A former Deputy Chief Inspector of Railways has called for magnetic track brakes (MTBs) to be fitted to British main line trains, in the wake of October 21’s collision at Talerddig in Wales.
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RAIL Editor Dickon Ross on the call for UK trains to have magnetic track brakes fitted, and rail’s bicentenary in an increasingly fast-changing world.
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Derek Amitri - 08/01/2025 08:26
Alternatively, properly manage lineside vegetation.
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NickTaylor - 13/01/2025 11:33
The Tyne & Wear Metro was extended to Sunderland over 20 years ago. These trains have track brakes, which are activated via Indusi trainstops. I was involved in setting these up as part of the commissioning and the only issue we found was that if the track brakes were used many times over an insulated block joint, you could get burring across the joint which occasionally caused a track circuit failure. However, this risk is likely to be confined to commissioning activity and not normal operation. It should also be noted that the Metro's magnetic track brakes slowed the vehicles down very sharply. This would most definitely "spill the coffee" within carriages and is likely to throw passengers around, particularly if standing up. This risk would need to be considered.
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