[Scan-DC] Conrail Radio Can't Raise CSX Dispatcher

[b_thom at juno.com]

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2002/RAR0202.pdf

I've been going through accident reports. This is not a recent accident. The channels referred to are AAR (Association of American Railroad) channels. The lowest one in common use is channel 7, 160.215 MHz. Two widely used CSX frequencies are AAR channel 8, 160.230 MHz, and channel 14, 160.320 MHz.

Factual Information     Railroad Accident Report

... When it became apparent that the train was uncontrollable, the engineer attempted
to radio the dispatcher on the locomotive radio but was unable to do so. According to the
engineer:
I could not contact the dispatcher. I tried the emergency button, the code 9
and applied on channel 14, but [this was] a Conrail radio, and evidently
they're not compatible with ours [CSXT].

The conductor said:
We tried to contact the dispatcher with the engine radio, but the engine radio is a
Conrail radio, and it will not contact our dispatchers, the equipment is not
compatible. Radios are locked-in and not changeable by crews.

The trainman trainee was in the second locomotive unit cab. He said:
The first suspicion I had that anything was amiss was that the brake shoes were
burning and there was acrid smoke coming into the cabin of the second
locomotive. I opened the window, and it was even worse. I shut it quickly. 

Five minutes later, the engineer came on the radio, and said, "Go to channel 14 and get
the dispatcher on the radio." He said there was a button that I should press, number
5. Well, the second radio is different from what he had, and I didn't know how to
operate it, so I went to channel 14, but I was still on channel 8. I broadcast the
emergency, but I was unable to get the dispatcher.

During postaccident interviews, the trainman trainee was asked if he had been
trained in making an emergency radio transmission. He said: "Yes, but getting the dispatcher on the radio here is something different. You have to press certain buttons and I wasn't still sure he gave me some instructions over
the radio, but the second radio was different from his, and it had no key pad, so I did not know how to operate the second radio."

The trainman trainee stated that he had seen as many as five different styles of
radios on various locomotives but that the instructions he had been given on their use were
generic and were not specific to any particular type of radio.

____________________________________________________________
University of Phoenix
Explore Our Many Financial Options & Earn a Degree. Find a Course Now!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=gYoGHrNJR2Rxgy4kaNhJoQAAJ1DTzo1j0zK4CKewKFoZc-9IAAUAAAAAAAAAAHBfFz8hpBYCoJ1KRb-khUHPDFDlAAAAAA==