Autumnal Rail (Mis)Adventures

Welcome to my first (roughly monthly) look at some recent rail high and low-lights interspersed with a few bits of railway education (That's the #rail101 bit). This may have the odd commercial related link in it too - Well someone has to pay my soaring energy bills to keep my caffeine levels up. This shouldn't take more than a tea-break to read, so let's begin:

Rail Safety Week - North America

First up the hopefully dull topic of Rail safety week. Sadly it has been anything but.

First a police officer handcuffed a suspect in his car - whilst parked on a rail crossing - with predictable but thankfully amazingly non-fatal results. (skip to 5m30 for the calamity).

It seems the track, the warning signs and locomotive horn weren't enough to warn these officers of the hazard. Relying on passive protection measures for crossings is quite frankly a bit rubbish and accident rates agree. There are ways to fit active protection to these crossings though, (I swear I wrote this before I heard about this accident but it is too relevant not to include!).

Next was a tram overspeed accident captured on camera. The tram narrowly managed to avoid overturning when it tried to negotiate a 90degree curve at over 3 times the speed limit (my speed estimation). It is scarily similar to a UK tram accident that tragically killed 7 in 2016. Thankfully, this time it only resulted in the first known video of tram drifting - the new sport that no-one needs. What is the best way to prevent this happening again? - Let me know what you think in the comments.

InnoTrans Expo

Next we move across the pond to Europe. It cannot have escaped many peoples feeds that we have just finished InnoTrans in Berlin. The 13th and perhaps slightly unlucky session was much delayed due to covid, but showed few signs of industry interest waning. It is the largest rail exhibition there is, with nearly 3,000 exhibitors and over 137,000 visitors this year. Millions are spent on marketing the latest trains, widgets and services, with whole halls devoted to subjects like tunnelling, infrastructure and interiors with 3.5km of outdoor track for rolling stock too. The scale of the exhibition can be truly terrifying to the first-time visitor and there is no chance of seeing it all in a single day. A flavour can be found in a 1.5 minute event showreel here.

Seasonal Shenanigans

As the northern hemisphere enters Autumn (or Fall as some call it), the season for slippery rail slides sometimes too speedily into view.

Leaves on the line may seem like a poor excuse for a rail delay - but it's a genuine, costly and hazardous issue. In the UK (where I am) cost estimates top ￡300m per year and at least one serious accident in recent years has been attributed to it. I take a look in more depth along with some of the ways to mitigate leaf fall in my recent #rail101 article below: Don't fall for leaf delays (5 min read).

Summing up - A plea for attention

Thanks for bearing with me this far. This is the bit where I tell you to like, share, comment, follow (or connect) and ring my bell if you think my stuff is any good. Well go on then.... what are you waiting for? :)

If you think this read has been rubbish - Tell me why in an amusing way, and include any ideas for content to make it better next time.

Thanks having your tea-break with me - I hope it was a good brew. Until next time.

Dan