LIRR M Series Train used in crash Test

On WABC's World News tonight they showed a video of an LIRR M series Train used in crash test in Colorado. Have not found the video on their web site yet. Has anyone else seen this video

http://abcnews.go.com/?lid=ABCCOMMenu&lpos=ABCNews

The web site seems to be a day behine in videos shown on TV.

Newsday Story about it
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longi ... 8865.story

YES.
I SAW IT TONIGHT TOO!

I was able to record the video of it. They cut off the hed ends to behind the number boards and put some kind of steel cage there. and for the interior shots, they reverserd the seats and added tables.

I have seen the cars up close in Pueblo Colorado. The ends were cut off to study the effects of Crash Energy Management on MU cars. Basically a passenger car is designed with crumple zones that collapse during a head on collision. Thus protecting certain parts of the car. In fact Metrolink has decided to order new cab cars with this design since the derailment caused by a car parked on the tracks that killed and injured passengers onbaord a cab car.

In fact the M7 cars were designed and built with this in mind. Several computer test were done on M7 models while the physical test were done on old SEPTA cars. Needless to say the results of physical test were similar to the computer model.

<i>Needless to say the results of physical test were similar to the computer model.</i>

Not really needless - you *have* to validate computer models or you don't know if they're working right (and they sometimes DON'T)

That's the darn truth,

here is a link..


http://us.video.aol.com/video.index.adp ... id=1481973

They are retired LIRR M1's

They talk about these "new systems" how exatly will you install a 3' impact protection zone in front of an already existing car body? and the test were botched period becaus they did not use the same front end that we used here nor did they keep them affixed as married pairs to simulate an true wreck.

I'm not saying they did not do that, but they did not show it on the news segments. I wonder how the "real" M1 desigine would have faired going one on one with a F40. also notice that there was no brakes applied on the inpact train. the train simply absorbed the impact and moved back which also absorbs more of the impact.

Now fully apply the train and engine brakes and or try welding that F40 to the rails and see how the show goes down. I bet there will be movement but not half as much as in this segment.

the m1 would have buckled like a aluminum can..if you look closely at the video it buckled anyway

Now, they talk about the commuter accident involving that car parked on the tracks, but the test shows a train on train collision. I don't think having those crumple zones woudl make a difference if you're hitting an automobile that will barely come above the ditch lights in height. I bet the thing that caused the accident with those cab cars was that the car probably in some effect acted as a ramp, lifting the front car off the tracks and then buckling the train. So, crumple zones wouldn't have done much good there.

LIConductor has it right, the M-1's twist and crumple. When two equipment trains collided at 15 MPH in the early 80's in Lynbrook, it was the B-Ends of the M-1's that took the damage and their rear seats were crushed.

In these tests they were looking at front-end protection. Trains seldom hit each other. It's the grade crossing impacts that are most common.

Clem

The big problem with grade crossing accidents is the train derails. If it stays on the tracks, it often does quite well.

There's (some) validity in hitting a standing, but free to roll, train. When testing these things, you need to decide what you're testing for, then set up a test where only one variable is controlled.

Standing collisions faster than 30mph, at least for the LIRR, aren't really useful because of the LIRR's ASC system, which effectively limits the maximum possible collision speed to 30mph (15mph, assuming a head on where both trains are going 15). Beyond that, car Vs train, truck Vs train are a lot more useul.

Realistically, the FRA's going to have to crush a LOT of M-1s to get anything approaching a usable database

No asc on the oyster bay branch, east of babylon (soon to be east of sk). no asc east of KO.......

No MU cars running in those places either.

Jay

Photos from Newsday

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longi ... -tabheads1