Light Rail System Safety

HCRQ's director of consulting supervised not only the System Safety Programs but also the reliability, availability, maintainability of LRT systems such as:

• Kuala Lumpur LRT2 (LIM, maximum speed 80 km/h)
  • Hazard Tracking
  • Site Safety Including Emergency Preparedness
  • Final Safety Report
  • System Reliability
  • System Availability
  • System Maintainability
• Vancouver SkyTrain Extension (LIM)
• Jacksonville Automated Skyway Express (monorail)
• Ankara Rapid Transit System
• JFK AirTrain *** (LIM, max. speed 60 mph Jamaica Station to Federal Circle, 50 mph elsewhere)
  • SSPP - Pre-operations
  • SSPP - Operations
  • Input To Safe Stopping Distance Methodology
  • Review Of Safe Stopping Distance Methodology
  • Preliminary Hazard Analysis
  • Hazard Tracking
  • Fault Hazard Analysis
  • Reliability Allocation Analysis
  • Dependability Plan
  • Dependability Demonstration Test Plan
  • Equipment Availability Estimate
  • Maintainability Demonstration Test Plan
  • System Dependability [Availability] Allocation Analysis
  • System Availability Monitoring Plan
  • System Assurance Monitoring Plan
  • Safety Certification Program Plan
  • Safety Certification Report
  • {One of the interesting aspects of this system is that it was designed to handle luggage carts.}

We have also helped light rail subsystem suppliers with their system safety analyses.

We have assisted in the bidding process for many LRT systems such as:

• Bangkok Blue Line
• CKS Airport-Taipei Connector
• Dallas/Fort-Worth Airport APM
• Houston Metro LRT
• Kaohsiung Red and Orange Line
• Lausanne Metro Nord-East Project
• Pusan-Kimhae LRT
• Putrajaya LRT
• Sentosa People Mover
• Singapore Marina Line
• South Tagus LRT

 

We have experience with:

• safety committees
• 3-rail and 4-rail systems
• fixed and moving block ATC's
• CAZ (Conflict Avoidance Zones)
• rotary and Linear Induction Motor (LIM) drives
• platform screen doors (PSDS)
  • do you know the hazards associated with platform screen doors?
    • just one of them is touch potential e.g., between grounded doors and the car body on 3-rail systems
• platform door interface (PDI)
• blue light stations
• power supply and distribution (PS&D)
• OMSF safety e.g., wheel lathe operations, stingers
• vehicle safety e.g., brakes, brake assurance monitors, propulsion, doors, platform door interface, stanchions, hostler panel, couplers
• guideway/guidebeam safety e.g., power rail, switches, moveable frogs, SPIs, walkways
• platform safety
• system security including:
  • security committees
  • system security program plans
  • threat and vulnerability analysis
  • access control e.g., keys, proximity cards, lock boxes
  • intrusion detection
    • stations
    • OMSF
    • traction power substations
    • guideway
      • Guideway Intrusion Detection System (GIDS)
      • Platform Intrusion Detection System (PIDS)
      • Wayside Intrusion Detection System (WIDS)
      • Platform Intrusion Emergency Stop (PIES) System
  • silent alarm strips
  • visual and auditory surveillance e.g., fixed and PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) cameras, influencing station design and landscaping
• communications including:
  • ETEL - Emergency Telephone
  • FTEL - Fire Telephone
  • PTEL - Passenger Telephone
• system safety plans for design, T&C, & O&M
• failure management plans
• emergency egress e.g., doors, walkways, ramps
• emergency management panels (EMPs)
• emergency procedures
• emergency response familiarization plans
• fire detection and suppression
• fire, smoke and evacuation modeling
• fire protection features manuals
• fire maps
• etc.

A Word Of Warning

One of the glaring problems we witness with light rail systems, in the U.S. and Canada, is failure to involve experienced system safety engineers (not transportation system consultants) in two roles:

• preparation of the safety sections of the technical specification, and
• review of system safety submissions from the transit system supplier

In situations where system safety engineers are involved, sometimes they are not granted the authority to do their job properly.

HCRQ cautions those purchasing light rail systems that this represents a risk to themselves and their passengers.

3rd Rail History

Werner von Siemens (1816-1892) pioneered the use of the third rail when he used it to power an experimental electric train which he demonstrated at the 1879 Berlin Industrial Exhibition.

In the U.S., Leo Daft used a third rail system to electrify the Baltimore & Hampden lines in 1885.

The first electrically-powered subway train, which emerged in London in 1890, drew power from a third rail.