It's great how METRO is trying to resolve this problem; However, questions still remain...

1. How bad was the damage? I never found any news article expressing the extent of the accident or the damage that followed

2. Which railcar derailed? I'm guessing it was train 102.

3. METRO has made changes to the rail line in signage before, as in adding the QUIET ZONE between WHEELER and HERMANN PARK/RICE U stations. When did this go in to place and why?

Quiet Zone on a regular railroad means not to use horn/whistle unless absolutely needed to alert motorist, biker, or walker to get off the tracks.

The UP runs a quiest zone on the line just east of Loop 610.

My guess for the quiet zone here is for some of the museums in the area near the LRT line.

I've had that question myself.  Mary, how about asking sombody (MPD?) about it.

UP line in question id just east of the West Loop.  (Is this like the 88-Hobby Airport route vai Hobby Airport?)

geez... $600+ Million smackaroos and they still can't get it right.

Doesn't METRO have its own investigators? Rail techs, METRO police, supervisors etc... Whats the purpose of these positions if METRO is just going to outsource everything? What are these people getting paid to do?

And I would have expected something a bit more detailed and sophisticated from whoever METRO paid to conduct the independent investigation.

Doesn't take a genius to view the trains speed history and come to the conclusion the operator was going 7 mph over the posted speed.

There are a lot more factors in play then speed alone, 7mph over???.  Weather, curb weight of the train, condition of the rails. The speedometer could have been showing 15mph but the computer was 7 off. When was the last time the 2 systems were calibrated? Those are all factors that would be in the operators favor so METRO's hierarchy chooses to ignore them.

Mary,

Can a bus make that turn (curve) at 21 MPH?

Forgot to add:

Mary,

If a trolley can derail at 21 MPH, or possibly even 19-20MPH,  ask them exactly what the damage would be if two trolleys were intersecting at that curve and one derailed?

Does METRO really believe that "excessive" speed of 7 MPH caused two huge and extremely heavy railcars to derail in the middle of the night?  That doesn't seem to logical.  I've seen 60 foot Neoplans hit curves at 50+ MPH fully loaded on the 102 Bush IAH Express!  Instead of it derailing, it was given to a transit authority in New York.  I agree with what "C" said about the calibration, rail conditions, speedometer functional?  Hell, for all we know the freakin rails were wet or lightly damp, causing the wheels to slide right on off!  I think it was raining and foggy that night!!  LOL!!!!!!!!!!

I've taken a few turns a bit fast (no passengers) for fun, bus never flipped. Mashed it on the interstate a few times... No issues

of course a train / bus cant be compared

and the way METRO cares for things, I would question the condition of the GPS and other on-board computers METRO uses against operators.

But posted speed limits are supposed to give a little extra. Highway engineers know the average driver will not go from 70mph to 35mph on a curve. There's a 15 - 20 mph margin of error lol. Most drivers will take a curve around 50. So if the posted speed was 50, drivers would go 65-70+.

So METRO should set the speed limit at 5mph. Its a psychological thing.

I'm sure if we follow Frank&Co. around and monitor their speed and driving habits we could call them hypocrites.

It took me 5 years to graduate from College but I know that much.

I have NEVER seen Frank drive himself.

That would be "beneath" him

wi11ie

They should scrap the rail and buy some gillig suburbans...Lordwilling, about 177....

The rear-end crash at the Aquarium got more news time then METROs derailing

C said:  

"The rear-end crash at the Aquarium got more news time then METROs derailing"

Several people were injured in the Aquarium crash, whereas no one was injured by the METRORail derailment, so that makes sense.