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From The Age:

Train smashes into bank

March 10, 2011

 

A SUBURBAN train overshot the end of the line at Sandringham last night and smashed through the wall of a Bendigo Bank, raising fresh safety concerns over Melbourne's trouble-plagued Siemens trains.

 

The incident happened less than an hour after another Siemens train derailed at Pakenham.

 

Metro spokesman Chris Whitefield said wet weather may have contributed to both incidents, and that the company would investigate. The incidents, at 7.15pm and 8.10pm, involved empty trains being shunted. The drivers were unhurt.

 

Advertisement: Story continues below Emergency crews were trying to prop up the damaged Bendigo Bank building at the end of the Sandringham station platform last night.

 

Siemens trains make up about a fifth of Metro's fleet. They have had a history of problems with braking, which at various stages forced many to be suspended from service.

 

Mr Whitefield said last night's incidents involved issues of ''adhesion'', not braking.

 

 

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/train-smashes-into-bank-20110309-1bo5r.html

 

The Pakenham incident:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5013/5511298953_2058ab89ff_z.jpg

And the bank branch the other one ran into:

http://www.pbase.com/gunzelgavin/image/104092632

 

 

Both Siemens trains. Both overshot. I would be 99% sure I will hear the words Braking problem in coming days.

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I don't know what's been going on with Siemens, but they've had serious problems with trains not being able to break as they should and numerous trains have been pulled from service for investigation. A German company like Siemens, which has been in the train industry for years should really be ashamed.

 

They've also done a horrible job with the bus tracking system with the (MTA)... ;)

 

The jury will be out if they can't deliver on the new Eurostar trains that they will be producing, especially after they were favoured over Alstom... :eek:

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Why do the end tracks not have bumper stops?

 

agreed, if there was a bumper there it could of lessened the damage ( to the bank atleast )

 

but my question is how fast were they being shunted at? wouldnt they be going considerably slow into a station?

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agreed, if there was a bumper there it could of lessened the damage ( to the bank atleast )

 

but my question is how fast were they being shunted at? wouldnt they be going considerably slow into a station?

 

Being 2rd it would of had Low speed caution so 15km/H(9.3 Mph). It would be the same case for Pakenham.

 

About the only 2 places on the suburban network that has a buffer of any sort is Cranbourne:

http://www.vicsig.net/photo/20090815-cbe-cbe792.jpg

And Alemain.

Every place there is a dead end a train isn't allowed to exceed 25km/H.

But there's not many of those. Most tracks keep going into the country or go into sidings.

 

The story I've been told regarding the brake failures was they decided to do computer brake testing only. Somehow they got signed off. Till them overshoots have been happening at regular intervals. At one stage over half the fleet was forced out of service.

 

From what I've been told when the train's brakes lock up the train assumes it's stopped(Even if the other axles are moving) and releases the brakes to a point where it only holds the train on a grade.

 

In other trains such as a X'trap if it locks up the ABS takes the brakes off briefly and puts them back on again until the train stops. Comeng trains do the same thing but it's weaker.

 

A bit of a closeup of the Pakenham incident.

Siemens at Pakenham

That concrete is for the pylon!

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I don't know what's been going on with Siemens, but they've had serious problems with trains not being able to break as they should and numerous trains have been pulled from service for investigation. A German company like Siemens, which has been in the train industry for years should really be ashamed.

 

They've also done a horrible job with the bus tracking system with the (MTA)... :P

 

The jury will be out if they can't deliver on the new Eurostar trains that they will be producing, especially after they were favoured over Alstom... :eek:

 

but they just did break by not being able to brake! :P

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http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/metro-crash-train-speeding-20110311-1bqbl.html

According to Metro the driver was speeding. I've read drivers are none to happy and want an investigation from people outside Metro.

 

RBUT Secretary Marc Marotta said on the news the train had a complete brake failure. Even a few driver recounts say that the brakes didn't do thier job.

 

I see a Union vs Metro coming soon.

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Siemens chimes in with thier take:

11 Mar 2011 - Speed to Blame for Sandringham Pakenham Train Derailments: Initial investigation

Melbourne, 11 March 2011

 

Released 5.00pm

 

Metro’s initial investigations into the Sandringham and Pakenham siding derailments have revealed that the cause of both incidents were excessive speed.

 

The evidence has conclusively confirmed that speed was the cause of the incident, not brake failure as the President of the Rail Drivers Union was quoted as saying last night.

 

At the Pakenham siding, the train was travelling at 40km per hour where the speed limit is 15km per hour.

 

The train involved in the Sandringham siding incident was travelling at 33km per hour when the speed limit was 15km per hour.

 

In both cases speed caused the incidents.

 

Metro is conducting an investigation to determine why the drivers of these two trains were travelling at more than double the allowable speed in a siding.

 

Drivers who are operating Siemens trains, have been trained over a 73 week period and the train operations have been extensively covered during this training. It remains a question as to why these drivers were not complying with strict speed restrictions in this area.

 

“Siemens upholds the most stringent testing parameters on our trains, and our brakes have been extensively tested to ensure the brakes are performing to the highest level,”

 

“This incident just highlights the importance of driving the trains safely and adherence to important safety restrictions must be upheld by all drivers on the network,” said Paul Bennett, Vice President of Siemens Mobility.

 

Both trains were not carrying passengers at the time of the incidents and were not in service at the time. No passengers were involved in the incidents and the drivers were not injured as a result.

 

For further information please refer to http://www.siemens.com.au

 

Or Metro http://www.metrotrains.com.au

 

Backgrounder

 

In the past there have been several reported overshoots of trains. Investigations have shown NO malfunction of the Siemens train brakes.

 

Siemens trains are fitted with data loggers that when activated accurately determine the cause of the overshoot. In each situation where there is a overshoot, the train is returned to the maintenance depot and thoroughly examined for evidence of any malfunction of the brake system.

 

The data shows the following factors have contributed to overshooting:

 

* The trains have been travelling too fast;

* The brakes have been applied too late or too 'softly'

* Or the rail adhesion has been too low to allow the full brake effort to be transferred to the rail.

 

 

In slippery conditions the full brake force cannot be applied to the track to decelerate the train. However this is not unique to Siemens trains. All trains have similar issues with stopping in poor weather conditions. The usual cause is matter/debris depositing on the rail head or poor condition of rail infrastructure.

 

Despite the fact that all trains experience similar issues with adhesion to the rail, Siemens trains are being fitted with sanding equipment which will deposit sand on the track when the train detects a loss in traction to the rail. To date one third of the Siemens fleet have been fitted with sanding equipment and full installation on all trains will be completed by September 2011.

 

http://aunz.siemens.com/NewsCentre/2011/Pages/20110311_SpeedToBlameSandringhamPakenhamTrainDerailments_update.aspx

Drivers reckon that in both incidents a the train was arriving from the City and the route was set for both trains prior to it arriving. The brakes failed well before the train even pulled into the siding!

 

Today the Pakenham Siemens train was towed back by 4 T class locomotives. The damage was visible on the back. I suspect damage was done to the number 1 bogey because it was going very very slowly.

The Sandringham train was moved yesterday by the same 4 T class locos.

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