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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">On page 5 of this thread, Paul North posted this 1999 locomotive crashworthiness report: </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/Research/locsumry.pdf"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/Research/locsumry.pdf</span></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have read this report from 1999, and considered its conclusions in relation to last year’s BNSF rear end collision in Iowa in which a coal train ran into a work train made up of flat cars loaded with maintenance equipment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In this report, it considers improved collision posts designs with strengths up to the strength of the main underframe structure of the locomotive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this amounts to strengthening the posts themselves so they do not fail before the main underframe fails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within that margin of improvement, the report offers two designs for strengthened posts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is capable of protecting the cab at a closing speed of 30 mph, and the other is capable of protecting the cab at a closing speed of 37 mph.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, at 37 mph, the underframe would not be damaged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I wonder if it has yet been determined what the closing speed was in the Iowa collision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that collision, the collision posts themselves did not fail, but the main underframe did fail where the posts connected to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, according to the analysis of the report ten years prior, the Iowa collision speed had to be in excess of 37 mph.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it was less than that speed, the report’s determination of what collision posts can withstand before damaging the main underframe is in error.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></p>
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