• Re: BHP runaway ore train

    From bruce56@bruce56@topmail.co.nz to aus.rail on Sat Jan 12 19:41:28 2019
    From Newsgroup: aus.rail

    On Thursday, November 8, 2018 at 4:25:10 AM UTC+8, Matthew Geier wrote:

    My guess - the train had an air problem and the brakes were not operating satisfactorily.
    So the driver pulls up at a loop and gets out to investigate. While on the ground enough wagon brakes 'leak off' that the locomotive independent brake can no longer hold the weight and off it goes. Possibly no wagon brakes were working at this point already.

    The VC alarm probably was howling the entire time the train was moving. It probably did vent the train pipe, but that would have had no effect if the air system was already depleted due to the issue that caused the driver to stop the train the first place.

    Final report says a broken cable caused automatic brakes to apply. Unfortunately that releases after 1 hour, while the driver was outside.
    And he forgot to engage backup brake before jumping out.
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