Trolley Crash in Beantown


stationmaster

stationmaster

Crusty Old Geezer
Trolleys collide in Boston; 49 people hurt

"BOSTON – A trolley rear-ended another trolley that was stopped between two underground stations in downtown Boston on Friday night, injuring about 50 people, and one of the conductors told police he was texting at the time of the crash, officials said.


link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090509/ap_on_re_us/us_trolley_crash

Bob_


Text edited to respect copyrights - Use the link to view the full article.
 
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Don't they have video surveillance of the drivers postion and the cars? If not, they should. That would stop this kind of misbehavior. I'm also surprised, in this day and age, the don't have something like Automatic Train Stop, that would prevent a train from running through a red signal. I think the NKP had it in, what, 1948?
 
Assume some people may need to be put in a home for special care--of people with no COMMON SENSE!!!:mad:

We really need to protect these people from themselves and others:(:confused::rolleyes:
 
I do believe that the operator will lose his job for this.... and rightfully so. When I'm at work, other than when Angela's dad was in the hospital, I turn my phone off. And I had a job where public safety is not a factor. Cell phones, boon or bane? In this case, bane.

Having such a responsibility as to the safety and welfare of the public is a huge undertaking and should not be taken lightly.

I know of a layout, a model train layout mind you, that has detectors that turn off districts should the district ahead be occupied. Seems as though some modelers have more safety sense than the "real" engineers and conductors. There is absolutely no excuse for missing a red light or a restriction.

I agree with Jim. There should be some sort of detection and and safety system in place, and it should be a redundant system, on the line that could prevent such things from happening. We have the technology, that's for sure.

At least the operator accepted responsibility by admitting he was texting. He did one thing right. Still there should be an investigation to prevent any similar event in the future. Actions should be taken on the findings and not just the prohibition of cell phones while operating.

Back to modeling.

Bob
 
Folks, please respect all copyrights.

You can post a BRIEF excerpt of the text, and a link to the full article. You can't post the entire Associated Press article here, that violates their copyrights.

Members who violate copyrights risk being banned from the forum.
 
Bob said:
Folks, please respect all copyrights.

You can post a BRIEF excerpt of the text, and a link to the full article. You can't post the entire Associated Press article here, that violates their copyrights.

Members who violate copyrights risk being banned from the forum.
Click to expand...

Who posted an entire article? All I saw WAS an excerpt and a link.

--Jon
 
I originally posted a "copy and paste", which is NOT plagiarism when one leaves the by-line. And I also posted the link.

But, in this day and age of "sue-happy" individuals, I can understand Bob's position.

Bob
 
The trolley operator was fired, almost immediately.

The Boston transit agency has instituted a rule saying that operators will be fired if they have cell phones in their possession when on duty. There was a rear-end collision on the same line last year in which an operator was killed, where cell phone use was suspected, though in that case it turned out not to be true. But suspicion of employee phones remained in the air.

The trolleys operate in 2-car sets, and of the 4 cars involved, 3 were a total loss. Estimated cost, $9.6 million. Hope the message was important, pal.

Regarding automatic stop systems, you have to understand that this is basically a streetcar line that runs underground, not a real rapid-transit line. That kind of equipment isn't usually put on trolleys, as they're supposed to be able to stop quickly when the driver sees an obstruction ahead. But that's based on the expectation that the operator will be paying attention.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...ought_cellphone_ban_in_wee_hours_after_crash/
 
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