Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• Every locomotive is equipped with an event recorder just like
the black box carried in an airplane. Throughout the trip, it
records the train's motion and speed and the engineer's use
of controls. In the event of an accident, the information from
this device will be used to help determine the cause.
• Amtrak is installing video cameras in all of their road engines,
meaning locomotives that operate between cities. In the event
of a grade-crossing accident, a video record can help deter-
mine if the warning lights were flashing and the gates were
down when the accident occurred. These video records have
other uses, but the reality is that this information is most
often used by the railroad to disprove charges of negligence in
the lawsuit almost inevitably brought by the victim's family—
a sign of the litigious times in which we live, I'm afraid.
Where trains traveling through mountain passes run
close to canyon walls, wire fences are installed along sections
where rockslides could obstruct the tracks. When you spot
one, you'll realize immediately that these flimsy slide fences
couldn't hold back any falling rocks. On the contrary, they're
intended to break. When that happens, a warning signal is
triggered, and the railroad's dispatcher is immediately alerted.
• Supplementing direct voice communication between the
locomotive engineer and the railroad's dispatcher is a whole
sophisticated and complex system of signals to control the
movement and location of every train. A key element in all of
these systems is that each signal is automatically activated by
the train itself, not by an individual at a distant location who
may not be certain of the exact location of the train. These
systems will be updated and have even greater sophistication
by 2015, which is the deadline set by the federal government
for all railroads to adopt the PTC (positive train control)
system.
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