SAFETY GATES FAIL
Posted on 16 April 2009 by Station Master
On 18 February, the automatic gates at a light rail crossing in Austin, Texas, failed during a safety demonstration. The fail-safe system, designed to keep a gate open and allow trapped vehicles to escape, did not work. Policemen had to lift the gate manually to release two cars before they were hit by an approaching train. It was discovered that city workmen had planted a sign whose supporting post broke the operating cables.
The sign was subsequently relocated and the gates then operated correctly. Public passenger service on the new line – between Leander and downtown Austin – commenced on 30 March.
In Houston, where light rail trains also run through the downtown area, 34 collisions between trains and road vehicles occurred in 2007 and 53 in 2008.
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