Trains are smart, too
In a recent letter to the editor (“Scary: My car is smarter than a train,” Sept. 16) comparing the functionality of a car with a train, the writer notes that his car “knows traffic conditions, my speed, the local speed limit,” and implies that our trains don’t.
In fact, our trains have known that information for decades, thanks to systems that bring signals into the cab of the train and notify engineers if they go over speed or fail to brake quickly enough. And our trains already go beyond merely providing information to engineers. They automatically enforce speed limits in the approaches to curves and bridges.
Technology we are working hard to bring to the railroad very soon will mean train safety systems will leapfrog the current motorist guidance offerings that he lauds. Returning to the analogy, if the writer’s car were equipped with an equivalent of Metro-North’s forthcoming Positive Train Control system, the car would not only know its speed and the speed limits, but would automatically force him to precisely comply with the rules of the road.
The car would automatically prevent the driver from exceeding the posted speed limit as well as temporary speed limits put in place around construction sites, data his car would receive in real time from the DOT. In the approach to a red light, the car would come to a stop precisely at the white line painted at the intersection.
In the approach to a lower speed limit than the one he was in, the car would slow itself quickly enough to ensure that the car was traveling at the new lower speed limit before it entered the new zone, as measured in a very precisely calculated and defined gradient curve. The driver’s actions at all times would be recorded on a camera inside his car so that officials could review his actions and alertness on tape.
The writer also stated that his car can tell him “when I will run out of gas and when to change the oil.” In fact, MetroNorth trains are equipped with advanced diagnostic systems that inform maintenance workers of onboard faults far more detailed than fuel levels or need for an oil change.
The fact that his car can help him find a donut shop or knows what kind of music he likes is nice, but has no relevance to safety or an analogy with trains.
Systems used today give us more data than the writer imagines, and Positive Train Control will give the railroad a far more sophisticated, robust and functional safety system than what is available for drivers.