On 18/08/2010 12:03, Clive Page wrote:
In message
,
martin writes
Something that I don't think had previously been released:
The crew of the grinding unit, who had no means of re-applying the
brake, jumped off the unit as it passed through Highgate station.

That sounds a bit like the Rovos rail runaway near Pretoria on 21st
April, where (some reports say) the crew encouraged passengers aboard to
jump out, presumably while the speed was still modest. Sadly 3 people
were killed and many injured, and 15 out of 19 carriages were damaged
beyond repair. I find it even more extraordinary that on a long
passenger train there was no way of applying the brakes from on board:
on older stock on BR I seem to remember that if you pulled the
communication cord it opened a hole in the brake pipe at the end of the
carriage, which was robust, simple and effective under practically all
circumstances.

I don't know what happens on modern stock but it looks to me as if
pushing the emergency button merely sounds an alarm in the drivers cab,
which is by no means as satisfactory.

The thinking behind that is that if you pull the cord in the tunnel, and
stop the tunnel, than it would be more difficult to get to somebody who
is in need of assistance. You also don't want to pull the cord if there
is a fire, for example, which would possibly customers at even greater risk.