Evening star., 1925-11-15
RAILROADS SLOW.
WITH STOP DEVICES
65 Per Cent of Mileage Gov
cred in |. c. C. Order Now
Has Required System.

Railroads are proceeding with the
installation Of train control or train
stop devices at the present rate Of
about $500 miles Of track a year and
will continue to install such devices in
conformity with the progressive or
der of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission, according to the American
Railway Association.
Out of 7,I45 miles Of track Of the As
carriers. named by the Commission in
It's first order. designated for installa
tion Of train control devices. installa
ton had been completed August | or
was under way on divisions totaling
b,O44 miles. 65 per cent of the mileage
covered by the order
The roads, even though in August
they had reached an installa tion GOV
ering 65 per cent OF the trackaCe
named in the commissions order. are
still far behind the edict OF the rail
road regulatory body. The order re
Quired the carriers to have the in
stallations completed by January l.,
1928.
Fall Far Short.
A report by the committee on auto
matte train control OF the American n
Railway Association shows the roads
have fallen far short Of the require
on January /. 1925, installation had
been completed or was under way
only on 1892 miles, or AZ per cent of
the trackage named. Part of the
shortage in installation is explained
by the fact that in May of last year
AZ of the carriers were permitted 10
install in connection with the train
control or train-stop device a pernlis-
sive control feature, which meant
added time and expense. However, the
commission, considering at length the
involved situation. the physical diff
cultieS in the face of such inStalla-
| tion and the large money outlay,
specifically said adoption of the per
missive feature will not be permitted
to serve as an excuse for delay in the
installations required by our orders.
"It is highly probable automatic
train control or train stop devices
would have prevented many of the
306 railroad accidents between July
l, 1911. and March 81, 1924, which
resulted in 1895 deaths and injury
TO 10,267 persons the commission
said conservatively in it's report on
the permissive feature.
Recent Wreck Cited.
individuals on the commission We're
more outspoken yesterday regarding
the accident on the PennSylVa mia
Railroad near Plainsboro, y. j., last
Wednesday, which caused a death
toll of 10 lives. They base their
assumption on quoted reports blaming
the engineer of the st. Louis New
York express for passing signal. and
said that II train control or train
stop devices had been in use the
train would have been stopped auto
matically without the human factor
entering at all. Practically all the ac-
cident reports of the commission end
with the observtion that If train con-
troll or train stop devices had been
in use the accident investigated would
not have occurred.
Railroad objection to the installa-
ton of train control arises not alone
from it's great expense, although the
expense will admittedly be a heavy
burden on some of the financially
weaker roads, according to officials of
the Association of Railway Execu-
tives.
The carriers take the view that rail
road accidents are so few, and would
be measurably fewer if block signals
system were in general use instead of on
only about so per cent Of the passenger
lines in the United States, that the eX-
penditure of $26, ,000, 900 the estimated
could better be made toward complete
use of block signal systems. The car
riers further hold that train acci-
dents are much less frequent than
grade crossing accidents, in which
many more persons are killed or in
jured than in accidents involving
trains alone. Yet completely to eradi-
cate grade crossings or train-road
crossings would cost, railroad men
say. as much as the valuation Of the
roads themselves-about $40, 900 ,OOo,-
900.
The first six months of 1925 saw q
reduction of II in the number Of per-
sons killed at grade crossings by the
Glass 1 carriers, the figures showing
941 killed and 1852 injured. against
95s killed in the corresponding period
of 1924.
The law requiring railroad installa-
tion OF train control devices is a part
Of the transportation act of 1920, in
which is also incorporated the stand
ard railroad return clause. Railroad
men," the commission says, "unani-
mously advocate the extension of the
block signal system to keep pace with
the increase of traffic upon divisions
where that system is not now in
stalled and where additional protec-
ton Is necessary. They also as a unit
admit the need of a suitable train stop
on certain other divisions where traffic
density Is greater and perhaps oper-
ating conditions more diff1cult, to
guard against possible failure to OBJ
serve signal Indications" This is the
view taken by officials of the commits
sion on the New Jersey accident last
Wednesday. The Baltimore and Ohio
Is experimenting with a train control
device on Its lines between Washing
ton and Baltimore.