Did anybody see this programme tonight. (Motoring Link in a minute)
Left telly on BBC 2 after Right Car Wrong Car thingy and was saw
what was a brilliant documentary on the Southall Train Crash. Makes a change from the never ending fodder of makeover gardening bilge on telly. Next week's programme is on RTA or RTC as we are meant to call them. Book some couch time for this next week.
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Very sad bits in it, also horrific.
At least if a motorist ignores a red light, only a few people buy the farm.
That train driver ignored three sets of lights. No wonder that woman survivor could no longer travel if someone else was in control.
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All TOCs run a policy where drivers that SPAD either by a significant margin, or more than once, are removed from driving duties. And this can be a SPAD of as little as a few yards.
How many drivers will pass 3 or 4 red lights in a day *intentionally* and not get even get a telling off? Train drivers are not in the habit of ignoring red signals like a significant proportion of motorists are. Accidents like this are very unfortunate, but are far less likely to happen on the railway than on the road. Don't forget, the driver wouldn't have been *able* to pass the red signals had the ATP not been turned off on this train.
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I didn't think we had any ATP in this country. Some trains have a little buzzer that goes off, but it doesn't actually stop the train.
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Last nights program was very well made, did not overly sensationalise, was very moving in parts and shocking in others. Let's see what they come up wth next week when it's on again with, I believe, a program about car crashes.
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ATP has been installed on some lines in this country - most notably in this case on the Paddington-Bristol line - but is not widespread.
The "buzzer" system is the most basic form of train protection - Automatic Warning System (AWS) - which will apply the brakes if the driver does not acknowledge a warning of a signal at caution or danger. Its main disadvantage is that by simply acknowledging the warning, the driver overrides the system and can carry on at the same speed as before.
What we're getting is Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) which is basically AWS which cannot be overridden by the driver. Better than AWS but not as good as ATP. Something to do with "cost benefits" IFIRC.
www.hse.gov.uk/railway/paddrail/tps.htm for further details.
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Interesting, but not really Motoring.
I´ll leave the thread here as being of some value, but I´m locking it to stop it going further.
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