When values become buzzwords

I’m not sure who came up with this whole “Safety at TriMet is not just a priority, it’s a value” thing, but it’s really turning into more of a slogan than an actual practice. Like if we cram the word “safety” into a speech as many times as we can, SUCCESS! That means we have a safe system!

Open door on the MAX

Except, you know, in practice it doesn’t really work out like that, such as the recent failed door interlock on a MAX train. Or the not as publicized but still recent failed door interlock on a bus. Or all the track damage out there on the alignment that passengers might not notice unless they spot some of the wayside cones/flags denoting a slow order, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of areas of the alignment that are in need of repair.

Is everything at TriMet as safe as it could be? The official answer would have you believe yes, that’s the case. The rest of us aren’t convinced.

I know that the Ruby Yard is safe. Why? Because the sign says so!

For those of you playing along from home, KOIN Local 6 has had the most thorough coverage. It began when Bruce Hansen, the president of ATU 757 called TriMet “a series of disasters waiting to happen.” He brought up numerous safety concerns about rail (this is not to say that there aren’t at bus as well, but that rail was the focus of this particular statement, mainly because of the recent door issue), including track damage, equipment failures, and Type 4 visibility issues.

TriMet’s response? Spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt issued a statement that MAX is perfectly safe and these safety concerns are just an attempt to discredit TriMet and draw attention away from the contract negotiations of the union’s excessive healthcare benefits.

How dare you, Roberta? Is it really the hallmark of an organization that values safety like TriMet claims to dismiss broken track and equipment problems as “attempts to discredit TriMet?” I don’t even want to dignify your jab at the union with a response.

KOIN’s latest step in the investigation (no story, just video) looks at some more photos of track damage and briefly goes over a letter from the union in October 2010 detailing in particular the visibility issues with the Type 4s. You read that right, a letter from the union in 2010. So much for Roberta’s claim that the union is only now bringing up safety issues now to try to detract attention from contract negotiations.

The KOIN report didn’t cover this other safety issue, but here is a video from the January 2011 board meeting where union representatives attempted (again, without any resolution) to address the Type 4 visibility problems with the TriMet board, several months after a lack of response from the October 2010 letter:

In short, the union has been trying, without success, to do something about these safety issues for a long time. Addressing this now has nothing to do with the contract.

But if piggybacking off the recent media attention given to the train with the broken door is finally going to get something done about this? Well okay then.

If you haven’t yet, take a look at that October 2010 letter, it’s an interesting read. Here are some of the highlights (and background): In July 2010, ATU gave TriMet formal notice that there were visibility issues with the Type 4s that required immediate attention, including the lack of mirrors, cab design, and external cameras. The “response” from TriMet in August 2010 was essentially “There’s no problem with the trains, they are safe.” The October 2010 letter that is now available on the union website was ATU’s response to TriMet’s refusal to address the problems, and it provides photograph evidence of some of the issues to further support the concerns about safety:

The field of vision you get from the cab in a Type 2/3 on the left and a Type 1 on the right, given the position of the side windows and size of the window pillar

And the view you get in a Type 4, which is substantially more obstructed

This photo was taken from the same train cab as the above pic – you can hide multiple trains in adjacent tracks in the blind spot of a Type 4

And what the cameras in the 4s are like sometimes – remember, Type 4s don’t have mirrors to rely on when the cameras go screwy. Technically there are detachable ones, as seen below in the Clackamas break room, but those are only used by supervisors to get Type 4s with defective cameras out of service. You won’t see a 4 running in service with those on.

But back to the KOIN investigation – what was Safety Director Harry Saporta’s response to the union’s evidence?  ”I didn’t see anything that was unsafe.”  Clearly Harry has never played the “Gee, I hope everyone on the platform got on my Type 4 because the way the sun is hitting the camera I can’t see a flipping thing, gonna close my doors and hope for the best” game. He should sometime, it’s great fun. And I guess he’s pretty mellow about cracked rails too, since he said those are just routine maintenance problems. (By the way, there have been attempts to call attention to track damage problems as well, long before the contract negotiation mess. THIS ISN’T NEW, ROBERTA.)

My favorite part of the KOIN investigation is that they asked a member of the National Association of Railroad Safety Consultants who has no affiliation with TriMet or ATU to comment on the union’s safety concerns. The response? “This does not look like a routine maintenance issue and could be a bigger issue. If they have proper maintenance they would not have situations like these.”

Well, you know maybe this is a sign that TriMet needs a more capable safety guy if the one we’ve got doesn’t see any of this as a problem while assuring the public that “the system is absolutely safe and there is no need to worry.”

Is anyone else thinking of this or is it just me?

Then the plot thickens when ODOT orders an immediate inspection of the rail lines. This was covered by the Oregonian as well, which of course has the outcome of bringing out anti-union trolls in the comments (seriously, there are folks there saying that the union has zero concern for safety, people need to turn against all unions, and that ATU has been hiding these safety issues from TriMet managers as an “ace in the hole”. Hmm, speaking of ace holes…)

The problem is that TriMet is not a welcoming environment in which to escalate safety-related issues to try to get them fixed. Sure, you can find supervisors (who are also union) that will agree with your safety concerns, and even some of the lower levels of management do as well, though neither of these groups will necessarily have the teeth to do something about it. But when several tiers of upper management and the public information officers so vehemently deny any safety issues (as seen in this very instance), operators are often unwilling to try to buck the party line and speak out against them to try to address safety problems – the nail that sticks out is the one that gets hammered and all. Or we see what happens when an attempt is made: sometimes there’s just no response, like the union reps at the 2011 board meeting. Or we are told that our concerns are “an acceptable risk” or like the public is now getting, “there is no safety concern! Everything is just fine!”

I mean, look at the way this incident has been handled. The public already knew about the open  MAX doors on the Banfield, so clearly something wasn’t right. The union then brings up other safety issues that have been going on for years. And what is TriMet’s response? Not even a cursory “We’re glad this has come to our attention and are working hard to fix it.” No, it’s “Everything is safe and this is all just a smear campaign by the union.”

Yeah, way to show that safety is a value.

Look, the union negotiations are a messy issue, but that’s not what’s going on here. The public has a right to know if equipment or other issues are putting their safety at risk. Simply saying “Everything is safe” does not make it so. If safety is a value, it’s time to start acting like it.

Open Letter to Our TriMet Passengers and Community

Editor’s note: I’m not the author of this, but I really don’t think anyone minds it being reposted here. I took the liberty of linking some relevant material from older MAXFAQs posts, Al M’s blog, the Oregonian, and other sources to support the claims made.

Over the past several years, TriMet’s top management has repeatedly used budget woes as their excuse for raising fares and reducing transit service to this community. Then, they point the finger at the union workforce, blaming the costs of health benefits for workers and retirees. We believe that claim to be false; but, it is difficult to counter an agency spending over $500,000 each year on PR to spread its version of the truth. Now, it’s time you heard the truth from TriMet’s workers.

We are the people who keep the system running. We watch how this bureaucratic agency works from the inside, we know where its skeletons are buried, and we are saddened by how dysfunctional it has become. Here are the serious consequences of that dysfunction.

TRIMET’S DYSFUNCTION PUTS SAFETY AT RISK. It’s not just fatigued drivers, it’s also buying new buses with enormous blind spots while forcing train operators to frequently drive without any side vision at all. It’s a bus dispatch system programmed to cut off calls after two minutes, even when it’s a driver reporting an angry man with a gun. It’s buses and rail cars so filthy that they’re making operators and passengers sick. And those are just a few of the many serious safety issues we deal with daily.

TRIMET’S DYSFUNCTION PUTS SERVICE QUALITY AT RISK. It’s not just the reduced runs, it’s also forcing us to issue fare evasion citations when we know the fare machines are down. It’s making schedules so tight it’s impossible to guarantee our passengers will make their connections. It’s reducing the number of bus shelters in neighborhoods where we serve the highest number of elderly and disabled passengers.

TRIMET’S DYSFUNCTION PUTS PUBLIC FUNDS AT RISK. It’s not just spending millions on new furniture, it’s also signing what the Portland Business Journal calls “the biggest office lease of the year.” It’s spending nearly $2 million dollars giving new buses a “nose job” so they’ll look like trains. It’s having 161 managers being paid a base wage of over $75,000 a year, 55 of whom get over $100,000. This is to supervise a schedule-driven transit system service that can essentially run itself.

TRIMET’S DYSFUNCTION PUTS WORKERS’ HEALTH AT RISK. People think our jobs are easy, but the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Labor indicate transit operators become disabled earlier, die younger and get assaulted more than people working in other professions. Studies have called it the most stressful job, resulting in absenteeism, chronic illnesses and high medical costs well into retirement. We have a small pension plan (not PERS), and only a small minority of workers who have retired early with full health coverage.

We are public servants. We are not perfect. Some of us are far from perfect. But we are two thousand people whose work lives are dedicated to providing you with the best service we can. Meanwhile, TriMet’s PR department is using your tax money to mislead us all, issue after issue. What we ask is that you consider our viewpoint in the months ahead and evaluate the facts for yourselves.

Sincerely,
The People Who Keep Public Transit Rolling

Learn more at transitvoice.org

From the archives: Westside construction

A while back I started taking PMLR/Orange Line progress pics (posted here and here with SW Lincoln, then I never got around to posting any others but here’s a recent one, quite a change from the tree-lined street it had been):

Looking east from the end of Lincoln

However, I also have a bunch of donated/archived pics of westside rail construction that I don’t think have been published elsewhere, at least not all of them, and I thought readers here might find them interesting:

Portland before westside rail

MAX originally ran from Gresham to downtown, ending at 11th Avenue, which is the terminus just west of the Galleria and Library platforms.

Starred path showing where rail would extend beyond 11th Ave

Area around Kings Hill and Jeld Wen Field (then called Civic Stadium)

Out West

Willow Creek/185th, the original proposed end of the west side line

Willow Creek can function as the end of a line (and many Red Line trains will terminate there to go back into the yard), but then-mayor of Hillsboro Shirley Huffman was a very vocal advocate of extending the line further, which is why the Blue Line runs all the way out to Hillsboro.

Elmonica Yard, 1995. The area around it has gotten more built up since then.

Construction of the Main Street Bridge (and how it looks now)

Al Gore speaking at the opening ceremony

Tunneling the West Hills

The most significant undertaking of the westside expansion was the tunnel. If you take the train to Washington Park (the only stop in the tunnel) and ride the elevator up, you’ll find yourself on the Les AuCoin Plaza. You’ll see a sort of cross-section of the bore with tunnel trivia engraved in one segment. For those of you not following me on Twitter, that’s where the 54,962 cups of coffee consumed by tunnel workers fact came from. For the record, they also wore out 1481 pairs of rubber boots.

This is what the 278-foot tunnel boring machine (affectionately nicknamed “Bore Regard”) looked like. Over the course of the project, the machine wore out 341 cutter discs, each weighing  400lbs, and it averaged through about 80 feet of rock per day, with one day setting a record for progressing through 181 feet of rock. The boring machine was used from the eastern side heading west for about 2 miles in. From the western side heading east for about a mile in, explosives were used. The two sides of the first bore (the one used primarily now for westbound trains) met around 16 months after construction began. The tunnel now used for eastbound trains was faster to complete, taking only about 4 months. At $184 million to build, the tunnels actually came in over budget (for the curious, the entire cost of the 18-mile westside expansion was $963.5 million).

One bore has been concrete-lined, the other is still in progress (126,100 cubic tons of concrete used altogether to line both bores)

Construction near Goose Hollow

West portal as it looks nowadays

Operator view going through the tunnel
(old pic, that cab radio is practically an antique)

Westside construction fun fact, especially for those of you who, like Dr. Jeff, would rather pretend that the tunnel part of your MAX commute doesn’t exist:  TriMet had to move 14 bodies in the cemetery above the tunnel during the tunnel construction project. Tell me I’m not the only person who thinks of this…

10 secrets, tips and tricks for cold-weather TriMet riders

Editor’s note: Guest post time again, this one via Michael Andersen of Portland Afoot, PDX’s 10-minute newsmagazine about buses, bikes & low-car life. It’s excerpted from the January 2012 cover story and republished here in case you missed it. For more stories like these or to get a one-time email notice when the newsmagazine for Portland transit riders will be available for free on mobile devices this spring, visit PortlandAfoot.org.

Rain? No sweat. But let’s confess: Portlanders don’t do cold well.

That’s why, last year, our 10-minute newsmagazine for transit riders put some of the smartest folks in town (including TriMet’s professional comfort geeks) in the hot seat and came away with a bunch of tips and secrets for doing winter better.

As a longtime MAXFAQs fan, I was proud to be asked to republish the transit-oriented ones here, and happy to help take the chill off the tail end of this winter. So read these, wipe that drippy nose and go catch some sun.

- Michael

Slim Jim stylus

Smartphone styluses start at $13, touchscreen-friendly gloves at $14. Beef jerky sticks, by contrast, are $1.30, and they work just as well when you want to check arrival times with gloves on. Try it.

In with the old

There’s an easy formula for temperature control on TriMet’s old high-floor Type 1 MAX cars, says TriMet rail equipment manager Mark Grove: “Stay away from the doors.”

Pressure heater

MAX doors don’t actually matter nearly as much as they might. Here’s why: TriMet keeps air pressure inside its trains just a bit higher than Portland’s natural atmospheric PSI. That means opening doors send a burst of controlled air out – not a burst of cold air in.

Dead simple

Type 1 MAX cars have overhead forced-air heating and cooling powered by the same electricity that moves the train (it’s maybe 2% of the total system load). Two thermostats in the return air ducts, on the ceiling just behind each driver cab, aim for a Jimmy-Carter-approved 68 degrees year-round.

Winter radiance

Like movie franchises, Decemberists albums and mediocre dates, the four generations of MAX cars peaked with the second and third. In 1997, TriMet introduced one of the great joys of Portland winters by rolling out Type 2 MAX trains with floor-level radiators that kick on whenever outside tempeature drops below 55 and inside temperature below 66. On the coldest days, avoid the middle sections of Type 2, 3 and 4 cars – their facing seats still lack heaters underneath.

Everything’s relative

Starting with Type 3 in 2003, new MAX cars have used an advanced thermostat in their overhead heaters that automatically varies the target inside temperature based on outside temperature. When outside temperature is below 60, the target inside temperature is 66, gradually scaling up to a max of 72 when outside temperature exceeds 72. That means less sweat when you’re in long johns and fewer goose bumps when you’re in shorts.

Backseat oven

Like other autos, TriMet buses get all the heat they need from their engines. This one pumps heat forward through a duct system above the handrails, but the back rows of the bus are always hottest, thanks to heat leakage, less crosswind and (on the new, low-floor buses) being closer to the ceiling.

Electric blessing

Cold feet? Try the seat immediately in front of the rear door on newer buses, and the one opposite the rear door on the very newest ones. Most of the buses without these small heaters were phased out last summer with TriMet’s big bus purchase.

Low-tech thermostat

All TriMet buses are theoretically set at 72 degrees, but at their size it’s hard to keep to. Bus thermostats are tested in off-hours by a six-inch hand thermometer hung from the extreme front of the right handrail.

Platform warmth

Here’s a science-approved trick to use while waiting for winter trains: Play a game on your phone. In a 2011 study, a team led by Nicola Swain-Campbell of the University of Otago in New Zealand found that people playing a video game were less sensitive to cold water than people watching television. But gamers should hope the battery lasts until the bus arrives. “If they stop while still cold, it might seem more intense as all their attention switches to the sensation of cold they have been ignoring,” Swain-Campbell said.

Nothing to do then but eat your Slim Jim.

 

On the air

The TriMet online radio scanner (not an officially provided TriMet service, but hey, it’s open air radio…) has been growing in popularity, possibly in part due to the fact that there are sometimes delays between incidents and service alerts explaining the situation from TriMet, and some riders have discovered that they can scan the radio to try to find out what might be going on. Or maybe it’s just that some people like that sort of “behind-the scenes” look at what makes everything go.

However, a lot of what you’ll hear over the radio might be confusing if you haven’t had any inside exposure to how the system works. So this post is intended to give an overview of what you’ll typically hear on a day-to-day basis if you scan rail radio. If you have your own scanner and want to program it to listen to TriMet, the frequencies and talkgroup IDs you’ll need are all listed here.

Communications between rail operators and controllers

On the mainline, operators are identified by their train number. So let’s say, for example, you’re the operator of train 3. If you need to contact Control for something, you will initiate your call to them by stating “Train 3.” The controller of the air you’re in will acknowledge your call by repeating your number back to you. (Alternatively, if the controller is the one initiating the call, they will contact you by stating “Train 3″.) At this point, you respond with your TDL – your Train number, Direction, and Location.

TDL confirms to Control where you are, and also basically gives a heads up to the trains around you if they need to pay close attention to what you’re going to say. For example, if I’m westbound at Lloyd Center and I hear you call in “Train 3, westbound, OCC”, I’m going to pay close attention to what you say because if the reason for your call is a mechanical/police/medical issue, that could potentially delay me since you’re only two platforms in front of me. But if I’m westbound at Lloyd and I hear you say “Train 3, eastbound, 60th”, I don’t have to be too concerned about it because you’re behind me and going in the other direction, so even if you are delayed it most likely won’t affect me.

In certain instances, you can add a word to your initial call to provide additional information to Control. The most common of these you’ll hear is “Relief,” which is used when another operator’s shift is ending and you’re taking over their train on the mainline (as opposed to taking one out of the yard yourself). In this case when Control calls back, you provide your badge number and location. So for example, if I’m relieving train 66 at Gateway westbound, I’d call in “Train 66 Relief”, they’d answer “Train 66″, and I’d reply “Train 66, operator 1234*, signal 72″ and let them know if I was signed in and had my train orders. Then they’d let me know if there was anything going on that I should know about that could affect me (track work being done, Blazer game, etc).

*not anyone’s actual badge number as far as I know.

You might also hear someone call in with a “Defect” –  for example, if you notice that when you go into the tunnel, it’s darker than normal and realize it’s because your cyclops doesn’t seem to be working, you’d call in “Train 40 Defect”. After Control answers you, you reply with which car/cab you’re in and what the defect is so they can write that up.

You hope you don’t hear someone call in a “Priority” which informs Control that a train has made contact with a person or a vehicle. These are thankfully rare, but adding priority to your initial call lets everyone else know to keep non-emergency calls off that air because this could potentially be a life-or-death situation and you will need to be able to communicate to Control without being interrupted.

On occasion you’ll hear “Train 3, Train not moving” which is exactly what it sounds like. Alternatively, an operator might just call in with just their train number and after Control responds, inform them that they aren’t moving and what kinds of problem indications they’re having. This will usually lead into troubleshooting, which I’ll save for separate posts because the types of things that can go wrong and what’s done to fix them are too lengthy for this kind of basic overview.

Call Signs

You’ll hear other numbers that aren’t trains being used as identifiers on the air. If you’re just scanning rail, you’ll hear 4-digit numbers beginning with “Nine five”. These are the call signs for rail supervisors. If you’re scanning everything, the 4-digit call signs beginning with “Nine one” are road supervisors, “Nine four” are fare inspectors, and “Nine nine” are lead supervisors. Communication between supervisors and controllers is somewhat similar to how it is for operators – if a supervisor needs to contact Control, they state their number (e.g.”9501″). If a controller needs to contact a supervisor, they’ll state the supervisor’s number, and the supervisor responds by giving their number and location.

Probably the other most common call signs you’ll hear are 3-digit numbers beginning with 6. These are mainly going to be the folks working in the right of way, doing switch and signal maintenance, inspecting the overhead wires, cleaning litter or other debris, etc. Work that they do will generally have an associated train order, which you will hear.

Train Orders

Controller’s name removed, no personal information is given out here

If you scan rail radio for a while, you will almost certainly hear train orders mentioned. Remember that a train order is a temporary (24 hours or less) modification to normal operating rules. Control will inform operators over the air when train orders go into effect and when they’re cancelled.

I’ve mentioned call boards before for workers in the ROW, and now you can piece together how that plays out:

• The call boards go up and the train order goes into effect.
• Control verbally informs operators that the train order is in effect and what they will need to do (e.g. calls westbound from Sunset and eastbound from BTC).
• Your train arrives westbound at Sunset. You call and give your location.
• Control contacts the workers in the ROW (“Unit 666*, there’s a westbound at Sunset”), and 666 responds when it is clear for the you to call your signal.
• Control gives you permission to proceed on a proper signal
• This is a HUGE safety issue! I’d posted a short video about this in an earlier post

*there actually isn’t anyone who’s got the mark of the beast as their call sign.

And now, frequently heard quotes on the air:

“Clear on a proper”

Trains can be instructed to hold in place for a number of reasons – as mentioned, waiting for permission to proceed after calling at a call board, holding for emergency/medical/police activity (on your own train or one in front of you), holding because a train in front of you is having a mechanical problem, etc. When things are finally able to get rolling again, Control can’t just tell you to “go”…

What’s going to happen if I try to go forward now? I mean, aside from the fact that I’m not even in the operating seat, or keyed in.

…so instead, they’ll give you permission to proceed when you have a permissive signal, aka that you’re “clear on a proper.”

“Permission to SOP an intersection..”

This one got its own post a while ago. There will be instances where a pre-empt signal times out before an operator is able to get through the intersection. When this happens, the operator will call in for permission to SOP the intersection, that is, follow the Standard Operating Procedure for how to safely go through the intersection when you don’t have a permissive signal to do so (short version – wait for fresh parallel green light, sound horn warning, proceed when safe).

“Substation is Offline, Notch in the area”

The substations that power the overhead wires will be periodically taken offline for maintenance (the techs that do this work also have call signs in the 600s). When a substation is offline, operators are instructed to “notch in the area.” As a passenger on the train, you’ll be able to tell if a substation is offline if you feel the train leaving very slowly from the platform.

Going back to this picture of the propulsion modes, what your operator is doing when they’re notching up is taking a very small point of power at first, and then spending a few seconds at each propulsion level before notching up into the next one. This prevents arcing or other electrical damage until the substation is back online.

End with time

Control will end transmissions by giving the time (24 hour clock, so it’s not 2:30pm, it’s 14:30).