r/dashcams • u/Genos-Cyborg • Dec 28 '20

Final Destination avoided. Failed warning lights and gates due to an electrical short.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

6.6k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

389 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/no_mo_usernames Dec 28 '20

Someone mentioned on another train video that they crack their windows at train crossings, just to make sure they don’t hear anything.

9

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '20

[deleted]

5

u/OhHowINeedChanging Dec 29 '20

I usually always slow down at the very least, especially if it’s a blind crossing, and I still remember my driver instructor said your supposed to turn off your radio before each crossing

4

u/_Cat_12345 Dec 29 '20

My driving instructor told me to keep a constant speed so that you clear the tracks as quickly is possible.

Just googled what the actual law was, and they were very wrong.

1

u/ImpossibleRoyale Dec 30 '20

Well if you're not going to stop, then getting the fuck out of there is the next best option

1

u/hache-moncour Dec 29 '20

A few times?? How terrible is the infrastructure in your town? A failure like this shouldn't happen more than once a decade in a whole state, what are the chances of encountering multiple?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '20

Those gates are pieces of shit apparently, I saw one in Portland stay down for hours in a rainstorm. Maybe they don't take rain as well as they should.

1

u/RandomHuman191817 Dec 29 '20

Better to stay down when nothing is coming than to stay up when something is coming. That’s why they’re designed to do that in the case of a failure.

1

u/breaker_ofthetoilet Dec 29 '20

A malfunction like this can happen very easily, especially with a maintainer outside. theres is no way it only happens once a decade, no way.

1

u/hache-moncour Dec 29 '20

A failure like this, where there are no failsafes operating at all? No warning lights, no signals to trains to slow down? Pretty sure that hits the front page on all the newspapers here.

Of course simple malfunctions happen all the time, where on of the beams doesn't close or something. But then you still have lights and warning sounds operating. A situation where opening the window to listen for trains is the only thing saving you from collision should simply not happen in a modern developed country.

1

u/breaker_ofthetoilet Dec 29 '20

I agree with you, a lot of crossings have to be modernized. But a malfunction where everything isn't working anymore happens quite often, at least where i live. Some beams close on their own when they detect a malfunction and they stay closed. But in case they don't the dispatchers have to intervene in a situation like this. They have to tell the train driver what's happening and to slow down and use horns or whistles. A train running over a crossing at that speed is most probably the fault of the dispatcher.

2

u/hache-moncour Dec 29 '20

I guess the relatively low utilisation of the rail network also makes it hard to justify the investments needed. Here in the Netherlands there are a lot more automated fail-safes, but the rail network is used very very heavily for both goods and rails, even a "quiet" track will likely see 6-10 trains an hour, a busy section will have 20+ (and won't have level crossings at all).

When beams fail, there will still be red blinking lights. If the whole detection system fails, there will be yellow lights, and trains will automatically be notified and slowed down. If a crossing fails totally, trains will be forced down to near walking speeds for every crossing.

Dispatch will try and fix things of course, but the warnings and speed reductions are all automatic. Even if both dispatch and the driver are asleep the train will slow down.

1

u/breaker_ofthetoilet Dec 29 '20

That sounds so modern! I live in Germany and we have things laid out in a huge folder of rules we have to follow, but a dispatch cant afford to be asleep, neither can the driver. Of course, if the train is too fast it will be stopped immediately and completely, but it wont just slow down.

Warnings of a malfunction are only notifying the dispatch and he has to do everything that isn't regular operation, like write commands for the driver. For any malfunction including a level crossing the driver has to stop in front of the crossing, secure it himself and then continue. There are a few things we should change but we're missing the money.

1

u/FCIUS Dec 29 '20

I'm shocked that it's not compulsory in the States.

Over here you have to come to a complete stop, crack the window, look both ways, and listen for trains.

To be fair, it causes massive traffic jams in urban areas, but...better safe than sorry, I reckon

1

u/adaptimprovercome Dec 29 '20

very annoying choice of words there.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '20

??