NTSB Issues Safety Recommendations to Metro North

justalurker66 wrote: If the "W" and "W MX" signs were reminders to whistle for crossings they could be considered an insult ... but they are a visual cue to the engineer of where they are on the railroad and how close the next crossing is. Every rules qualified engineer (is there any other kind?) knows to whistle for crossings. The dumbing down would be if the train blew its own whistle.

To go one better. If there is a stop and warn issued for a crossing it will give a place for the engineer to start slowing down.

Jersey_Mike wrote: This is a 21st century railroad, not a medieval guild.

21st century railroads don't depend on signs.

EM2000 wrote: Like it or not this profession requires a person of a certain caliber.

People of the highest caliber make mistakes. Metro North has run millions of trains since it was formed in 1983. One can derive from that, that they hire high caliber people. Who make mistakes now and then. There is technology that can remediate their very rare mistakes.

I agree somewhat but like to note that with further advancement of technology also makes people depend on it.
ask anyone over 30 to do math,\ without a calculator will see difference, now add in cab signal, gps devices, computers etc and you see where I am going....
making us technical savy, does not make us smarter, watching news proves this every day..

Adirondacker wrote:21st century railroads don't depend on signs.

Welcome to the 21st century. Can you name one railroad that doesn't depend on signs somewhere on their system? There sure seem to be a lot of signs on the ROW of every railroad I have seen.

Adirondacker wrote:There is technology that can remediate their very rare mistakes.

One of those technologies is very old. We call that technology called "signs".

Patrick Boylan wrote:What are PSR and TSR signs?

I had those it was "NORAC" that had my head spinning! LOL (I've since looked it up - Northeast Operating Rules Advisory Committee)

EM2000 wrote:You people do realize this is a railroad we are talking about not a highway? Just because speed signs are put up does not mean an unqualified person can run a train over the territory, or that memorizing every restriction and MAS over the territory one qualifies on will not be a part of the required training. The signs are just an aid. If you were to run a train just by the signs not being qualified on the territory you would be exceeding the speeds in the majority of the restrictions or not even knowing where and what the sign is referring to. Running a train requires thinking 3 steps ahead not play by play.

On BNSF (where they use the signs), they not only post the PSR sign at the beginning (and end) of each restriction, but they post an "advance" sign two miles before the PSR to indicate the speed restriction far enough ahead for the engineer to slow the train to be in compliance at the point where the restriction begins. Far from being "less safe," I should think this is much safer. "Guessing" the exact beginning and ending points for PSRs without any markers seems a ridiculous requirement, and is more concerning as "old heads" retire and we're relying more and more on the less experienced railroaders to run trains. Yes, they shouldn't be viewed as the only thing needed (there is still familiarity with territory necessary, in particular with grades, and especially for freight trains), but they shouldn't be dismissed as unimportant.