Comments on: Breaking: Link Derailment @ O&M

By: Light Rail Derailment Blamed on Operator Error - Seattle Transit Blog

Light Rail Derailment Blamed on Operator Error - Seattle Transit Blog — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:58:59 +0000

[...] Transit’s preliminary report on last month’s Link derailment is complete. The train derailed while leaving the O&M facility, blocking one track and thus [...]

By: MetroJD

MetroJD — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:38:40 +0000

We don’t have that many supervisors… yet! : )

By: MetroJD

MetroJD — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:31:02 +0000

Auxilliary track and crossover speed is not to exceed 10mph.

By: John

John — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:24:51 +0000

New system, new problems. Bugs to work out. In the case where Gary called his wife to have her check the news, he probably ended up knowing more about the derailed train than the operator did at that point. The control center does not always explain why we’re doing something, they just give us instructions and we follow them.
I was nearly mobbed by angry passengers at Beacon Hill and Mt. Baker Stations wanting to know what was going on. I had no information to give them because I had just come on shift. I was thrown into the thick of things without knowing what was going on. I requested that the control center make a station PA announcement if possible to let people know what was going on.
I know my PA announcements are heard because when I get on the mic at Tukwila to tell someone that “the doors are enabled for their use, push the red button on the door to open it”, they go right for it… but I think they believe it’s going to bite them or something, because the first push or two is usually too light, and the doors don’t respond! : ) Look for the green LED lights lit up around the red button… that means the doors are enabled. We don’t leave the doors wide open at the terminals during bad weather because it’s cold outside.
A tip on “canned” announcements: When the announcement is that a train is being held “due to traffic ahead”, if it’s in the Downtown Transit Tunnel it means there is a bus at the platform ahead, and the train is waiting for the bus to leave. Out on MLK it’s usually to keep interval spacing between trains. SDOT has complained to Sound Transit that trains mess up the traffic signals when they bunch up on MLK… so the control center tries to keep trains at least 7 minutes apart, especially during rush hour.
“We are experiencing a service delay” is a more general announcement, just meaning that the trip is going to take a little longer than anticipated.
Please note that the intercom to the operator is for emergencies only. If you have an emergency and don’t get a response right away, re-push the button and speak to the operator, stating the nature of your emergency.
Operators are becoming apathetic to the emergency intercom calls because 99.9% of the time people are pushing that red button on the bottom of the spring-loaded seat thinking it’s the seat release. Operators generally just cancel the calls, because they’ve answered so many calls that have turned out to be mistakes.

By: Nathanael Nerode

Nathanael Nerode — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:42:31 +0000

The Chicago els were in ungodly awful shape for a very long time — and are very different construction from the Seattle elevated. Actually flying off an elevated line is very different from a derailment on an El with escape walkways and guardrails.

I certainly think they need to find the source of the problem, but I am pretty sure they are going to — protocol requires a full investigation for *every* incident, unlike with cars.

By: Nathanael Nerode

Nathanael Nerode — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:35:40 +0000

I would be shocked if the turnout wasn’t properly interlocked. That’s really rather cheap to fix, however, so although it would be a terrible design error, it wouldn’t be a hard one to fix.

I’d bet on a mechanical defect in the switch machine instead.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:25:24 +0000

Are you certain your PA announcements can be heard? My operator clearly wasn’t – we’d hear the chime, then some mubles and scratching sounds. They should have an automated message before an operator announcement that asks for complete silence, and the HVAC system should shut off so we can hear. Or the volume could be higher!

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:21:26 +0000

Sounds like you were in the dark, too – the higher-ups could have done a better job communicating with operators, too, it sounds like.

By: John

John — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:50:57 +0000

I agree that Sound Transit did a poor job of getting information to passengers. You obviously weren’t riding my train, or you would have heard PA announcements in addition to the ‘canned’ variety.
Everyone seems to be under the impression that the operators know everything that’s going on all the time… that’s not the case. At one point we were instructed to not use the radio unless we had an emergency or the train breaks down.
My PA announcements were that service delays were being caused by single track operation between Mt. Baker and SODO stations, that is both northbound and southbound trains taking turns using the northbound track, usually two trains in one direction at a time. I couldn’t give time estimates of the delays involved because we had to wait like everyone else until the control center gave us clearance to proceed.
I didn’t withhold that a train had derailed causing a blockage, I didn’t know… at the time all I knew was that there was a blockage on the southbound track at OMF and that we were doing a single track operation in the affected area.

By: John

John — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:25:22 +0000

“Amateur” would not be the most accurate word. Inexperienced, yes. It’s a new system, and it’s a new experience for just about everyone from operations staff to passengers. I will not speculate about the cause of this particular failure, because I don’t know, I wasn’t there.
I will say that it’s my personal opinion that the ‘weak link’ is not with the operator or the training we receive. Our training is very comprehensive, and operators are proficient in their job, otherwise they wouldn’t still be there.
The fact that all light rail operators were chosen from the ranks of bus drivers means that their situational awareness skills are more finely tuned than those of the average person on the street. This gives me much greater peace of mind when I’m off duty and riding light rail as a passenger.

By: John

John — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:01:48 +0000

Matt, that’s something you need to take up with Sound Transit. Let them know you were displeased with the lack of accuracy in their delay estimates. They’ve already acknowledged that they could have done a better job in getting information to the people waiting at the station platforms.
I had just come on duty for a southbound trip, not too long after the accident, and I was practically mobbed by people on the platforms from the Beacon Hill and Mt. Baker Stations, wanting to know what was going on. Yes, mobbed, even though I was in a sealed cab!
They were angry not only about the delay, but because I couldn’t “take two minutes to explain to them what was going on”.
First off, I just came on duty and didn’t know what happened other than we were running single track operations… I was thrown into the thick of things without really knowing what was going on.
I couldn’t take two minutes because it’s my job to keep the train moving along, not be public relations for Sound Transit. I immediately contacted the control center and informed them of the angry crowds and asked for them to make a station public address announcement, so people would know what was going on. Whether they did or not I have no way of knowing.
I also informed my passengers via PA that service delays were caused by single-track operations between Mt. Baker and SODO stations, and while I didn’t know how long the delays would be, I did know that the train would be continuing as soon as clearance from Link Control was received. We couldn’t give time estimates to passengers because we didn’t know. All the operators could do was wait like everyone else, until they were told they could proceed.
When the control center allowed communications other than emergency transmission or breakdowns, I was in constant contact with them, asking questions like, “is there a bus bridge in place between the stations?”. I wanted to inform my passengers about all their possible travel alternatives.

By: Martin H. Duke

Martin H. Duke — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:46:06 +0000

Yeah, we hated it so much we made it “comment of the day”.

By: Comment of the Day - Seattle Transit Blog

Comment of the Day - Seattle Transit Blog — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:53:09 +0000

[...] for those elsewhere on the line, communication with at least some riders as pretty abysmal: Comment by Gary — 2009-11-17 — 16:31:13 I flew back into Sea-Tac last night and took the light rail [...]

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:28:40 +0000

Great comment, Gary. You left the Link fanatics speechless.

By: L. Smith

L. Smith — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:44:41 +0000

Unfortunately, the “mobile version” of the update (which I had sent to my non-browser dumbphone) cut off the part of the message that told how long delays would be and to bar at NB platforms.

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:31:13 +0000

I flew back into Sea-Tac last night and took the light rail from Tukwila to the International District, boarding at 9:45 pm. Let me share my own experience. It was not a “minor delay of 10-20 minutes.” The trip to the International District took 1 hour and 20 minutes rather than the usual 30 minutes. The train would just stop for extended periods without moving in the Rainier Valley. There were no announcements of what was going on. I only found out what was going on by calling my wife on my cell phone and asking her to check the news. I pressed the intercom button on the train to call the operator and ask what was going on, and no one responded. There was no alternate bus made available, we were just stuck on the train. While I understand this was an accident, Sound Transit really needs to do a much, much better job of communicating with its ridership and reacting to a contingency next time if it wants to attract and retain riders.

By: Erik G.

Erik G. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:25:31 +0000

Was it a derail of just a split-the-switch?

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:43:56 +0000

I think a stock yard is for livestock.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:43:21 +0000

I expect the disrupted service to be similar to what they tell me the disrupted service will be like – 20-minute frequency – and it was not.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:07:03 +0000

How did you read the operator’s mind?