Safety
The correct setting of points is fundamental to the safe running of a railway. For example, incorrectly set points may result in two trains being on the same track, potentially causing a collision.
Perhaps the greatest security challenge in railway operation is preventing the tampering of manually operable switches. Similar (non-fatal) wrecks near Newport News, Virginia on August 12, 1992 and in Stewiacke, Nova Scotia on April 12, 2001 resulted from switches being thrown open in front of the trains by teenage saboteurs. To prevent these incidents, most unused switches are locked up.
The 1998 Eschede train disaster was one of the world's deadliest high-speed train accidents, resulting in over 100 deaths. It occurred when a wheel rim failed at 200 km/h (125 mph), partially derailing the car. The wheel rim went through the floor of the carriage and was dragging on the ground. On arrival at the junction it threw the switch, causing the rear wheels of the car to switch onto a track parallel to the track taken by the front wheels. The car was thereby thrown into and destroyed the piers supporting a 300-tonne roadway overpass.
In 1980, 18 people died in the Buttevant Rail Disaster at Buttevant, Co. Cork in Ireland, when the Dublin-Cork express was derailed at high speed after being inadvertently switched into a siding via ground frame operated points.
The Potters Bar rail crash at Potters Bar, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom occurred in May 2002, when a switch sprang to a different position as a coach crossed it, a type of mishap called "splitting the switch." The front wheels of a coach progressed along the straight track as intended, but the rear wheels slewed along the diverging track. This caused the whole coach to detach from the train and slew sideways across the platform ahead. Fortunately, the movement of the switch occurred beneath the final coach, so that although 7 people were killed, the front coaches remained on the tracks. Poor maintenance of the points was found to be the primary cause of the crash.
The initial conclusion of the inquiry into the Grayrigg derailment of February 23, 2007 blames an incorrectly maintained set of points.
Read more about this topic: Railroad Switch
Famous quotes containing the word safety:
“Man gives every reason for his conduct save one, every excuse for his crimes save one, every plea for his safety save one; and that one is his cowardice.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)