Keihin Tohoku Line disruption yesterday

[JR 500系]

It seems the Keihin Tohoku line was disrupted yesterday due to a broken overhead wire from Yokohama station to Sakuraichigo station... More details here:

 

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150805p2g00m0dm001000c.html

 

Some even press the emergency door open button when the train stopped without instructions from the staff, due to the hot humidity inside the train when the current went off....

[railsquid]

According to the news just now it was due to a train stopping somewhere it shouldn't have, where two separate sections of catenary overlap.

 

Not a good year for JR East...

[trainsforever8]

Wow, I'm surprised that they actually got off the train without instruction, was it that bad?

[Guest ___]

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/did-a-japanese-high-school-student-stop-350000-people-from-getting-home-by-throwing-a-bag

 

Japan Today's take. Though, they're one of the more sloppy and lazier media outlets I've ever had the annoyance of being involved with. I wouldn't be surprised if JT was owned by the New York Times, so I'm not sure how much faith I'd put in the article. Even if there is truth to it, it's hard to deduce which part is fact and what is speculation.

[miyakoji]

According to the news just now it was due to a train stopping somewhere it shouldn't have, where two separate sections of catenary overlap.

 

Not a good year for JR East...

 

On the jtrains mailing list, Prophet of the Way gave some detail on this:

 

The initial catenary snap occurred at a section break where two sets of cables fed by different stations are active. Under certain conditions a voltage difference may occur between the two lines and this may be destructive when the train beneath is drawing a large current.

 

Trains are not supposed to stop at this section, but the driver was unaware of the regulation and stopped his train in a location which appeared safe. He was trying to avoid collision with the train ahead, which was making an unusually long stop at Sakuragicho because of the large number of passengers heading to the firework show.

 

JR East is considering installing alarm devices to warn drivers of catenary section breaks.

I'm a bit surprised that such a situation exists. I'd think that the risk of having to stop in one of these spots would be too great, and that there would be a technical solution for the problem anyway.

[JR 500系]

Oh wow I'm learning something new each day... I didn't know there exist such a situation known as a current break... Interesting... 

[kvp]

This is similar to the analog blocks used on a layout. If you control two adjacent blocks with two different controllers, then a train can connect the two blocks together. Normally this isn't a problem, as the voltage should be similar, but if the two controllers are not on the same ground, then a ground fault current can flow between the two blocks, right across the train's traction circuits. To prevent this on the real trains, a ground fault relay is installed at all substations, which turns off the power. This also protects against accidentally grounded catenary, like broken wire, trees (or catenary masts) falling on it or a higher that average truck hitting the wires at a crossing.

 

There are three ways to prevent faults during boundary crossings. One is to install an unpowered section of wire that is longer than the two most distant connected pantographs on the longest train. If the train has a fully connected traction cable this can be quite long. If the train is broken into smaller sections, like every N car around each pantograph, then this length is smaller. Some 3rd rail trains go further and each bogie with its own shoes is isolated from the others. The other option is to lower the pantographs or just disconnect the power pickups before the 1st pantographs go near the boundary and raise them when the last one is clear. This way, the longest isolated section has to be as long as the width of a single pantograph. This connect/disconnect event can be manual or automatic signalled by the lineside equipment. (similar to signals and speed limits) If a train stops under a boundary zone, then it can't move on its own power without tripping one or both substations. The usual method is either to push/pull it out or to manually disconnect one of the substations or lower all pantographs but one and try to crawl across slowly. The way is to have a switchable section, that is switched from one substation to the other by the block control automatic. This is the best option, but the most expensive and not really needed in most cases.

 

Usually there are signs indicating the start/end of the boundary section and signalling is built in a way that if the block behind the section is occupied, then the signals stop a train before it gets under the boundary. This allows most trains to just roll across unpowered without stopping.

 

ps: One british 3rd rail electric locomotive had similar problems on the south England network, where it was assumed that each shoe pair on each bogie is always isolated from the rest. The locomotive was shorter than the emu cars, so both bogies were connected together, so both power bogies could pick up power from all 4 shoes. This was fine, but the locomotive could still get stuck at larger 3rd rail gaps around turnouts and it could short together two power districts. Usually this just meant lots of sparks, but if one district was loaded way more than the other, then the whole power difference went right through the locomotive, usually igniting it. The fix is to add fuses to each pickup shoe (or pantograph) and a temporary power source to get a stuck train across any gaps. The same could happen with model trains too when one train bridges an isolated gap between two blocks and powers another that would otherwise not receive power.

[velotrain]

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/did-a-japanese-high-school-student-stop-350000-people-from-getting-home-by-throwing-a-bag

 

Japan Today's take. Though, they're one of the more sloppy and lazier media outlets I've ever had the annoyance of being involved with. I wouldn't be surprised if JT was owned by the New York Times, so I'm not sure how much faith I'd put in the article. Even if there is truth to it, it's hard to deduce which part is fact and what is speculation.

 

That link seems to be dead.

 

Are you suggesting that the NYT is "one of the more sloppy and lazier media outlets" ?

 

Most educated people regard it as one of the best newspapers in the U.S.

[trainsforever8]

Japan today stated that 2 teenagers threw a bag on the catenary loll.. When I read it, I knew it didn't make sense since the beginning for 2 reasons:

1; A backpack is not heavy enough to break a catenary wire.

2; The incident did not happen in a station, so it wouldn't even had made any sense because the train was running on elevated tracks.

[Guest ___]

That link seems to be dead.

 

Are you suggesting that the NYT is "one of the more sloppy and lazier media outlets" ?

 

Most educated people regard it as one of the best newspapers in the U.S.

 

LOL, I always get the NYT and NYP mixed up. Could never remember which was the good one and which was the crap one. Having spent most of my photojournalism career in the employment of one of the many Washington Post companies, we view all the NY papers the same, which may be sad because my grandfather was the Director of Advertising for the New York Times (or was it the Post).

 

Most educated people today also think Twitter and Facebook is more objective than print or broadcast media. I recall a poll taken a few years by Pew, that found the majority of those 18-35 felt that Jon Stewart's Daily Show provided more valuable information and was more reliable than the four major networks. And where I work, most educated editors do not see ethical issues with rewriting quotes or right-click save-as for image gathering with out attribution either. So, even with my master's, I don't place much faith in "educated" people any more.

 

Try this link: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/did-a-japanese-high-school-student-stop-350000-people-from-getting-home-by-throwing-a-bag

Edited August 6, 2015 by 写真家

[katoftw]

Japan today stated that 2 teenagers threw a bag on the catenary loll.. When I read it, I knew it didn't make sense since the beginning for 2 reasons:

1; A backpack is not heavy enough to break a catenary wire.

2; The incident did not happen in a station, so it wouldn't even had made any sense because the train was running on elevated tracks.

1- while the backpack isn't heavy enough to break the line, then the pans comes along and catches the bag, it all wraps up together and it pulls down and destroys the line.

 

2- dunno?

 

they are weird stories.  i like some of the japan times peanut gallery responses down the bottom.  ie "the LOL'ing will stop when daddy gets the bill."

Edited August 6, 2015 by katoftw

[velotrain]

Japan today stated that 2 teenagers threw a bag on the catenary loll.. When I read it, I knew it didn't make sense since the beginning for 2 reasons:

1; A backpack is not heavy enough to break a catenary wire.

2; The incident did not happen in a station, so it wouldn't even had made any sense because the train was running on elevated tracks.

 

> The original tweet, by a high school girl:

“[boy’s name] got crazy all of a sudden and threw my bag into the electrical wires. It got stuck and sparks came out and then it shut off lol.”

 

I don't buy it - she would have no direct way to know it shut off.  It's not as if there's an on light !

[velotrain]

 I don't place much faith in "educated" people any more.

 

You may have no faith in them, but they're the ones reading the Times.

 

The others are reading a tabloid (or Twitter or Facebook) - it doesn't really matter which one.

[cteno4]

Yeah right Twitter and Facebook, exactly what I call educated! I've seen many very highly educated friends say the stupidest thing in those parts. Quite shocking actually...

 

Jeff

[katoftw]

Like any social media, everyone, no matter how smart they are, they still dumb down to the lowest possible denominator.

[Guest ___]

1- while the backpack isn't heavy enough to break the line, then the pans comes along and catches the bag, it all wraps up together and it pulls down and destroys the line.

 

2- dunno?

 

they are weird stories.  i like some of the japan times peanut gallery responses down the bottom.  ie "the LOL'ing will stop when daddy gets the bill."

 

 

Of my opinion, and getting back to what Tony stated earlier about foreigner prescriptions, in another thread, I think JT is one of the worst offenders when it comes to this. Aside from the unforgivable sloppy reporting of JT (whose favorite source for news is often RocketNews24), lack of fact checking or instability to use a simply style guide, I'd say they really jumped the shark with that article. I'm actually amazed that the entire comment section did not degrade in the usual anti-LDP and Abe rants that seem to over run he entire discussion forum. This is the primary reason I seldom visit the site anymore unless, something of interest comes over my Linkdin feed as in this case with the link provided. Even then, I read it with a grain of salt.

 

/rant

[Guest ___]

You may have no faith in them, but they're the ones reading the Times.

 

The others are reading a tabloid (or Twitter or Facebook) - it doesn't really matter which one.

 

I've seen plenty of unintelligent people read it too. I've also seen my cat sleeping on top of it too ^_^

[velotrain]

I've seen plenty of unintelligent people read it too. I've also seen my cat sleeping on top of it too ^_^

 

But then, it's well known that cats are highly intelligent ;-)    

(not suggesting that they actually read it, but no doubt they pick up the vibes)

 

Sorry to stray, but the mention of cats reminded me of something.

Now to find it in the photo archives . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My guess is that hubby learned to live with the cat.

 

I'll also guess that the "playful, friendly, very affectionate" also applies to Jennifer.