uses them along with 1 mile blocks.
SEPTA has made two bonehead moves. One, closing the towers and replacing them with an insufficient number of dispatchers and two, trying to run a railroad like a transit system with automatic routing and go, no-go signals.
If we can get the word out to the riders and get them to bitch, we can get SEPTA to install a proper 562 system