One other thought I had. I get that the bus stalled out, or whatever, but why did the driver stop it on top of the train tracks to begin with? Somehow I doubt the vehicle seized up while it was moving directly on the tracks. Probably he turned the corner there and went through without enough room to get across the tracks, and THEN stalled out. Pretty rookie driving mistake (and dangerous) to stop your vehicle on a set of train tracks.
One other thought I had. I get that the bus stalled out, or whatever, but why did the driver stop it on top of the train tracks to begin with? Somehow I doubt the vehicle seized up while it was moving directly on the tracks. Probably he turned the corner there and went through without enough room to get across the tracks, and THEN stalled out. Pretty rookie driving mistake (and dangerous) to stop your vehicle on a set of train tracks.
Probably an air problem, pretty common in the cold, no air, no way to move the bus.
That said, proper maintenance (for the conditions) would have likely prevented it.
The Herald said it was an air break problem. Brakes were out of air and the brakes seized up. Was taking too long to get a tow truck, so another bus pushed it out of the way.
It's a Calgary Transit problem in general, but not really a train problem. Usually when a train breaks down it's on one side of the tracks, so in theory trains can use the other side of the tracks to get around it. This bus blocked both tracks effectively halting the whole line.
By that logic, the bus should just sit there blocking both tracks until the City Wide tow truck happens to get there? No, you improvise and get the obstruction the hell out of the way so the trains can move again. A little bumper damage is a small price to pay to get the CTrain moving on a frigid day.
The Herald said it was an air break problem. Brakes were out of air and the brakes seized up. Was taking too long to get a tow truck, so another bus pushed it out of the way.
It's a Calgary Transit problem in general, but not really a train problem. Usually when a train breaks down it's on one side of the tracks, so in theory trains can use the other side of the tracks to get around it. This bus blocked both tracks effectively halting the whole line.
Depends on where the blockage is. Some parts of the track don't have the switches required to for trains going in opposite directions to pass each other if one side is down. So you're down to a single train going back and forth, which hardly helps at all.
Funny though that because it was a brake issue every time the second bus pushed the first one it would stop again. Would've been much easier to push it out of the way if it was a motor failure, for instance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bizaro86
Medical issues for sure aren't there fault. But I lump "bus breaks down in the cold" and "train breaks down in the cold" under the "Calgary Transit not effectively purchasing/maintaining equipment for cold weather" category. We have cold weather in Alberta. Plan for it.
Depends on the medical issues. Sometimes people pass out due to heat, overcrowding, dehydration, standing too long etc. which can be caused by inadequate service. And yeah, it seems the trains are rated for -15, which is silly.
Some parts of the track don't have the switches required to for trains going in opposite directions to pass each other if one side is down. So you're down to a single train going back and forth, which hardly helps at all.
That seems like the sort of thing that could provide a significant improvement in reliability at a very modest cost. Calgary probably has 1000 people with debottlenecking skills, why not fix that?
That seems like the sort of thing that could provide a significant improvement in reliability at a very modest cost. Calgary probably has 1000 people with debottlenecking skills, why not fix that?
Doubling up the switches and either end of downtown would be HUGE (when I took transit they were often the failure point). I wonder how much they'd have to disrupt service to do it though.
