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New story on the Northridge Metrolink crash.

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Regarding the use of radio as an overlay of operating information: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> On one hand, the idea of broadcasting operating information seems like it would help communication even though it may duplicate signal indications.  If the communication is as important as this is, why not reinforce it with every means available? <o:p></o:p> On the other hand, the more avenues of information transmission, the greater the chance of them not agreeing, and the emergence of the question as to which avenue has the ultimate authority. <o:p></o:p> I recall a short article in Trains back in the 1970s about a wreck on the PC where a freight train ran a red signal at a Bascule bridge, and struck the counterweight of the bridge.  The article mentioned that the accident would shine light on the new, emerging issue of defining the authority of radio transmissions in controlling trains.  I don’t have the article in front of me, so I am going by memory.   <o:p></o:p> When the approaching train was some distance (perhaps a few miles) away, the bridge operator lined up for the train, and told the engineer by radio that he (the engineer) could highball right along because the bridge was lined up for him.  I am not sure what type of approach authority was in place, but I assume it was a standing rule to approach the bridge and its protecting signal prepared to stop, and that there was no approach signal prior to the bridge.  So the bridge operator was doing the engineer a favor by saving him the need to slow down and approach the bridge being prepared to stop. <o:p></o:p> Then the bridge operator remembered that he had an Army Corps of Engineers boat waiting for the bridge, so he took the route away from the train and raised the bridge for the boat.  Apparently, he was able to take the route away from the train because the train was not yet in the plant for the bridge signals.  The bridge operator did not radio the engineer of this change of mind to give the route to the boat.  He probably figured he did not need to because, under the system of signals and rules, he could open the bridge any time he felt like it with no risk to approaching trains.  Perhaps he thought he could let the boat through and get the bridge back down for the train in time, and therefore, simply did not want to aggravate the situation by telling the engineer to stop right after offering him the convenience of not even needing to slow down. <o:p></o:p> In any case, the train arrived at the bridge with its engineer expecting it to be lined up for him, and it was not.  The engineer could not stop, so he hit the massive counterweight of the bridge.  The momentum of the train, being transmitted through the drawbars, shoved the two locomotives under the gap below the counterweight.  The action sheared off everything above the locomotive frames, and wadded up the wreckage several stories high behind the counterweight.
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