NS to install 1,600 locomotive-mounted cameras by the end of 2005

[jspinner]

11/19/2004
NS to install 1,600 locomotive-mounted cameras by the end of 2005

With a $544,000 Federal Railroad Administration grant in hand, Norfolk Southern Railway is expanding the testing and implementation of RailView, a locomotive-mounted camera designed to record all activity occurring in front of a train. NS will equip 1,100 locomotives with the system by year end, then equip another 500 units in 2005, according to the railroad's November newsletter.

In 1995, NS and Science Applications International Corp. began developing a system designed to determine the root cause of grade crossing incidents by recording crossing activity, train speed and whistle operation.

"The train system contains data boxes that establi***rain speed, whether the horn works or was blown, or if something is obstructing the path of the locomotive," said Electrical Engineer Adam Mastrangelo, who helped develop RailView. "This will allow us to demonstrate the effectiveness of safety measures already in place, assess behavior and give us the opportunity to make changes where they are needed most."

Jspinner

[Anonymous]

Do you think they will put the tapes out for rental??

[Anonymous]

Nope. I wi***hey would., but it is VERY unlikely that this will ever happen. [xx(]

[Jetrock]

There's always the Freedom Of Information Act!!!

[PennsyHoosier]

Homeland security will likely trump freedom of information in this case. But, boy, would it be amazing to see some of these. Guess I have to go back to the Rochelle web cam on the Trains.com site. [:P]

[dano99a]

naaa, I think one would be able to get their hands on a copy if they knew the right people or person at NS.

[AntonioFP45]

Guys,

Having worked for a transportation company myself I can tell you that NS might be cautious or even paranoid. If the decision were made to release tapes, it would be after a detailed review of the tape(s) was performed.

Since we're in a Lawsuit Happy society, something the tape picks up like:

Tree limbs partially blocking a grade crossing warning where a car was hit by a train,
An old railroad owned fence that's been unrepaired and sits damaged and a kid playing on it gets cut
An abandoned boxcar with a door open where a homeless person falls out and gets hurt.

Cases like these can drag a railroad through tons of financial mud! So even the with the Freedom of information Act, it's likely that the NS and the government have signed off on agreements as far as releasing tapes before a throrough investigation.

It sucks! But our greedy fellow Americans created this atmosphere!

Peace!
.

[Anonymous]

Something else I forgot to mention; the cameras are only on at certain times.

[RMax1]

Give it a while you will see them on the World's Stupidest Drivers TV show right after COPS.

RMax

[Anonymous]

Im sorry but if they think that there gona try to STOP Grade Crossing accidents they have another thing coming!............
SORRY this stupid new Video Camera TRICK is "not" gona work! And that's the SAD part!

[rrinker]

Well, the whole lawsuit business is why they are installing these cameras in the first place. And they also record more than sight and sound, the record control positions as well. So when the driver who somehow survives trying to beat the train tries to sue saying that the train "came out of nowhere" the railroad can present the black box tape that shows the ditch lights on, bell sounding, horn blowing, and crossing gates down.
As for seeing these idiots, well, back a few years at the club I belonged to we had this video that came from I think Maryland public TV or something showing all sorts of idiots running crossing gates. Complete with collisions. In once case,t he video was from a police surveillance camera placed at a notorius crossing, and then they included part of the officer's conversation with the motorist he then pulled over for running the crossing. Two of the cases from that tape stand out - one fellow was a police officer himself, yet still ran the crossing. The other was the worst - he was a RAILROAD EMPLOYEE. Of the collisions show, one has a semi truck getting positively t-boned by the train, and with the length of the big rig it's knocking down lineside poles and signs the whole way until the train finally comes to a stop. Amazingly, the truck driver was unhurt.
I've had to high-tail it away from crossings because of idiots myself. I once took my kids down to watch a train go by, and some idiot in a pickup tried to run the gates, but then had second thoughts. Unfortunately by that time the gate had come down behind the cab of his pickup and he couldn't back up. Since I wasn't sure which way the train was coming, we took off, had the train been coming from the wrong direction it would have thrown the truck right into us. Somehow the guy managed to get the gate lifted and back up in time though. Lucky for him the train was running far slower than typical at that particular crossing.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

I read a report on a newsgroup by an engineer, reporting on a grade crossing accident when he was running the train. Several teenage girls tried to beat the train and didn't, resulting in several fatalities. The parents of one of the teenagers killed tried to sue the engineer personally, stating that he was at fault! Almost unblieveable.

I've also heard of other stories how such accidents affect the train crew. Sometimes they have to be off work for quite some time because of the stress. Must be awful, seeing your train smash into some idiot at a crossing and not being able to do anything to avoid it.

Bob Boudreau

[Anonymous]

Not a bad idea at all. At least with the size of locos you have over there it's rare for the train crew to be hurt in such incidents, over here more than a few train drivers have been hurt or killed because some idiot decided to try to beat the crossing. Recently, there was an incident where a someone intent on committing suicide by parking his car on a crossing caused the derailment of a high speed train with several deaths and injuries amongst the crew and passengers - how selfish can people be?

The plan now seems to be to fit some form of obstacle-detection system to crossings that will give trains time to stop if there's something in the way - the problem being that at the moment the barriers drop, and there's no way of telling if there's an obstruction unless someone phones control and reports it.