Two more workers killed on Red Line.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ynamiclead

Two Metro workers were struck and killed by a piece of track equipment just north of the Rockville Metrorail station early Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a series of serious incidents that have plagued the system over the last year. The workers were installing equipment on the tracks that helps trains communicate with each other and with headquarters.

Metro officials said the two Metro employees were struck about 1:45 a.m. by a "high-rail" vehicle, a large truck that is equipped with special wheels that allow it to drive on the track when the electricity that usually powers trains is turned off. The employees were installing new train control equipment in the track bed along an outbound section of Red Line track Line, just north of the Rockville station.

"JackRussell"
The workers were installing equipment on the tracks that helps trains communicate with each other and with headquarters.

The device in question was a Wee-Z Bond. Wee-Z Bonds do not provide provisions that allow trains communicate with each other. The Washington Post is notorious at rewriting descriptions of various equipment used by WMATA in their stores.

Metro officials said the two Metro employees were struck about 1:45 a.m. by a "high-rail" vehicle... Two Metro workers were struck and killed early Tuesday by a piece of track maintenance equipment that was backing down the track just north of the Rockville Metrorail station…

Apparently not all of WMATAs non revenue vehicles are equipped with audible backup signals.

Apparently not all of WMATAs non revenue vehicles are equipped with audible backup signals.

Hard to believe, but if that is the case, NTSB/OSHA will be on that like white on rice, along with the usual collection of plaintiff lawyers, of course.

Condolences to the families of the workers.

Bart78 wrote:Apparently not all of WMATAs non revenue vehicles are equipped with audible backup signals.

Hard to believe, but if that is the case, NTSB/OSHA will be on that like white on rice, along with the usual collection of plaintiff lawyers, of course.

I suppose it could be that there were all kinds of other vehicles around doing various things, and the beeping sound would just become background noise. But that's just speculation - the official report will help us fill in the missing bits.

Shouldn't the workers on the ground have some sort of signaling device that they could set up in order to alert vehicles that people are working? Or does that create more problems than it solves? I have no operations experience, so I don't know what other systems do when they have work like this going on.

The news reports are now that the NTSB has launched a formal investigation.

Condolences to the families of the workers.

Yes, definitely..

JackRussell wrote: Shouldn't the workers on the ground have some sort of signaling device that they could set up in order to alert vehicles that people are working? Or does that create more problems than it solves? I have no operations experience, so I don't know what other systems do when they have work like this going on.

Not an operations person here, either, but I thought the blue flag rail attachment was designed to do exactly what you describe. Perhaps an operations type will check in to this thread to give better info...

From the original story ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ynamiclead

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the truck does not emit a beeping noise when it travels backward on rails, though it does when driving in reverse on a roadway.

Stupid accidents.

"justalurker66"
Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the truck does not emit a beeping noise when it travels backward on rails, though it does when driving in reverse on a roadway.

The above sentence has been deleted from the article sense it was first posted.

However is still appears in this Dr. Gridlock blog post dated 01 26 2010 1219 ET.

Ever high rail vehicle that I have ever seen uses the tires to apply traction to the rail. If the vehicle was equipped with an audible signal, then it should sound the audible signal when the transmission is placed in reverse.

Personally I don't care if the truck was moving forwards or backwards, on rail it should have some sort of warning sound (like the bell on a train). It seems that this rail vehicle was being operated less safely than any train on the line would have been.