MTA plans a “Death Trap Tunnel” to cut costs
DC Metro Crash "Worst Disaster in Metro History" kills 9. Image from WJLA, Washington, June '09.
The MTA has scrambled to cut costs for the Red Line Alternative 4C to make the project qualify for Federal funds. One controversial plan would put a single-track tunnel under Cooks Lane. Edward Cohen, a member of the Red Line CAC and of TRAC, recently wrote a letter to Congressman Cummings expressing his opposition to this tunnel for reasons of safety (click to read). It is shocking how dangerous this tunnel would be.
Mr. Cohen explained that this is a “death trap tunnel” with three blind corners and trains coming from both directions at speeds of 50mph. This creates the possibility of a 100-mph collision and a multiple train pileup! No other rail in the U.S. has seen fit to build such a risky tunnel.
In a recent article by Mike Dresser in the Baltimore Sun, MTA administrator Henry Kay advocated the single-track tunnel. Mr. Cohen said that Mr. Kay’s account was misleading.
“You want to have the Cadillac but sometimes you can’t afford to afford to have the Cadillac – it’s not that single tracking is never done or never works,” said Mr. Kay, who went on to say, “There are single track operations all over the country working safely as we speak.”
Other cities do have single tracking, but not single tracking through a tunnel, corrected Mr. Cohen. The only single-track system in a tunnel is in Pittsburgh on a branch with little traffic. Trains are on that Pittsburgh line approximately once every half hour. This is very different than the 5-minute schedule proposed for the Cooks Lane tunnel, he said.
A tunnel crash would be especially devastating. With trains traveling at 50mph, there would be a 100-mph head-on collision. The recent San Francisco light rail crash sent 47 people to the hospital, and this crash occurred at approximately 10mph. Even worse, because trains are confined on all sides by the tunnel, there is no possibility that the trains to pass on top of each other as happens often in surface crashes like the recent DC red line crash that killed 9 people (see image above). The passengers would suffer the full force of the collision.
If the signaling system fails in even one direction, there is a possibility for multiple car pileup. Mr. Cohen said that Mr. Kay conceded that there is no guarantee against just such a malfunction.
“If we go forward and build this, we may get something mediocre and in the meantime we’re taking this risk – this is all risk and no reward,” said Mr. Cohen. “Furthermore, do it right or don’t do it – it is far more important to build all of the red line right than it is to build any of it right now.”
How is ed cohen possibly qualified to make such an argument?
Dear “get real” – it’s called common sense, something that has clearly been lacking from the MTA. It doesn’t take an engineer, which I happen to be, to realize that a signal malfunction in that system would leave everyone at serious risk, and furthermore that the design would seriously limit the capacity of the already crippled system the MTA is trying to force on the city. Also – if you’re going to stick your nose out and attack the character of a citizen who has been involved in the Red Line project for almost 7 years without any financial compensation, at least have the gumption to put your real name. That’s just sleazy.
get real’s remarks sound like comments made recently by Henry Kay. Cohen knows at least as much as Kay, and he’s not in the GBC’s pocket.
Ed Cohen is a member of the Transit Riders Action Council. Seems he knows exactly what he is talking about and HE doesn’t have an agenda — except seeing mas transit done the right way in this city.
I’m a member of the American Automobile Association, does that make me a professional design engineer? sure, if you talk long enough, you can manage to sound pretty darn informed — without having the faintest clue about the realities of building a rail line.
Isn’t that what Henry Kay does at the CAC meetings? Talk long enough (filibuster) and try to sound informed so that nobody can get anything done and the MTA can say it had public input? Meanwhile all he’s done is push the developers’ agenda… Get Real do you have any real points to combat the argument, or are you going to keep doing the George Bush name calling routine to try to discredit the author because you know he’s right?
… and how does a photo of the DC metro crash, caused by failed computer systems, have anything to do with this “story”? Fear mongering anyone?
Did you read the story? The same kind of systems failure that caused this crash, or a signaling failure on the tunnel, or human error, would likely kill every person aboard both trains. It has everything to do with this story.