Following a series of high-profile collisions on public transit systems in Boston, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, Boston's mass-transit system is finally testing a crash avoidance system on some of the world's oldest continually-operating trolleys.
The crash avoidance system uses radio waves to detect upcoming obstacles such as other trains and is hardly high tech. Then again, neither is the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's 1940s-era trolleys on the Mattapan Line that will be used for the tests. "The [anti-crash] technology has been around 30 years," Stephan MacDougall, president of the union representing trolley drivers, told The Boston Globe. "They're playing catch-up." Indeed, even the recent DC Metro crash may have been the result of a failed crash protection system -- not a complete lack thereof.
The anti-crash system will be tested on the Mattapan Line at a cost of $500,000, though it's final destination may be the T's Green Line if the pilot is successful and the funds can be raised.
Because some older bridges cannot support the weight of more modern light-rail vehicles, the Mattapan Line still uses the famous President's Conference Committee trains that were symbols of public transportation from the 1940s through the 1980s. The Mattapan Line's air-electric trains -- the only ones still operating for regular revenue service in North America -- were first delivered between 1943 and 1946. That was 65 years before a Green Line operator slammed into the back of another train on May 8 while distracted by a text message from his girlfriend.
Were the pilot program to be fully implemented after testing on the classic PCC cars, it would be an update to even older technology. Boston's Tremont Street Subway, now part of the Green Line's underground right-of-way and where a recent crash occurred, first opened in 1897. History buffs will know that was during the presidency of William McKinley and around the time Bram Stoker's Dracula first hit bookstores.
Modernization aside, the program faces significant financial hurdles. The Globe estimates that it would cost the debt-riddled MBTA over $300 million to fully implement crash avoidance technology on the Green Line. Sadly, if crashes keep happening, prevention may pay off. Last month's crash -- one of five since January of 2007 -- is estimated to cost the agency $10 million in property damage and medical claims.
Photo: Flickr/dannyman
