JDC wrote:Report card for Surge 5, but only up to 7/24. So it does not include the second half of the time, till 7/31. http://www.wmata.com/rail/SafeTrack_Sur ... rt_v3.pdf?They noted that traction power work is limited because they need to turn off power to the 3rd rail for both tracks, limiting them to 4-hour work windows. I am wondering whether the derailment indirectly helped them out in that there were no running trains from Friday through Sunday.
Railroad Forums
Metro's revised track work & maintenance plan
- Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua
Metro has modified Surge 7 so that on the coming weekend there will be a complete shutdown between Shady Grove and Grosvenor in order to address track/switch issues identified after the recent derailment at EFC. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr- ... k-project/
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
FTA is not happy at all with Metro's track maintenance efforts: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tr ... story.html
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
How many intense and detailed emergency inspections has Metro conducted this year? I lost count, and that is including the big all-day closure in the spring. And despite numerous intense, detailed, safety focused inspections, this stupid shit continues to happen. At some point, leadership and politicians needs to realize that the problem is the people. When you send the same lazy morons that created the problems out to inspect the problems they crated, don't act surprised that nothing changes. The lazy, incompetent, show-up-for-a-check employees that Queen Jackie defends day in and day out are responsible for this. And the managers that allowed it for decades are equally complicate. They could fire thousands of people in all levels of employment and literally nobody would notice them missing. They didn't do crap on the job, and they can continue not doing crap sitting on the street for all I care. At least we'd know nothing's being done, rather than being misled into thinking it's being done. People died because of their laziness.
The only thing that continues to surprise me is that the media and regulators have managed to not notice this for decades until now. It's been obvious to anyone that wanted to see it.
The only thing that continues to surprise me is that the media and regulators have managed to not notice this for decades until now. It's been obvious to anyone that wanted to see it.
JDC wrote:FTA is not happy at all with Metro's track maintenance efforts: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tr ... story.htmlIt is always easy to sit back and criticize - I would be most interested in knowing what the FTA would have done had they had complete say over how things are handled. You get the feeling that they would have been happier with a 6-month total shutdown to conduct repairs, re-training, and firing/hiring. There was so much rot - both in terms of physical condition of the railroad, as well as in the employee base.
MCL1981 wrote:How many intense and detailed emergency inspections has Metro conducted this year? I lost count, and that is including the big all-day closure in the spring. And despite numerous intense, detailed, safety focused inspections, this stupid * continues to happen. At some point, leadership and politicians needs to realize that the problem is the people. When you send the same lazy morons that created the problems out to inspect the problems they crated, don't act surprised that nothing changes. The lazy, incompetent, show-up-for-a-check employees that Queen Jackie defends day in and day out are responsible for this. And the managers that allowed it for decades are equally complicate. They could fire thousands of people in all levels of employment and literally nobody would notice them missing. They didn't do crap on the job, and they can continue not doing crap sitting on the street for all I care. At least we'd know nothing's being done, rather than being misled into thinking it's being done. People died because of their laziness.
The only thing that continues to surprise me is that the media and regulators have managed to not notice this for decades until now. It's been obvious to anyone that wanted to see it.
More from the report. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr- ... intenance/. The takeaway is that Metro's frontline workers don't know what they're doing in many instances, and their supervisors either don't know- or dont care - to follow Metro's own safety requirements.
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
Here is the link to the full 36-page report: https://tribwdcw.files.wordpress.com/20 ... -08-16.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There are 2 sides to every story, but still .... Some of the items in this report are pretty scary. Hopefully some good will come of it, from politicians to managers to the boots on the ground..
There are 2 sides to every story, but still .... Some of the items in this report are pretty scary. Hopefully some good will come of it, from politicians to managers to the boots on the ground..
“... FWSO [FTA WMATA Safety Oversight] inspectors found deficient track conditions requiring speed restrictions that were missed by track inspectors, including instances of missing direct fixation or DF fasteners (up to 456 inches between effective DF fasteners) that should have been already noted and repaired. In other instances, questions regarding the cause or source of specific defects, from wheel burns, to spalling and corrosion, were incorrectly identified and the typical progression patterns and timelines for common defects were also not well understood. Many of the track inspectors encountered appeared to be inadequately trained with little or no hands-on-training.”456 inches? No wonder there are derailments. That's I'm surprised there haven't been more comments here on the report. Guess we are all getting hardened against how bad things can be.
JackRussell wrote:
It is always easy to sit back and criticize - I would be most interested in knowing what the FTA would have done had they had complete say over how things are handled. You get the feeling that they would have been happier with a 6-month total shutdown to conduct repairs, re-training, and firing/hiring. There was so much rot - both in terms of physical condition of the railroad, as well as in the employee base.
What is FTA's history/experience in track inspections?
Where else are they the regulator of rail ops?
In order to address these FTA findings, Metro is changing some weekend single tracking into total line shutdowns. For instance, rather than single tracking for Surge 7 this weekend, there will be no service at all between Shady Grove and Grosvenor. https://wamu.org/news/16/08/10/to_get_f ... g_to_metro
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
Wapo has a really nice story about the failure of metro's overall track maintenance program, including some helpful charts/graphs. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr- ... -show-why/. Not sure if the track territory one had ever made the rounds before,
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
Metro has announced that the current Safe Track plan's surges will be modified in several ways. http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/P ... aseID=6153. Surge 7, currently underway, will be extended. The surges to follow will occurs on new dates, and Metro will issue a new timeline for surges later in the year/beginning of 2017. The reason for the modification is partly weather - the heat/humidity lately has slowed down surge 7 on the Red line - as well as the FTA's newest safety orders issued to Metro and work on crossovers.
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
JDC wrote:In order to address these FTA findings, Metro is changing some weekend single tracking into total line shutdowns. For instance, rather than single tracking for Surge 7 this weekend, there will be no service at all between Shady Grove and Grosvenor. https://wamu.org/news/16/08/10/to_get_f ... g_to_metroA photo Metro put on Twitter of the weekend work on this segment to address the crossover. https://twitter.com/Metrorailinfo/statu ... 4357384192
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.
A light finely came on over somebodies head. The ties under rails in the crossovers of the lesser used interlockings has a service life that is the same as the ties under the mainline rails.
John in the sand box of Maryland's eastern shore.
Sand Box John wrote:A light finely came on over somebodies head. The ties under rails in the crossovers of the lesser used interlockings has a service life that is the same as the ties under the mainline rails.Give them credit - it only took one derailment for them to figure that one out.
Metro has posted an interim progress report for surge 7 on the Red Line http://www.wmata.com/Images/Mrel/MF_Upl ... rt_v2.pdf?
It has also created a subpage with photos/videos of the work being done http://www.wmata.com/rider_tools/metro_ ... m?AID=5728
It has also created a subpage with photos/videos of the work being done http://www.wmata.com/rider_tools/metro_ ... m?AID=5728
Living in Broadlands, VA; Working at Half & L SE, DC.