Re: BART Technology
Author: Ed Workman
Date: 03-28-2016 - 09:39
After I found refs to a lot of reports
I found another article
As I said earlier, reports for tests and trials at the Diablo track include multiple versions of typical components.
BUT
a very big thing was done in a different manner
As background
The gummint entity BARTD hired the Joint Venture PBTB to do some work and parcel out a lot of work- to firms such as PBQ&D, Bechtel, and TUdor
For the Big Thing, PBTB solicited bids to design and build the Automatic Train Control
Westinghouse won
NOt much supervision was given to Westinghouse, and folks say that PBTB had little/no methods to monitor the process; requests for information by PBTB staff were often simply ignored .
The end result was a lot of delay to opening of BART and an accident a coupla weeks after opening that injured a coupla dozen passengers. BART reverted to a "Timetable and Train Order" system. Gee I'd like to read about how that was prosecuted.
But during the oft delayed process an electrical engineer at PBTB had brought attention to his superiors that trouble was brewing. He was ignored . Two others joined in the whistle chorus, and eventually he contacted the BARTD board.
The board voted 8 or 10 to 2 to ignore the warnings and 3 engineers were fired as troublemakers. The CSPE tried to investigate and was stonewalled, but the engineers were eventually awarded $885000.
As much detail as could be dug up is told in a paper about engineer ethics titled "THe Bart Case" which I found online [and of course neglected to record the url - I'll get this internet thing someday]
It seems to me , at my age now compared to my callow youth then, that the history of BARTD design and construction should have been written [in gory detail of course], say a decade ago. Most if not all of the inside folks must now be dead, and I wonder what happened to PBTB records.
Harre Demoro probly would have done a very good job , alas he died early, albeit not mysteriously.
An interesting person to know a lot more about was Moulin. He had a first name, which I forget, but nobody used it, nor was he mentioned [out of his presence] as Mr Moulin, just Moulin. As I recall, he was a top guy at PBTB, the leader and pusher- The Construction Manager. He was a very young man for such position, and for a career construction person held the Dream Job of the era. I do remember overhearing the huddle at the front of the drafting room 'Moulin wants an answer tomorrow' and folks jumped to get it. I gathered Moulin was a Reamer of New Orifices
The next construction dream project was the Alaskan Pipeline, and Moulin got that top job, then died of cancer