SAFER RAILWAYS

Southland Times, Issue 20010, 26 October 1926, Page 8

SAFER RAILWAYS

EMERGENCY BRAKES INSTALLATION TO BEGIN IMMEDIATELY DEVICE FOR PASSENGERS’ USE Within the next few days, according to an official announcement, a commencement will be made with the installation in railway express carriages of a simple device which will enable passengers in extreme emergency to stop trains by an application of the Westinghouse brake. A safeguard against tampering with the device was provided in legislation passed last session, states the Dominion. From time to time there have been agitations in New Zealand for the introduction of communication cords on the railway trains, similar to those supplied on express services in Great Britain; but the difference in construction and make-up between the New Zealand and British types of passenger rolling stock presented a serious obstacle to the use of a safety measure of this nature. Some months ago, however, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Railway Department (Mr G. S. Lynde) decided upon the introduction of a simple and effective method *of enabling passengers to stop a train in the event of emergency. A start is to be made immediately with the fitting of these devices, which are known as emergency brake cocks, in each passenger car compartment. Attention will first be devoted to the express and Limited cars, and gradually the suburban and branch line cars will be fitted, until the brake cock is installed in every car on every line. The brake cock is enclosed in a box with a thin glass front, which may easily be broken by a passenger, and the turning of the cock applies the brake just as effectively as an application by the engine driver could do. The cocks to the train brake pipes, which extend from the engine to the last vehicle on the train. When the emergency cock lever is pulled down the compressed air in the train brake pipe escapes, and this causes the Westinghouse brake to apply, instantaneously and with its full force, to the whole train. It is intended also to introduce a form of communication cord into sleeping cars of the transverse compartment type. The brake is to be used only in cases of extreme emergency, as a conspicuous notice near the brake cock box indicates. This notice reads— EMERGENCY SIGNAL. To stop train in extreme emergency break glass and turn level down. Penalty for improper use £lO. It is anticipated tlyit the occasions on which there will be any necessity for applying the emergency brake will be extremely rare, but its installation provides a complete safeguard to meet just such occasions as those for which it is being introduced.