That does assume that the caller is still at the location of the problem.
The communications bridge so often advocated for âfirst responseâ integration would allow intelligent forwarding from 911 to designated railroad numbers, including access to the âbreadcrumb trailâ of cell accesses and local GIS records. It also inherently controls security over access to what might be considered personal or restricted-access data.
It would also provide a mechanism, although probably through first responders like police, to track a cell phone via its GPS where justified. That is not always as definitive as cell-phone providers or their fanbois think it is, but in many cases it would give adequate identification of, say, a vehicle stuck on a crossing.
The first important thing is to share information in a concerted way. The second is to treat the incident as a concern for response, not a maintenance ticket.
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East Palestine is going to become the poster child of how not to handle a major hazmat incident in this nation. Just like LaMagnetic in Quebec showed the holes in train securement and issues with the DOT111 tank car. Mistakes were made big time here they will be learned about and from and hopefully never repeated again.
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Until the next incident.
One ominous take-home is that NONE of the issues with bearing failure were addressed in the wake of the accident, or addressed in any coherent way in the proposed legislation or the unionsâ collateral.
NO sane level of carman inspection will pick this up. There is NO guarantee that externally-detected temperature rise, no matter how expediently detected or AI-processed, can alarm a safe stop under the failure conditions at East Palestine.
And there is not, and really has not been, any safe level of severe flatwheel banging that a modern roller bearing might tolerate before spalling or otherwise proceeding to one of the catastrophic failure modes.
Training for âconsultantâ accident response contractors would seem obvious. NS hired what they thought were âprofessionalsâ, who may have relied on the Orange Book. It was their assessment that led directly to the lionâs share of the damage and the prospective expense.
You have no understanding of anything you are talking about.
Carriers, NS included, are continuing with installing many detectors to catch the many kinds of defects in trains that can result in catastrophic derailments. Hot box detectors, both IR detected temperature units and ultrasonic detectors, WILD (Wheel Impact Load Detectors) to detect flat spots. There are myriad of other kinds of detectors that have been installed.
On CSX the Hot Box and dragging equipment detectors radio the results of their inspections by axle count to the trains over the road channel that trains are required to monitor; the HBD data is also attached to records in the Car & Train Movement databse for trending indicationsâŚ
WILD detectors send their data to the HQ Mechanical Dept. who monitor the readings which are identified to them by the RFID detected car number; when an over the threshold reading is identified the Mechanical Dept. notifies the Train Dispatcher & Chief Dispatcher where the train is for the crew to stop and inspect the identified car(s). If a level 3 defect is indicated, after inspection the car(s) can continue to destination, not to exceed 30 MPH. If a level 4 defect is indicated, after inspection the car must be set out at the first available set out location. The WILD detections for a car are retained in the Car & Train Database with all car movements of cars on the property. There are Levels 1 & 2 that note a minor happening that does not require field notification or actions.
These âbehind the scenesâ activities are not visible to the ârailfanâ experts. 
I am better acquainted with detection technologies and sensor fusion than you are. I donât mind being called out on facts, but youâll have to demonstrate you actually understand the things you so glibly cite as superior knowledge.
Perhaps you can start by explaining how the state of an inside bearing is supposed to be determined, even with the current suite of detection modalities, from a typical wayside location?
Good question! I wonder as a rank amateur what flat wheels imperfections or sounds trigger Levels 1-4?
CSX has been actively building âSuper Detectorâ sites around the property which includes a number of under car sensor for a variety of inspections for items that cannot be done with normal âabove groundâ inspections.
When I initially went back to Dispatching in 1990 the HBD detectors were spaced at the FRA specified minimum of 25 miles apart. Over the years until my retirement in 2016 additional detectors were installed so the the detectors were on the order of 10 to 15 miles between detectors.
When I hired out in 1965 as a Train Order Operator - I and my fellow Operators were the wayside hot box detectors - with our sight, hearing and sense of smell. Things have changed in the intervening 60 years.
Some of the inspection procedures are in the FRA inspection manual:
https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/2020-05/MPEComplianceManual2013.pdf
With the railroads, most now have an emergency phone number posted somewhere at each grade crossing. The same post includes a unique crossing number, and the railroad will then know the exact location, without any need for GPS tracking. Often the 911 operators and first responders can be confused when having to deal with rail rather than road. That can delay getting the needed information to the (right) railroad.
I guess the answers to my rather basic questions about flat wheels are beyond the ken of members. But I would suggest spending the brief time to listen to a train.
What questions about flat wheels were not answered by the references I provided?
Note the relative importance of the integration of data from the WILD IV installations. This provides realtime assessment by car and axle number for a variety of conditions, not just shelled/flattened wheel tread. It is obvious to me that this or similarly-derived data are in use by some entities, including whoever is doing maintenance for the unit coal trains operating on the ex-Southern line east out of Memphis â they have a dramatically low rate of even slight flats, as do many of the long doublestack block trains.
What sounds trigger the Levels 1 through 4? And what are those levels?
Proprietary data.
The bearing failure signal that âWHâ was referring is a high frequency (100 to 500kHz) generated by movement of dislocations in the bearing metal. These are best detected by an acoustic emissions sensor attached to the bearing housing. While it may be possible for a wayside detector to pickup the sounds, it would NOT be an easy problem to solve.
This suggests that cars carrying Hazmat should be equipped with acoustic emissions sensors and the necessary support hardware. It wouldnât be cheap, but neither was the cleanup at East Palestine.
âDislocationsâ in the first paragraph refers to the Earl Parkerâs largely substantiated theory of the plastic deformation of metals inspired by his research on why Liberty ships were breaking in two during WW2. Plastic deformation of metal in a roller bearing is really bad news.
So no answer. In somewhat earlier times freight trains were shorter, with a caboose and watchful crew eyes
Advances in technology and desire to cut costs have led to very long, very heavy trains that strain the technology to limits. Hence pass the buck, expecting the public to perform the safety work gratis.
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The ultrasonic vibrations that are communicated to the journal and sideframe do not couple readily to air, something more readily understood perhaps with reference to medical ultrasound and the necessary couplants. While in theory you might be able to arrange a vibrating or jittered mirror close to a bearing and not isolated from it by an elastomer bearing seat, and approximate a ballistic galvanometerâs action with a laser to make the high-frequency vibrations detectable, the required optics and alignment are highly unlikely to work in a cost-effective wayside context.
In regards to calling something in if you see something on a moving train amiss. By all means do so. However, besides a crossing location, try to get other train information. Type of train or an engine number, even if itâs a trailing or DP engine would help. The car initial or number, or even one in the train that could be used to help identify the particular train. (If itâs a one train a day operation, itâs easy to narrow it down than if itâs on busy main line.)
Many years ago, when I was still a conductor, the dispatcher told us we needed to stop and inspect our train. A concerned citizen had reported our train had a container on a yellow flat car with a door open and the contents spilling out. Our train was a manifest, but my list didnât show such a car. We stopped and i found a yellow flat car with a shifted load of steel. It had come loose and shifted forward over the couplers. We set it out at the next town which fortunately still had a track we could use.
The dispatcher told us the town where the person observed the shifted load. By the time he called us we had traveled 25 miles. Also note the difference in what was reported and what was actually wrong. I always thought the initial report was from a retired railroader who lived in that town. He passed away a few months later and i never got to ask him. I always felt the miscommunication was due to the person taking the call. Not everyone working for the railroad may always understand terms used in the field by railroaders and others.
Jeff
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