"Miscalculated a turn"
Sounds bogus to me. The reports say the accident occurred on the outbound track INSIDE the West Portal Station. There are no curves here at all, as the Station is at the end of a long straightaway."Miscalculated a turn"???Did he spin out?
Well I've never been there, so all I have to go on is thisSounds bogus to me. The reports say the accident occurred on the outbound track INSIDE the West Portal Station. There are no curves here at all, as the Station is at the end of a long straightaway."Miscalculated a turn"???Did he spin out?
The accident is said to have occurred at the Outbound Platform (at the upper right of your photo), where the Trains are just emerging from a long straight run through the Twin Peaks Tunnel. The curve does not begin until after the Trains have left the Station heading West (center of your photo).There are tracks curving into the station.
Agreed.Although if this view is correct, the operator shouldn't be barreling around a turn that they can't see around.
"before he should have"... now it starts to make sense. From the Market Street Subway through the Twin Peaks Tunnel, it would make sense to operate on some kind of automatic basis. Upon LEAVING the West Portal Station, they begin street-running, and have to respond to traffic lights and cars in their lanes, which would seem to require an operator with direct control. To make this switch while ENTERING the Station could be a big mistake... especially if the operator then forgets to apply the brakes.Heard on the news tonight that the operator of the L car may have put the LRV into manual mode before he should have and hit the K in the station at approximately 25 mph.
Yeah, now I see an updated report that makes it a little clearer.The accident is said to have occurred at the Outbound Platform (at the upper right of your photo), where the Trains are just emerging from a long straight run through the Twin Peaks Tunnel. The curve does not begin until after the Trains have left the Station heading West (center of your photo).There are tracks curving into the station.
Agreed.Although if this view is correct, the operator shouldn't be barreling around a turn that they can't see around.
The rest of the story can be found here along with the rest of the coverage from the SF Chronicle.(07-19) 20:28 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The operator of the Muni train involved in Saturday's crash at West Portal Station told investigators he blacked out shortly before the accident, a source close to the probe told The Chronicle.
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