Western Australia:
An investigation has started after a driverless train
operated by mining giant Rio Tinto derailed on the
outskirts of Karratha.
The incident happened around 6:30pm on Saturday,
leaving multiple train cars overturned next to the rail
line along Warlu Road.
The mining giant operates around 14,000 cars across
its Pilbara rail lines, with each car holding up to 118
tonnes of iron ore.
A Rio Tinto spokesperson said the train was heading
to the Port of Dampier from one of its mine sites.
"The incident involved a loaded train, with
approximately 30 wagons derailed," he said.
"The safety and wellbeing of our people and
communities is our top priority.
"The train was in autonomous mode and no-one
was injured in the incident." The rail line is only
used by the mining giant, and does not host other
trains.
Work to recover the derailed wagons has commenced
and the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator
(ONRSR) has been notified. ONRSR said initial
indications were that the onboard systems
governing the automated train safety had
functioned as required.
Yeah, it's an attempt to denigrate 'driverless trains' by implying it's important or even relevant that the train was under robot control at the time.
What was the physical cause of the derailment?
What is the proof (or even likely explanation) of how the autonomic control caused, or even contributed negatively toward, the incident?
Depending on how fast the train was moving, even with prompt ECP emergency accelerated set (the ~3% prospective 'advantage') it might be likely that 30 cars would derail by the time brakes stopped the rest of the consist, even if the most vigilant engineer was on the brake as soon as they realized the train had started to derail.
Now, if this was something like lateral kink ahead of the train, I'd expect a proper 'driverless' system to detect and respond to it, perhaps faster than a human engineer. But this leaves open whether it's worse to have a train going into emergency negotiating that bad a track-geometry defect in the first place...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-18/driverless-train-derailed-rio-tinto-karratha/102493484
SD60MAC9500https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-18/driverless-train-derailed-rio-tinto-karratha/102493484
Yes, that is the aritcle I find when googling the derailment. Apparently the part of the post that I questioned was a comment made possibly by a friend of Dave. Certainly the point that autonomouse trains add danger is a view that is common. Every thread about it here raises that point.
Euclid Yes, that is the aritcle I find when googling the derailment. Apparently the part of the post that I questioned was a comment made possibly by a friend of Dave. Certainly the point that autonomouse trains add danger is a view that is common. Every thread about it here raises that point.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy Siding Euclid Yes, that is the aritcle I find when googling the derailment. Apparently the part of the post that I questioned was a comment made possibly by a friend of Dave. Certainly the point that autonomouse trains add danger is a view that is common. Every thread about it here raises that point. You mean the autonomouse train doesn't have a mouse at the throttle?
You mean the autonomouse train doesn't have a mouse at the throttle?
Looking at the video, only the last third of the train derailed. By the time the video was taken, the locomotives and the first two thirds of the train were already in Seven Mile Yard waiting their turn at the ore dumpers. I think crews drive the train to the dumpers.
The most likely cause for the derailment of trailing cars well back in the train is a bearing failure. These cars are heavily loaded, up to 140 tonnes gross, 118 tonnes ore loaded. 140 tonnes is 308560 pounds.
The line has frequent hot bearing detectors and dragging equipment detectors, cast iron bars that would be broken by a derailed axle or draging brake gear.
It is most likely that a crew would not have seen a bearing problem some 150 cars back anyway.
The line in that location is dead straight on a falling grade. It is only a few miles from the management centre and is unlikely to have had any track defects.
I was riding a train there when the yard controller decided to change a signal from green to red, so our train went into emergency. Our train, 200 loaded cars, broke in five places, including a drawbar between a "married pair". But nothing derailed.
So I'd put my money on a failed bearing.
I'd say the track would have been back in service a day later.
I don't think a manned train would have been handled in any way differently.
At this location there would have been no risk to any member of the public except someone who had stopped to watch a train on his way home from the garbage dump. The company fence is a hundred metres from the track at this point.
Peter
It highlights the one drawback of crewless trains that the railroads' can't solve.
They can't blame the crew when there isn't one.
Jeff
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