Railway Track & Structures - October 2008 - (Page 39)

Rail Engineering Safety completing a lot of these tests along with the support of the MBTA Safety Department. So far, the results have been positive. Everyone seems to like the wayside warning device as an enhancement to our Right of Way (ROW) Safety Rulebook. “Also, we’re starting to incorporate the system into our ROW Safety Rulebook,” he said. “The test team is in the process of identifying the levels of ROW protection where the wayside devices can be best utilized for workers and contractors. The ROW Safety Rulebook has five levels of protection depending on the type of work activity on the ROW. Also, the T has already purchased several ProTran devices for employees who work in Power, Signals and Maintenance of Way Divisions. Once we complete the demonstration phase each division will initiate a pilot test program. “Lastly, the MBTA will include the ProTran train-mounted warning device with the new vehicle procurements for the Red, Orange and Green Lines. “That’s our ultimate goal.” both the vehicle operator is alerted and the track workers are alerted,” he said. “We will have the personal arm units and the track-mounted units when we go into implementation in midOctober. We have 100 of the personal devices, the armbands, and we have four track-mounted units. Because our trains are equipped with cab units, we don’t really have to have an extra system out there, but it will provide an extra layer of safety. For example, when a track crew is working, they’ll put the track-mounted box there and it’s so loud and bright that you can’t miss it, even if you’re fairly far away. That way, if they’re working and they don’t have the armbands on, they’ll still have the other protection.” During the development, MTA requested to use some of the trackmounted units for speed restrictions. There are some places where MTA has 14-foot track centers between the inbound track and the outbound track. “We can put a box at both ends of the restriction zone,” Davis said. “Say we’re tamping switches in one of those locations where we have the 14-foot track centers. You can put the box on the other track and it will alert the train that it has a speed restriction with a speed restriction light in the cab. The operator has to acknowledge it. When the train goes past the other ProTran unit, the restriction light will go away. That gives us a definite beginning and end. If you’re tamping or you’re fouling the other track, you can get out of the way and the train has to slow down and acknowledge you.” Davis continued: “During the tests, we went to the most severe locations we had at Metro. The most important thing to us is seconds. The shortest amount of time between activation of the unit and the train passing the track people was 21 seconds. It averaged around 30 seconds, so that gave people plenty of time to get out of the way, plus it’s alerting the train operator, too. The 21 seconds was in the most severe spot with trains going around a turn, through a small tunnel and a curve going the opposite direction. You want the timing to be just right so people know they have enough time to get off the track without hurrying, but not Maryland Transit The Maryland Transit Administration is moving toward full implementation of the ProTran system. “It began when Peter Bartek of ProTran was on our property at Metro to show us some of his systems,” said Mike Davis, director Metro operations at MTA. “While he was there, he mentioned the ProTracker system. There were several systems people and m/w people, including union people, in the room and they all were very intrigued by the idea. “Right now, half of our Metro commuter trains are equipped with the train-mounted unit,” Davis said. “We have all of our personal devices in place. We look to be fully operational with this system by mid-October.” Metro operates heavy rail trains. MTA plans to bring the system to its light rail train operations next year. “Metro is rather small, with about 100 trains,” Davis pointed out. “To put a train-mounted unit in each train makes sense to us where maybe NYCTA or New Jersey Transit might not want to do that. We bought about 120 boxes so every one of our trains can be equipped with this system, along with a number of extras. “This is a dual system under which www.rtands.com Railway Track & Structures October 2008 39 http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - October 2008

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