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SMART "Goes Your Own Way", Disregards Engine Builder's Advice
Author: Chester
Date: 10-20-2016 - 12:25
[www.marinij.com]
Fascinating news about SMART's recent swerves. Last week Chronicle reports that SMART's DMUs were being sent to Nippon Sharyo for engine replacement. Today the IJ reports that the engines are going to be "rebuilt" on "the weekends", presumably at SMART's train yard.
I think public outcry over the delays changed minds about shipping the DMUs across the country. Obviously, shipping would take a huge amount of time.
In more news, the engines, which initially were reported to be being replaced, are going to be rebuilt. It may be that SMART was hoping for a replacement, which would have involved a time-consuming cross-country trip for the DMUs. But Cummins may have convinced them to do a rebuild. But why the change in plans?
There is also news that the engine manufacturer begged SMART to wait 5-6 years to have the engine rebuilds done. The risk of a Pearson Express-type failure is "low". So, much like plastic surgery, this engine rebuild is elective. And much like plastic surgery, it could have unintended and nasty results.
The rest of the article details outrage in San Rafael regarding the train horn noise which continues all throughout the day. When SMART begins revenue service, the horns will be only be from 630-930, with one midday train, and then an afternoon rush of similar duration. Now there is going to be a whole lot of anti-SMART feeling in San Rafael based on this extra year, possibly two, of track conditioning and systems testing.
SMART is gambling that an engine malfunction during the early phase of SMART revenue service could cost them seriously in terms of ridership. What they don't realize is that there is a pretty good chance they will experience fatalities on the line within the first few months of service as people use the tracks to commute. This will shut down the line completely for up to two hours, more if the accident happens far away from a road.
What that means is SMART needs to plan for their commute runs to be completely interrupted. It's just going to happen. They need to find some way to move their patrons around the zone that has the stopped train.
Fascinating news about SMART's recent swerves. Last week Chronicle reports that SMART's DMUs were being sent to Nippon Sharyo for engine replacement. Today the IJ reports that the engines are going to be "rebuilt" on "the weekends", presumably at SMART's train yard.
I think public outcry over the delays changed minds about shipping the DMUs across the country. Obviously, shipping would take a huge amount of time.
In more news, the engines, which initially were reported to be being replaced, are going to be rebuilt. It may be that SMART was hoping for a replacement, which would have involved a time-consuming cross-country trip for the DMUs. But Cummins may have convinced them to do a rebuild. But why the change in plans?
There is also news that the engine manufacturer begged SMART to wait 5-6 years to have the engine rebuilds done. The risk of a Pearson Express-type failure is "low". So, much like plastic surgery, this engine rebuild is elective. And much like plastic surgery, it could have unintended and nasty results.
The rest of the article details outrage in San Rafael regarding the train horn noise which continues all throughout the day. When SMART begins revenue service, the horns will be only be from 630-930, with one midday train, and then an afternoon rush of similar duration. Now there is going to be a whole lot of anti-SMART feeling in San Rafael based on this extra year, possibly two, of track conditioning and systems testing.
SMART is gambling that an engine malfunction during the early phase of SMART revenue service could cost them seriously in terms of ridership. What they don't realize is that there is a pretty good chance they will experience fatalities on the line within the first few months of service as people use the tracks to commute. This will shut down the line completely for up to two hours, more if the accident happens far away from a road.
What that means is SMART needs to plan for their commute runs to be completely interrupted. It's just going to happen. They need to find some way to move their patrons around the zone that has the stopped train.
SMART "Goes Your Own Way", Disregards Engine Builder's Advice