Metrolink Board Chairman Keith Millhouse showers the new safety-enhanced rail car with confetti as transit officials launch the first of Metrolink’s new Guardian fleet, which will eventually total 137 rail cars equipped with state-of-the-art safety technology. Also on board for the launch is, background from left, Metro’s CEO Art Leahy, Director Richard Katz, Republic of Korea Consul General Jae Soo Kim, Hyundai Rotem Co. President Minho Lee, MTA Chairman and L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe and Metrolink CEO John Fenton. Photo by Gary Leonard.
Metrolink publicly debuted its first Hyundai Rotem railcars at Union Station this morning. The cars are equipped with crash absorption technology. The agency has ordered 137 of the cars to be part of its “Guardian” fleet.
Among the cars’ safety features, according to Metrolink:
* Crush zones that absorb impact at each end of the car
* Enhanced bumpers to absorb, balance and dissipate force if an impact were to occur
* Couplers that absorb energy and help to keep cars in line and upright
* Work tables designed to dissipate the force of a collision
* Reconfigured seat placement in each car
* Comfortable seats with higher seat backs, provide more neck and back support
* Illuminated and marked pathways and exits
* An elevated train operator compartment
* Preinstalled inward and outward facing video cameras
* Sleek, stainless steel exterior
In addition, and as a response to the deadly Metrolink crash of Sept. 2008, the agency recently awarded a contract to implement a positive train control system that uses GPS technology to monitor of trains across the five-county Metrolink system and to keep them at safe distances from one another.
Metrolink is taking its new rail cars on a “whistle stop” tour this week. After the jump are the dates and times you can see them at cities around the region. Metro is one of the five county transit agencies in Southern California that helps fund the commuter rail agency. Monday, Dec. 6:
Moorpark – 11:00 am, 300 High Street, Moorpark, 93021
Glendale – 2:00 pm, 400 W. Cerritos Ave., Glendale, 91204
Los Angeles Union Station Open House, 3:30 – 6:00 pm
Wednesday, Dec. 8:
San Bernardino – 8:30 am, 1204 W. 3rd St., San Bernardino, 92410
Riverside, Downtown – 11:30 am, 4066 Vine St, Riverside, 92507
Thursday, Dec. 9:
Irvine – 11:45 am, 15215 Barranca Pkwy, Irvine, 92618
Santa Ana – 1:45 pm, 1000 E. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana, 92701
Hi Dan;
No, we’re not kidding you. It’s an expensive system. And while I understand that everyone has the right to be concerned about government spending, I would respectfully suggest that an iPhone app is a very different thing from a GPS-based system that has to keep track of very busy train traffic across more than 500 miles of track in the five-county area — including numerous stretches of single track with trains traveling in both directions. Although positive train control is very expensive, I think it’s worth it in terms of the lives it has the potential to save, not to mention the far less important fiscal cost of an accident.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
I do not doubt that it is worth it. All that I ask is whether other, more cost realistic approaches were considered. Marine radios have a system that identifies who you are and what kind of vessel you are and your direction/speed of travel – this information is then available to all in range with an AIS-equipped chart plotter. You can get a complete system for less than a grand. Now I don’t know if this would work for trains – since VHF relies on line-of-sight to communicate but it is an example of off-the-shelf technology that could help. If the engineer could simply see what other trains are around (not the whole 500 miles – just in the vicinity)- this would be a huge step towards reducing collisions. And as far as I know, this has never been addressed.
Positive train control is complicated and elaborate. It will apply the brakes for the engineer, I believe. So the first step we are taking to solve the problem is costly, complicated and will take years to deploy. Commonsense dictates that we do what we can now, and not wait until the new system (which will have plenty of bugs to work out) is available. And crash-friendly trains do not address the cause of the problem, only the result. If there is an inexpensive way for engineers to know about surround train traffic, then that should be implemented asap (despite the predictable objections of the PTC contractor – since this would all but solve the problem).