Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-30
Automatic Train Control,

A1VCI SCNCH yCSIS cIlOII W SCCuIG ca"
tensive installation Of automatic train
control on the rail carriers of the Ma
ton, during which the right of the
commission to impose the further finan-
cial burden of such installations on the
railroads has gone through the courts
and been upheld, the Interstate Com
merce Commission on its own motion
has temporarily abandoned the plan Of
issuing further orders for additional in
stallations. Chief objections to further
installations, as presented by the rail-
roads, are that the costs Of installation
and maintenance are too high for the
degree Of protection offered, and that
greater improvement in safety OF OPP
Grafton viii be obtained by spending
available funds for automatic block sig
mails on railroads not now equipped with
such signals, for adjustment of grade
crossings and for other safety measures
The history of the effort of the COM
mission to force train control inStalla-
ton on the railroads, over the protests
of several of the carriers, is long drawn
out, and reveals that the railroads have
been struggling with insufficient earn
ings to install highly expensive appa-
ratus. On the other hand, the Inter-
state Commerce Commission, with the
safety Of the millions Of passengers to
guard, has forced the carriers to pro-
coed with the installations.
The order of the commission an
nouncing that for the present 1t Will
issue no orders requiring further train
control installations does not commit
the rail control body to abandonment
of its train control program. The COM
mission plainly intends that no such
step is contemplated when it announces
that the proceeding will be kept open
for such further orders as may be re-
quired.
Meanwhile, and in marked contrast
with the decision of the commission in
the train control case, are the accident
reports Of the Bureau of Safety, which
almost invariably at the end of any ac-
cident report involving failure of a
manual device observe laconically that
had train control been in use on this
line this accident would not
have occurred"
Commissioner Eastman, in the sole
dissenting opinion, points out that with
commission stewardship Of the pro-
longation of train control installation
removed the railroads cannot be eX-
pected to voluntarily continue installa-
ton of such life-saving devices. 1.-THE
indications are, indeed, to the con-
trary," he says. The present situation
may be summed up in the statement
that while the carriers believe train
control is a useful and necessary in
stallation, other train-operating de-
vices will serve the same purpose with
reduced expense. In this view the ma
jority Of the commission concurs. 1t
is to be hoped, however, that the rail
carriers will proceed speedily with their
program of Embarrassing adjustment
and that the block-signal system Will
be extended expeditiously to those por-
lions of the carriers lines which now
operate on manual signals.
Meanwhile 1t would be unfair to level
the charge of noncompliance with
commission orders at the door of the
railroads, for although extensions have
been permitted in the cases OF some
carriers, on the whole the roads have
gone through with the train control
program. All told nearly 10000 miles
Of track are today equipped with train
control devices, which have cost the
carriers more than $26,o0o,000.
It has been estimated that to Grad
icate every railroad grade crossing in
the United States would cost in the
neighborhood of 20 billions Of dollars,
which Is approximately the valuation
of the rail carriers themselves. With
the growing competition from motor
buses, such an expensive program as
complete grade crossing adjustment Is
manifestly impossible. But the other
safety measures should be pushed to
completion, to the end that the toll OF
lives taken in major railroad accidents
may be reduced.