Washington subway crash

Happy Monkey · 06-24-2009, 11:15 PM

The driver sits on the right, IIRC, and is not elevated. The track was not elevated.

The rails show 300-400 feet of braking. I would imagine that in a seatbeltless vehicle like a subway car, the slamming of the emergency brakes would feel much like a collision, so there may be confusion. The brakes were apparently triggered by a button, not a pedal, so they are probably pretty close to all-or-nothing.

glatt · 06-25-2009, 07:51 AM

For what it's worth, we have had a very wet spring, and foliage is very lush here right now. It's quite possible that the vegetation along the side of the tracks is more overgrown in real life than in the image found on Google Earth, and the sight lines may be even shorter as a result with all the weeds hanging off the chain link fence. I also don't know where the supports for the bridge are located, since they aren't visible in the Google Earth image, so I measured as if there were none. The presence of bridge supports would also make the sight lines worse than my post.

My point was that 355 meters was about the farthest away the driver could possibly see any part of the stopped train. My gut tells me that it was more like 250 meters before it became obvious.

06-24-2009, 11:15 PM	#1
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	The driver sits on the right, IIRC, and is not elevated. The track was not elevated. The rails show 300-400 feet of braking. I would imagine that in a seatbeltless vehicle like a subway car, the slamming of the emergency brakes would feel much like a collision, so there may be confusion. The brakes were apparently triggered by a button, not a pedal, so they are probably pretty close to all-or-nothing. __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

06-25-2009, 07:51 AM	#2
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	For what it's worth, we have had a very wet spring, and foliage is very lush here right now. It's quite possible that the vegetation along the side of the tracks is more overgrown in real life than in the image found on Google Earth, and the sight lines may be even shorter as a result with all the weeds hanging off the chain link fence. I also don't know where the supports for the bridge are located, since they aren't visible in the Google Earth image, so I measured as if there were none. The presence of bridge supports would also make the sight lines worse than my post. My point was that 355 meters was about the farthest away the driver could possibly see any part of the stopped train. My gut tells me that it was more like 250 meters before it became obvious.

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