For those of you who get the Discovery Channel, the show Mythbusters (Wednesday night, 9PM Eastern) will be broadcasting a test of the urban myth “Can you be sucked into a train if you stand close enough?”
I saw the previews for this episode, and it looks like they are using either a California transit train or AMTRAK.
If you have never seen the show before, it centers on two Hollywood special effects men who try to test urban legends to see if they are true or not.
Enjoy the show… they also repeat the episode periodically throughout the week.
Sounds like their resident dummy (really - it’s a mannekin) will suffer again.
Having stood within a few feet of an Amtrak train that was likely doing every bit of 70, the show should prove interesting… Hopefully I’ll catch it - the schedule is a little busy this week. Still have to figure out if I can catch a repeat of a show on firefighting.
Bet all they find is that the pressure wave of air being pushed out of the way of a fast train would more likely push you out of the way, not suck you under as all that air is moving along with the train, experience this with both trains and trucks.
As Vic pointed out, the air being PUSHED in front of a fast train might be sufficient to cause a smaller person to feel the nudge from the air blast, but the ‘suction’ at the rear of a fast train, while noticable (consider all of the leaves and papers that you see being pulled along when a high-speed train passes), is nowhere enough to pull someone in.
Ihave had a guy turn into Mary Freakin Poppins in Chicago along the racetrack. We had a set of MTY hoppers and blew by at 50ish. He had a umberella and wound up getting lifted and tossed back from the yellow line.So from that experience and just watching the way stuff gets blown in front of a train and not really sucked under it I will have to say Myth. Poor Buster though hes going to get tossed about a bit I bet.
Metroliners passing MP54s with wood sash windows were know to suck them right out of their frames…but how big a pressure gradient that creates over the width of a person and the area it acts on vis-a-vis a standing person’s stability is a good question.
Should be interesting, especially since those guys tend to pay attention the basic engineering and science involved - before they blow it up.
My guess- and it’s only a guess- is that if there really WAS a suction problem, the yellow warning lines would be painted back farther. It surprised me when I visited my hometown depot (a raised platform “bus stop” deal) that warning lines were only a foot or so from the edge. Considering that this station is part of the route for Acela, and considering it is one of the few straight stretches of rail betwee New Haven and Boston, my understanding is that the Acela picks up some heavy duty speed. I think the hazard from a passing train is more from the various objects sticking out of it than suction.
Back in the old days (I can hear the kids groaning) in the sixties I used to sit on the station platform (ground level) when the New Haven blew express trains by me. At that time the roadbed was pretty sad and I doubt THE PATRIOT was doing much more than 40. There was a lot of dust… lots of crud getting blown around… but no suction. I sat with my back to the train depot and feet no more than three windy feet from the rails. I got deaf from the train passing and dirty (which never made my mother happy) but sucked in… never. The stationmaster, who good naturedly put up with my near daily presence around the depot, always kept an eye on me.
I believe that the Mythbusters will bust this myth. Know why? Cause a train never sucks!
Oltman, I remember hearing about the Metroliner sucking out windows of other trains from my dad. Do you think they were sucked out or maybe blown out by shock wave of passing train?
I would guess “Sucked Out”…and we can blame Bernoulli.
When two trains pass, they are moving relatively quickly. After the first “Wave” of pressure passes, the trains rushing by each other will tend to accelerate the air between them. Bernoulli says if the air is moving faster, the static pressure will be less…therefore the air pressure in the coach would be greater than the air pressure outside. If it is even 2psi difference, over a 24x24in window, that would generate 1152 lbs of force OUTWARDS.
I wonder if the boys will address the “Mesmerizing” effect of a train rushing by…when I was a kiid, watching a freight train roll by from a grade crossing, I found myself wandering closer and closer to the tracks…I believe the effect has been documented elswhere…
More of a “push,” not all that strong. The roar of the power unit raises the hair on the back of your neck. There is a small “woosh” of air as the gap between cars passes.
From my experiences here in the Netherlands I would say that an effect is definitely there. The faster the train goes the more the effect. Ditto for the length of the train. However, the effect dimishes rather rapidly the more you move away from the edge of the high level platforms we have here.
Trainspeed is between 120 and 140 kph on most tracks. Counting the gap between train and platform, size of the structure that forms the side of the platform (about 10 cm) and a full tile (full tiles are 30x30 cm) before you get to, and then including, the safety tile (which has a width of another half tile) that means the safe zone begins about 55 cm from the trains. The effect is still noticible there, though.
Lines where the speed limit is 160 kph have a wider margin, I guess 30 cm, or a tile, more.
See the picture below for a typical platform even if it is at a big station.
I would think that if someone indeed get “sucked” under a train, it would be a result of losing their balance from the “blast” from the passing train. As the air flow pushed them back, they panic, and throw their weight forward, there by falling forward into the train and into the airflow along it.
Of course that wouldn’t be a result of any suction (if there is any) caused by the train…
Close clearance in confined spaces can create a pretty good suction.
Think inside a tunnel, or between a standing train and a moving train.
But, unless the moving train was pulling pretty darn quickly, an average person can withstand the suction.
I work in a yard, and often I am in between a standing train and a moving one…there is a small amount of under pressure there, but not enough to worry about.
Now, say a Metro train passing by while you are in a tunnel, or next to anything solid, like a wall, and the clearance is tight, you might, just might experience enough suction to scare you…
