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FRA says push-pull passenger operations safe
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FRA says push-pull passenger operations safe <br /> <br />The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a report, “Interim Analysis: Push-Pull and MU Train Operations,” that says push-pull passenger train operations are basically safe. There is no greater risk of derailment in push mode (cab car first) than in pull mode (locomotive first), says FRA, though the agency did recommend that certain structural modifications could be made to cab cars to make them safer for passengers in the event of an accident. Such modifications could include crash energy management (crush) zones. <br /> <br />FRA’s July 1 interim report, part of an ongoing evaluation of push-pull operations, was issued as the result of an investigation following the Jan. 26 chain-reaction crash of two Metrolink commuter trains and a parked Union Pacific freight train in Glendale, Calif., that killed 11 and injured 200. Eight of those killed were in the cab car of an inbound train in push mode that hit an SUV that had gotten stuck on the tracks following an aborted suicide attempt. The train derailed, struck the UP train, then plowed into an outbound Metrolink train. The FRA said the circumstances of the accident were unusual. The driver of the SUV has been charged with 11 counts of murder. <br /> <br />“FRA is aware that when a collision does occur, whether at a crossing or with other rail rolling stock, passengers in a cab car or MU locomotive may be more vulnerable than passengers riding in a coach trailing a conventional locomotive,” the report said. “However, it is also likely that severity outcomes in high-energy events, such as the Glendale derailment, are more likely to be influenced by chance circumstances rather than by placement of a locomotive in the consist. . . . Very clearly, passenger rail as a whole has not experienced a notably unfavorable experience with push and MU service.” FRA cited such factors as cab signals, automatic train control, crossings equipped with lights and gates, grade separation in some densely populated areas, and closely scheduled operations that give priority to commuter train movements as “supporting a high degree of safety in contemporary commuter rail operations” and “appropriate for consideration as the merits of push-pull and MU operations are considered.” FRA characterized the risk of such operations as “small.” <br /> <br />Since the accident, Metrolink has prohibited passengers from riding in the front mezzanine of its bilevel cab cars by roping the area off, a practice the FRA calls “prudent.” The agency is one of many participating in a joint FRA RSAC (Rail Safety Advisory Committee)/APTA PRESS (Passenger Rail Equipment Safety Standards) task force to develop new safety specifications for cab cars, as well as an APTA-sponsored System Safety Planning Process. <br /> <br />Metrolink plans to issue an RFP for new bilevels this fall and is planning on requiring its new railcars to have crush zones. <br /> <br />From Railway Age Site
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