Recorders on trains

Press, 27 September 1982, Page 6

Recorders on trains

PA Wellington The Locomotive Engineers’ Association wants the Railways Corporation to introduce black box event recorders to locomotives. The association’s national secretary, Mr R. Williams, said yesterday that his organisation could have saved a lot of money in the last two years had the event recorders been standard equipment. The 2000-member association had paid out $190,000 in legal and professional fees on behalf of members involved in the Waiouru Silver Fern railcar, crash, the second Wellington railyard commuter train ' crash, the level-crossing collision with a busload of children at

Invercargill, and the overturning of a passenger train locomotive at Palmerston North. “Our executive believes the L.E.A. could have saved at least half of this money if event recorders were in use,” Mr Williams said. “An event recorder is the best safeguard a crew can have. In the event of a mishap all the crew has to do is prove they were keeping to the regulations and there can be no comeback.

“I would like to see all main line locomotives and railcars fitted with the recorders, along with suburban commuter trains," Mr Williams said. The association’s executive has held preliminary talks

with the corporation concerning the possibility of two types of 'recorders being introduced. ’ ;,

The first, a short-term log, would provide accident investigators with such details as speed, brake pipe pressure, and throttle position on the locomotive for 10 minutes before the mishap. The second, a long-term log, would enable speed checks to .be accurately made for about 36 hours of the locomotive’s running time.

A resolution passed at the association’s annual conference last week in Wellington urged the corporation to have suitable event recorders installed on locomotives at the earliest opp’ortunity.