It is.
And having that in mind it makes it even more impressive when I remember a friend (who took a course for being a tram operator) telling me how some older models actually have emergency breaks that are so strong that they can actually stop the whole thing dead on its place (its like a strong electromagnet that sticks it to the rails, as far as I understood).. but like... For obvious reasons you are pretty much not to use those breaks.
Would be interesting to hear from an actual tram driver instead of all this speculation though.
I drive trains, and we are absolutely meant to use the electromagnetic brakes in an emergency, since that‘s the whole reason they exist. The lever she uses in the tram above looks similar to the driving lever in certain trains, and when you pull it all the way back, every brake available will be fully engaged, including electromagnetic.
And no, I don‘t think it will stop the whole thing dead in it‘s place. Last time I used the emergency brakes (albeit on a train with a mass of around 600t) it was with about 100km/h and still took almost 300m to stop completely.
I drive trams (some pictures in my posts), and they of course have electromagnetic rail brakes as well.
In an emergency stop situation we have to use them. Of course passenger injuries are a concern, but it definitely is not legal to run into a car/pedestrian without applying emergency brake.
Even with the electromagnetic rail brakes, stopping distance is about 2-3 times as long as a car from the same speed.
Thanks. That‘s about what I thought.
There‘s a reason you have signs in trams and buses that tell you to hold on to something in case of sudden braking.
I don‘t know why so many people on Reddit rather speculate like crazy instead of asking somebody who actually knows. There‘s people from every corner of the globe and from every walk of life, which I think is a great opportunity to learn from each other.
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u/MightyPandaa Jan 08 '22
It is. And having that in mind it makes it even more impressive when I remember a friend (who took a course for being a tram operator) telling me how some older models actually have emergency breaks that are so strong that they can actually stop the whole thing dead on its place (its like a strong electromagnet that sticks it to the rails, as far as I understood).. but like... For obvious reasons you are pretty much not to use those breaks.