The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-07-05
RAILROAD SAFETY UNATTAINED.
Automatic Train Control Powerless to
Avert Wreck.

The New York Central continues to
have an unfortunate accident record. The
name New York Central covers much
greater mileage than formerly, to be
sure, and disasters, like that of yester-
dy, occurring on what used to be the
Lake Shore, must now be charged to the
New York Central's account. In lit
tie over a year leading trains of the
system have been in bad wrecks at Am
sterdam, N. Y, Schodack Landing, N Y,
and now at Dunkirk, N. Y. Yet it is
not suggested that any faults of Off
cial direction have caused these disas-
ters, even indirectly, any more than it is
suggested that the Pennsylvania man.
agement is responsible for the large
number of derailments of its fast trains
due to collisions with wreckage. There
are doubtless unbound or untested ways
in which railroad officials might prevent
wrecks by more extensive use of the
imagination and a more subtle appre-
citation Of psychology. But one believes
that there has not been a wreck on either
the New York Central or the Pennsyl-
vania for many years which state or
government investigators have attrib-
uted to negligence in providing reason
ably for the safety of the public, though
in some cases certain operating practices
have been noted as questionable Yet
accidents like that of yesterday show
how dismslly far We are from safety in
railroad travel
After the South Byron wreck the New
York public service commission an
nounced its intention of making study
of the question of preventing collisions
1t is assumed-perhaps not justifably--
that discipline has gone as far as it will
in affording safeguards in railway oper-
alton. The New York commissions hear
ing in New York last month was there.
fore largely devoted to devices for stop
ping trains automatically when an en-.
gineer fails to be governed by signal in
dications. 1t was shown at the hearing
that the New York Central, before the
war, was investigating, at first perfume
torily and then, thanks to President
Smith, with some interest and energy, a
multiple unit train control system in
vented by Frank j. Sprague. This and
other devices were favorably considered
at the hearing.
Now comes a collision which an an.
tomato train control would probably
have been powerless to prevent. For the
automatic control would operate by ap.
plying the brakes through contact with
a device on the locomotive, and in this
case, it is believed, the air connection
between the locomotive and the train had
been severed by the turning of an angle
cock on the tender. The engineer dis
covered too late that the flow of air t.
the train had been checked Unfortu
nately passenger train crews are so sell
dom required to apply the emergency
brakes from inside the train or to use
the hand brakes that they may not do SC
quickly in an emergency Moreover, il
an engineer is required by rules of tht
company, as is now required on the New
Haven, to slow down his train on pass
ing the distant signal, he should discov
err the Intellectually of the brakes il
time to get some response from the trair
crew. After this accident new mean,
of preventing the angle cock from being
maliciously or inadvertently turned will
probably be sought, and new discipline
will be applied to get instantaneous as
sistance from the crew in stopping the
train on these very rare occasions wher
this assistance is eeded-SpringfelC
Republican.