San Francisco Muni train leaves station without driver

[Jesus Malverde]

A passenger pulled an emergency brake to stop a San Francisco Municipal Railway light-rail vehicle Wednesday morning after the train left the station without its operator on board, a Muni official said.

The incident was reported at 10:21 a.m. between the Castro and Forest Hill stations, and involved an outbound one-car KT-Ingleside/Third Street train, said John Haley, the agency's director of transit.

The train had been stopped at the Castro station to let passengers on and off, and while it was in the station there was a problem with one of the doors, Haley said.

The operator got off the train to check on the door, which then closed, and the train began moving in automatic mode with the operator still on the platform, Haley said.

About 30 passengers were on the train as it traveled about a quarter-mile toward the Forest Hill station before someone pulled an emergency lever on board, causing the vehicle to come to a stop, according to Haley.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=9324618

[spiderpig]

1. Figures. n/t

[Blue Owl]

2. A Sarah Palin metaphor?

n/t

[arcane1]

3. The dipshit forgot to set the emergency brake.

Also:

"The driver has been placed on non-driving status"

and

"controllers respond immediately"

Also:

"Passengers were never in danger because the train was under automatic control"

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Driverless-Muni-Metro-train-takes-off-in-tunnel-4980800.php

[Jesus Malverde]

4. Hey

Thats not very dramatic...best visual was someone running through the car yelling the driver was left behind.

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Shouldn't "automatic control" mean that

the train doesn't move when there is no engineer aboard?

What happened to the "dead man's switch"?

[brooklynite]

7. Automated trains don't have one...

...hence the "automated" part.

[Gravitycollapse]

12. Pretty sure automated trains still have a deadman's switch.

Or, at least, they are supposed to.

[Kelvin Mace]

16. Then replace them with ancient technology

that doesn't run off without an engineer.

What is the point of failsafe devices if they are not installed?

[davidpdx]

6. Unstoppable?

Not a very bright thing to do. Thankfully the passenger acted quickly.

[Jesus Malverde]

8. actually computer controlled so drone mode...nt

[Luminous Animal]

11. It's automated. It would have stopped at the

next station. This is really not a big deal.

[neverforget]

13. As someone who now works on the railroad, that movie is really hard

to watch.

[davidpdx]

15. I'm sure there are plenty of discrepancies between what would actually happen

and how the story was told. Hollywood tends to glamorize most anything. Look at the movie Pearl Harbor or Titanic. Both were disasters turned into love stories with the actual events minimized. Unstoppable was based on a true story, but even on Wikipedia it says that the details of the story were changed. I still happen to think it was a decent movie. Then again, I didn't pay to see it in the theater or rent it.

Most people wouldn't be able to pick out those small details as we've never learned about locomotives. I admit I have no knowledge about that. Then again if I started talking about how to do case study research on a the interaction between two cultures most people would be lost or not care after the first five minutes.

[pinboy3niner]

9. "The driver has been placed on non-driving status"

I'd say he beat them to it.

[Jesus Malverde]

10. ta ta dum...

[libdem4life]

14. Where's the face palm when you need it?