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Re: NTSB Press Release re: BNSF rear-end collision in Iowa
Author: OPRRMS
Date: 05-04-2011 - 10:23
Severe Duty Wrote:
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> Alertor unacknowledged will only set up a Penalty
> Brake application, after the alertor has been
> active for about half a minute. All of this takes
> time and distance from the last point the alertor
> was acknowledged, to the point where the train is
> actually stopped. The lag time between alertor
> annunciations is also significant.
>
> And it is just as easy to continue to acknowledge
> a desk-top mounted alertor mash button in a dream
> state of early morning doziness as it is driving
> home drunk off your ass without causing mayhem.
> Trust me. The Holy Grail of PTS-sponsored
> fail-safe fantasy land remains to be seen.
My point about alertors, exactly.
In their report on the Bertram, CA, rear-end collision, the NTSB had this to say about the alertor:
The leading locomotive had an alerter that requires an engineer to reset an alert by pushing a button on the control panel. This type of alerter is not connected to the locomotive event recorder. No evidence was found to indicate that the alerter was not working properly before the accident.
The full report on Bertram can be found here: [www.ntsb.gov]
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> Alertor unacknowledged will only set up a Penalty
> Brake application, after the alertor has been
> active for about half a minute. All of this takes
> time and distance from the last point the alertor
> was acknowledged, to the point where the train is
> actually stopped. The lag time between alertor
> annunciations is also significant.
>
> And it is just as easy to continue to acknowledge
> a desk-top mounted alertor mash button in a dream
> state of early morning doziness as it is driving
> home drunk off your ass without causing mayhem.
> Trust me. The Holy Grail of PTS-sponsored
> fail-safe fantasy land remains to be seen.
My point about alertors, exactly.
In their report on the Bertram, CA, rear-end collision, the NTSB had this to say about the alertor:
The leading locomotive had an alerter that requires an engineer to reset an alert by pushing a button on the control panel. This type of alerter is not connected to the locomotive event recorder. No evidence was found to indicate that the alerter was not working properly before the accident.
The full report on Bertram can be found here: [www.ntsb.gov]
