Newsstand - SF Muni Train Collision

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Two light rail transit cars collided Saturday in San Francisco, causing multiple injuries, but none appeared life-threatening, a rail system spokesman said.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/18/san.francisco.rail.crash/index.html

Happened at West Portal Station. The Chronicle initially reported that one of the drivers had his head down as the train was entering the station.

Chronicle article (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/18/MN3C18RJGG.DTL)

Hopefully they'll release the surveillance footage like they did last time.

The rear train should have been in auto mode, the front should have been in manual mode. Trains exit the tunnel at this station and switch from auto to manual... IMO most likely some problem with the train control not seeing the front train.

S.F. Muni had a prior accident (June 2008) near the Giants ballpark with a light-rail vehicle running into another a/c of excessive speed. The West Portal station crash investigation is now led by NTSB. AFAIK, this is the first NTSB investigation of a Muni accident in some time.

A friend and colleague of mine was killed earlier this year (http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_11748243) when he was hit by a Muni train near the ballpark.

Looks like the train was in manual mode which is often done to save time. The following article from the SF Chronicle:

Manual Muni

One of the details that emerged from Saturday's Muni Metro crash at the West Portal Station that injured 47 people was that the driver of the train that rear-ended another train had turned off his automatic controls 24 seconds before entering the station.

Metro trains are supposed to be on automatic all the way into the station when in a tunnel -- that way, they're guaranteed not to hit another train. It turns out, however, that Metro drivers routinely turn off their automatic controls to stick to schedules and keep passengers happy, says Irwin Lum, president of Transit Workers Union, Local-250-A, which represents Muni operators.

"We were sacrificing safety for on-time performance," Lum said today. "This practice has been going on for years."

What's more, he said, management is "well aware" of the practice.

Lum said drivers are supposed to ask central dispatch for permission any time they want to switch into manual mode while in tunnels. But it has become such a common practice, Lum said, that dispatchers often tell drivers in advance to switch over if they need to, without necessarily calling in.

If a driver doesn't go into manual mode in the tunnel, the train will automatically stop well short of the platform when another train is in the station. Lum said passengers get upset when that happens, so drivers go to manual in order to pull up behind the train that is already on the platform -- allowing riders to exit.

It's not known why the driver of the outbound L-Taraval train that rear-ended a K-Ingleside on Saturday at West Portal didn't hit the brakes, although a source close to the investigation told The Chronicle on Sunday that the operator had reported suffering a blackout.

Lum said the accident was evidence that Muni needs to enforce its policy of keeping the trains in automatic mode through the tunnel.

Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the accident probe, said investigators were "still in the fact-gathering stage." But if the driver deviated from standard Muni training and procedures, he said, "we would certainly want to know about that."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/matierandross/detail?entry_id=43923&tsp=1#ixzz0Lq5ljtNt

Just a foot or two before the outbound-direction entry into West Portal station is a block signal and a sign, "End ATC" (Automatic Train Control). It is at that point that almost all Muni operators stop their trains and switch from Automatic to Manual operation as West Portal station is the beginning of manual streetcar operation for all outbound trains.

I have observed a small number of operators switch slightly before that point and continue in manual mode into the station. This mostly (but not always) occurs when there is no other same-direction train in the station. The station platform is long enough for four LRV cars, but Muni's protocol provides for trains of only 1 or 2 car lengths. Thus, there would be room for a 1 or 2-car train to enter the station if a 1 or 2 car train was already there. Undoubtedly, the NTSB will look at all of these issues.

A friend and colleague of mine was killed earlier this year (http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_11748243) when he was hit by a Muni train near the ballpark.

The incident Ocn Vw 1K mentions was a different one, where two LRVs rear-ended one-another, when one of the drivers was on his cell phone. In the incident you mention, your friend wasn't paying attention when he was killed.

I take back what I said above... so the driver entered the station in Manual... and he wasn't paying attention (or whatever else).

video for the crash released. youch!

http://www.kcbs.com/pages/4854840.php

Ouch!