I think it is locally controlled.
The demo I saw on TV show it is an automated system that compares the trains speed approaching a speed limited zone to the allowed speed, and then if the engineer doesn’t brake in time, the system will automatically take over braking control and slow the train down to the allowable speed.
This is my understanding - it is an automated system.
I worked in the aviation industry for many years, where there are triple and quadruple redundancies for safety. This is embraced by everyone because of the catastrophic nature of a plane falling out of the sky. Airline travel is extremely safe as a result. Train travel is very safe, too. Still, we see train accidents, and they, too, are catastrophic, in this case for 8 people and their loved ones, and the others who are injured. I read about this control system many years ago, and I can’t understand why the installation of this system has been so slow. As for concerns about maintenance, I don’t see how this system has more difficult requirements than any other engineered system.
Not more difficult, just another maintenance that requires more technical skill than maintaining tracks. And the technician will have to travel along tracks getting paid for travel. If it takes 30 min to service each PTC and you need to travel 1 hour to get there. It’s not very efficient.
At any rate, why can’t they just record miles traveled and know the speed limit associated with it? They could for example, at mile 20, reduce the speed to 50 mph. Isn’t it pretty simple with trains? You wouldn’t need PTC or GPS to know what speed you need to be going since they just travel on a straight line…
re#85 No question enlightened despotism is the most efficient form of government as long as the despots are enlightened.
There’s a new wrinkle in the news:
@mathmom - I’ve always said that good things can happen with a benevolent dictatorship, the problem being that they never seem to be benevolent, or at least not for long. The people who want power are rarely the people that should have the power.
I’m not one to go in for speculation, but have there been reports explaining the mechanics of the controls of this train that could possibly provide an explanation for how either mechanical failure or operator error could theoretically cause the train to accelerate going into the curve?
The train being struck by something would have no bearing on it traveling at 107mph.
Unless it hit and cracked the windshield and/or hit the engineer, allowing the train to continue to accelerate if that’s the mode it was in. At least one other Amtrak train was hit that night and it cracked a window in the passenger cars.
I’m a bit surprised by the reports that are being given that suggest the engineer’s memory is likely to come back in time, as his body recovers from the injuries. About four years ago, my H was in a bike accident, and to this day, we have no idea what happened because of the concussion he suffered. He’s not even sure where it happened. All I know is one Friday evening, my doorbell rang, I opened the door, and some guy was standing there with my husband, telling me he’d been in a bike accident. H can remember leaving his last location, but there are about ten miles between it and home, so it could have happened anywhere along there. This good samaritan found him and brought him home. The bike had no damage, so we’re assuming H slammed on his brakes to avoid being hit and flew over the handlebars. The ‘accident’ that he has not recovered any memory from, resulted in the concussion, a broken clavicle (that required surgery), six badly broken ribs and a pulmonary contusion. The guy said H refused to go to the ER (although I did take him later that night). Of course, because we didn’t know what happened, and he was not a good reporting source, we didn’t know better than to insist. He was just kind of stunned, but when that started to wear off, he agreed to go.
So I do not pin any hopes on this guy gaining any meaningful memory back… could happen, but I’m skeptical.
Yes, but bullet trains are a different breed of trains with protected rails and higher security. Japan is not immune to death on its rail system. The AMAGASAKI accident was very similar to this one: a young engineer, a curve calling for 43 mph, and a speed about double that, and the casualties were 7 times higher.
I don’t think the rock incapacitated the engineer. The engineer was well enough to converse on the radio about the rock. Not sure why it’s significant.
If it happened, it could be a contributing reason to what the posters on the train message board have speculated: that the driver lost “situational awareness” (meaning that he misapprehended where he was on the route and cranked up to high speed thinking he was past the curve when he was not). But if that is what happened, its unlikely that a memory is going to be recalled that essentially says “I was surprised and distracted by something that hit my windshield and it caused me to make a big mistake.”
Maybe I am a suspicious person. I have to say it smells a bit fishy, a bit too packaged. If you are distracted by a rock, do you react by accelerating? I don’t want to demonize him unnecessarily. It is an understandable mistake if he accidentally accelerated. But we need to know what happened as it happened without sugarcoating or distraction. Once we know, we’ll know the course of action to prevent a repeat.
Is it possible the train malfunctioned and was accelerating and he did not realize it until it was to late? I read that the track is so smooth that people may not realize the train is accelerating.
Well, I’d think an engineer would be able to tell because that would b part of their job responsibility expectations, but as for passengers, I heard interviews from people who both did and didn’t realize it was going over the speed limit. My bet is it depended on what activity they were engaged in on the train at the time of the acceleration (resting, reading, talking, looking out the window, etc.).
I sometimes have my GPS turned on in the train, cause it’s fun to track my progress down the line.
But the trains Im on, are so slow! ( it’s about as fast as driving, but I prefer it because I can walk around)
Mostly cause of freight traffic, I think, which the Japanese passenger trains aren’t affected by.
If he really can’t remember, it may come back if the memory loss was due to shock, and not impact.
Anyone else watching the 60 minutes piece on our nation’s crumbling infrastructure?
The crumbling infrastructure isn’t news anymore. The denial from our politicians is.
Yup. The political side was addressed. Definitely something I will give increasing weight to when deciding on future votes.