oops

[milkman matt]

A minor incident in our local yard at Pakenham (Victoria, Aus) involving a train reversing into a siding.

 

[multiprinter]

The stop block was as much use as your bowlers in the ashes!!

[Trainshed Terry]

I can remember a incident like that happened at "Walton on the Naze station many years ago.

 

Terry

[The Stationmaster]

One of my Drivers once tried that with a brand new (delivery mileage only guv) HST set but at least he didn't manage to get on top of the verrrrry solid stone built stop block. Amazing how damage resistant those fibreglass noses are

[multiprinter]

Hitting the blocks a bit too hard has always been a rather common occurence unfortunately on every railway.

[Peter Beckett]

Here is a giggle sat view of the siding with carriages parked correctly

 

Peter

[DJH584]

Perhaps the driver thought he was in the other siding?

 

David

[PhilJ W]

There was a similar accident on the same day on the same line involving the same type of stock, only this one ended up inside a bank (ram-raider?). Apparently in both cases all brake systems failed

[SRman]

There have been issues with the braking on the Siemens units in wet weather since they were new.

 

Note in Peter's satellite view that our railways tend not to use proper "stop blocks", merely bolting a sleeper across the end of the rails, I have often thought how useless they appear to be, These two accidents on the same day in the same circumstances tend to confirm my suspicions!

[Gwiwer]

Adding to the post above the incident pictured was one of three very similar incidents in the same week which is an uncommonly high event frequency.

 

First one of the older Comeng sets over-ran the baulk at the end of 3 Road (a dead-end siding) at Carrum station and took out an overhead stanchion which brought down the overhaed to the running lines as well. The entire evening peak ground to a standstill and service was not restored until the following morning.

 

Then the Pakenham incident occurred as pictured with one of the modern Siemens units apparently doing exactly the same and again demolishing the overhead.

 

At almost the same time a second Siemens train staged a ram-raid on the Bendigo Bank at the Sandringham terminus when it entered a dead-end siding and failed to stop. Only the impact with the bank - which was very severely damaged with the train coming to rest more or less inside the walls - finally brought it to a stand according to comment so far in the public domain.

 

It is too early to establish whether the alleged braking problems with the Siemens trains have been in any way implicated in these incidents. At this stage there are suggestions that the Sandringham train may have entered the siding too fast and lost some adhesion on the pitted rails as it ran through. All three occurred in wet weather and all should have had the driver controlling the train from the leading cab and not "being reversed into a siding".

 

Investigations are under way.

 

There have been a few instances of the computer-controlled braking on Siemens trains allegedly releasing the brakes the instant a wheel-slide is detected and leading to over-runs. This is also under investigation with remedial measures already in place. Those include exhaustive testing, returning some of the braking control to the driver through reprogramming, fitting sanding equipement and the imposition of a 30kph speed limit approaching all stations where a level crossing is located immediately beyond the platform starter. The latter has a small effect on some running times but so far - despite some discontent among the drivers - the Siemens trains are adjudged safe to operate under those conditions.

 

It is also typical Australian practice to simply secure a baulk (usually an old sleeper painted white) across the end of slow-speed sidings rather than construct a full stop block.

[SRman]

Well, the official release from Metro is that both Siemens trains were speeding (see the VicSig site). The one at Pakenham was allegedly doing 40kph where a 15kph limit applied and the one at Sandringham was allegedly travelling at 33kph in a 15kph zone.