Amtrak Cascades Train 501 Derails Off Interstate 5 Overpass near DuPont, WA
Dec 22, 2017, 8:44 am
#61
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: DTW/FNT
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Amtrak is going back to the future for a while and will be using the old route until PTC is installed on the 'new' one. Quotes because the ' new" line has been around a long time and one of the bridges was built in 1936 !!!
See
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...-are-in-place/
Also, to those of us old enough to remember it wasn't unusual to have two or three people in the cab of a locomotive and then ended when they did away with feather bedding
Bob H
See
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...-are-in-place/
Also, to those of us old enough to remember it wasn't unusual to have two or three people in the cab of a locomotive and then ended when they did away with feather bedding
Bob H
Dec 24, 2017, 7:27 am
#62
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From that Seattle Times link: the older route where the trains will continue to run also does NOT have that train control technology. Emphasis mine.
Dec 26, 2017, 12:20 am
#63
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I'm always concerned about media when they end up covering a subject I happen to have a significant depth and breadth of knowledge on, and I can see how far off they are. Then I get concerned about their accuracy on matters where my personal knowledge base is far shallower.
If nothing else cures you of 100% trust in the media, it’s watching them report on a topic you actually know something about.
(and I say that as a journalism major...)I'm not professional in railway, but I know when upgrading a track, one of the most important thing is to increase radius for the curve so trains don't have to slow down so much. I can't believe after hundreds millions dollars upgrade project, there is still a curve with 30 miles speed limit. Drop speed from nearby 80 miles/hour to 30 miles/hour, I think that's a horrible design, a death trap on the track.
If WSJ is putting up a paywall on that article, this one touches on the same topic: https://nypost.com/2017/12/22/train-...-deadly-curve/
Right, but it also doesn't have any 80mph stretches. Can they still speed? Sure. Could they hit an oncoming train? Possibly (but a yellow-followed-by-red signal is a little harder to miss than a small speed-restriction sign). But the chances of them accelerating to a speed where they can then hit a curve at 50mph over the rated speed and then topple off the track and a couple dozen feet down are pretty slim. The lack of PTC on the Point Defiance route is virtually a non-issue.
Dec 27, 2017, 2:28 pm
#64
Join Date: Apr 2004
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As far as I know, both the old route and the bypass have PTC installed. BNSF Railway completed installation between Portland and Seattle about six months ago. The bypass was constructed with PTC. The deficiency is that the locomotives and cab cars are not yet fully equipped. Until the both the ground and moving portions of the system are in place, tested and certified, PTC cannot be activated.