Emergency Window Removal

[Neil_M]

Yes, the hammers are a European thing. They would probably be near worthless against a window that meets the FRA requirements for passenger car windows. Somehow they have never seemed to have heard of the American system. I can not imagine why anyone would deliberately add broken glass to an alread messy situation. There is a certain level of quite literally "bulletproof" in the FRA spec.

Yes , those Europeans know nothing about railways and safety systems do they? Building the cars so heavy they can hardly move but doing next to nothing about stopping head on collisions with freight trains or thousands of grade crossing collisions a year is really the way forward. Possibly.

 

[Ryan]

I would bet it wouldn't, fire dept arrived at the MARC/Capitol limited accident in Silver SPring and could not break the windows with their tools to save the kids insidee, unfortunately they were practically right next to the emergency door release but none had noticed or tried to use it.
now there is a design that allows some windows to be opened from the outside also, there is also an outside emergency door release too.

Bob

There's now labeling on the outside of the MARC cars instructing rescuers how to remove the windows from the outside - basically get the passengers back, and then hit the window around the edge, presumably to remove the window from the frame, just as if they were pulled inward by passengers.

 

[Guest_George Harris_*]

Yes, the hammers are a European thing. They would probably be near worthless against a window that meets the FRA requirements for passenger car windows. Somehow they have never seemed to have heard of the American system. I can not imagine why anyone would deliberately add broken glass to an alread messy situation. There is a certain level of quite literally "bulletproof" in the FRA spec.

Yes , those Europeans know nothing about railways and safety systems do they? Building the cars so heavy they can hardly move but doing next to nothing about stopping head on collisions with freight trains or thousands of grade crossing collisions a year is really the way forward. Possibly.

Huh? I though we were talking about windows. I was, anyway. I remain mysitifed by the continuation of the emphasis on breaking the glass when a method of escaped through a window that does not result in broken glass is well proven.

But: since you mentioned it:

Crashworthiness of the overall vehicle is a whole other subject, and the various considerations not near as simple as you seem to think. We cannot wave a magic wand and suddenly eliminate road crossings and freight trains. To fail to design and build vehicles to fit the reality of the situation would be malfeasance of the worst kind. Don't you think "cars so heavy they can hardly move" is somewhat overstating the situation? The converse would be to be concerned about "cars constructed so flimisly that they come apart upon impact" - like several did at Eschede.

Newsflash: Twice as strong does not mean twice as heavy. Smart design can do a lot to increase strength without a large weight increase.

 

[caravanman]

I think we have explained how to use the emergency exits to the satisfaction of the original poster..

I am glad that someone else has seen hammers in the dinner cars aboard Amtrak, perhaps I am not quite as ga-ga as I thought!

(The fact those hamers might be in small boxes behind this super tough plexiglass too, might be another problem, though.)

Each country has its own different needs around transport and safety.. I am sure that european train makers consider all the options for window glass too, I guess if laminated "safety glass" is considered fine for cars and bus and coach windows, it is pretty ok for train windows.

Ed B)

 

[access bob]

Yes, the hammers are a European thing. They would probably be near worthless against a window that meets the FRA requirements for passenger car windows. Somehow they have never seemed to have heard of the American system. I can not imagine why anyone would deliberately add broken glass to an alread messy situation. There is a certain level of quite literally "bulletproof" in the FRA spec.

Yes , those Europeans know nothing about railways and safety systems do they? Building the cars so heavy they can hardly move but doing next to nothing about stopping head on collisions with freight trains or thousands of grade crossing collisions a year is really the way forward. Possibly.

Huh? I though we were talking about windows. I was, anyway. I remain mysitifed by the continuation of the emphasis on breaking the glass when a method of escaped through a window that does not result in broken glass is well proven.

But: since you mentioned it:

Crashworthiness of the overall vehicle is a whole other subject, and the various considerations not near as simple as you seem to think. We cannot wave a magic wand and suddenly eliminate road crossings and freight trains. To fail to design and build vehicles to fit the reality of the situation would be malfeasance of the worst kind. Don't you think "cars so heavy they can hardly move" is somewhat overstating the situation? The converse would be to be concerned about "cars constructed so flimisly that they come apart upon impact" - like several did at Eschede.

Newsflash: Twice as strong does not mean twice as heavy. Smart design can do a lot to increase strength without a large weight increase.

notice how after the Metrolink crash the windows in the car were still intact for the most part.

Bob