QUEENSLAND STAGE REPORT AUTHOR DATE

Transcription

1 QUEENSLAND TRANSPORT INDEPENDENT SUPPORT FOR THE CAIRNS TILT TRAIN ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION STAGE TAGE 3 - RECONSTRUCTION OF ACCIDENT SEQUENCE QT Copy EPORT NO : ITPLR/1767/0 1767/03 REPORT AUTHOR : DATE : 12 JUNE 12 UNE 2009 Registered Office: Interfleet Technology Pty Ltd Level 7, 333 George Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000 A.B.N

2 TITLE REPORT NO ISSUE : : : B DATE : 12 JUNE 2009 ORIGINATOR : DATE : 12 JUNE 2009 ; Senior Consultant INTERFLEET TECHNOLOGY NZ LIMITED CHECKED BY : DATE : 12 JUNE 2009 Principal Engineer INTERFLEET TECHNOLOGY LIMITED APPROVED BY : DATE : 12 JUNE 2009 ; State Manager, Queensland INTERFLEET TECHNOLOGY PTY LIMITED DISTRIBUTION : PRINCIPAL ADVISOR, RAIL SAFETY UNIT, QUEENSLAND TRANSPORT SENIOR ADVISOR, RAIL SAFETY UNIT, QUEENSLAND TRANSPORT INTERFLEET TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD, All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of Interfleet Technology Pty Ltd, application for which shall be made to the Regional Director Australasia, Interfleet Technology Pty Ltd, Level 7, 333 George Street, Sydney, NSW, TASK NUMBER : TA1767 TASK ENGINEER : TEL: ISSUE: B QT Copy PAGE NO: 2 OF 28

3 AMENDMENTS ISSUE REVISION DESCRIPTION DISTRIBUTION DATE A Draft First draft issue Queensland Transport 23 April 2009 B - Second issue, revised in light of discussion with QT over estimates of truck, trailer and load masses, i.e.: Truck prime mover mass = 8620kg plus estimated fuel load, etc., hence retained at 9,000kg total. Leading trailer tare mass given as 9,500kg, payload calculated at 8,260kg, hence 17,760kg total (up from 9,000kg in Issue A report). Rear trailer tare mass given as 10,100kg, payload calculated at 15,140kg, hence 25,240kg total (up from 13,000kg in Issue A report). Appendix A updated with these values. Queensland Transport 12 June 2009 ISSUE: B QT Copy PAGE NO: 3 OF 28

4 CONTENTS PAGE NUMBER EFINITIONS DEFINITIONS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION 3. UMMARY... 6 NTRODUCTION OBJECTIVES METHOD 5. BJECTIVES... 8 ETHOD OBSERVATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SUMMARY OF THE TMS LOG 7. VIDENCE... 9 TMS 7. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ACCIDENT SEQUENCE CONCLUSIONS 9. OG EQUENCE ONCLUSIONS REFERENCES 10. EFERENCES APPENDICES PPENDICES APPENDIX A: ENERGY BALANCE CALCULATION References For Energy Balance Calculation...22 Train Braking...23 Power Car Ploughing...23 Truck Ploughing...23 Damage to Wayside Structures...23 Structural Damage to Truck...23 Structural Damage to Train...24 APPENDIX B: COPY OF SUMMARY OF TMS LOG SUPPLIED BY QT TMS QT ISSUE: B QT Copy PAGE NO: 4 OF 28

5 DEFINITIONS B-double CTT KE LH QR QT RH TMS A road truck consisting of a tractor unit (prime mover) towing two semi-trailers with independent articulated joints. Cairns Tilt Train. Kinetic Energy. Left Hand. Queensland Rail. Queensland Transport. Right Hand. Train Management System. ISSUE: B QT Copy PAGE NO: 5 OF 28

6 1. 1. EXE XECUTIVE SUMMARY In order to support Queensland Transport (QT) with their investigation into the Queensland Rail (QR) Cairns Tilt Train (CTT) accident on 27 th November 2008, Interfleet Technology (Interfleet) has been engaged by QT to:- o Review photographic records of the incident scene and vehicle damage, infrastructure maps and recorded vehicle speed data in order to attempt to reconstruct the sequence of structural and kinematic events from the point of impact through to final resting positions of the train and truck. The objectives for this exercise were:- i. To ascertain the likely sequence of structural and kinematic events as above; ii. To ascertain the likelihood of a secondary impact event contributing to the observed damage to the power car cab structure; and iii. To estimate the energy absorbed by the power car cab structure (and other relevant means) during the incident. This report describes the investigation carried out by Interfleet and closes with the following conclusions:- 1. The most probable sequence of events is as detailed in Section 7; 2. The power car remained upright until near the end of the sequence of events the overturning of the power car was therefore likely to have been at slow speed; 3. The damage to the power car cab structure was predominantly a result of impacting the truck it seems unlikely that there was any secondary impact event that contributed to the observed damage to the drivers cab; 4. The energy balance calculation included in Appendix A shows a plausible explanation for the dissipation of energy during the incident; and 5. Based on the energy balance calculation in Appendix A, the best estimate of energy absorbed by structural damage to the power car is estimated to be in the range 6.6MJ to 10.8MJ. ISSUE: B QT Copy PAGE NO: 6 OF 28

7 2. 2. INTRODUCTION In order to support QT with their investigation into the QR CTT accident on 27 th November 2008, Interfleet has been engaged by QT to:- o Review photographic records of the incident scene and vehicle damage, infrastructure maps and recorded vehicle speed data in order to attempt to reconstruct the sequence of structural and kinematic events from the point of impact through to final resting positions of the train and truck. The accident occurred when a CTT train collided with a B-double truck at a level crossing south of Rungoo in Queensland. According to information provided by QT, the truck was travelling at a speed of km/h, and the train was travelling at 56km/h before the two collided. The leading power car of the train was derailed and overturned, and the B- double truck was split in two such that its second semi-trailer became detached. The power car cab structure suffered extensive damage as a result of this incident. One of the aims of this report is to investigate whether this damage was principally due to impacting the truck, or whether some secondary impact event also contributed to the observed damage. Examples of a secondary impact event could be collision with the ground or with a wayside structure. The CTT consist comprised nine vehicles in the following configuration:- 1. Power Car (Leading End) 2. Luggage Car A 3. Sitter Car B 4. Sitter Car C 5. Sitter Car D 6. Club Car E 7. Sitter Car F 8. Sitter Car G 9. Power Car (Trailing End) The B-double truck was loaded with empty wooden pallets in both semi-trailers. ISSUE: B QT Copy PAGE NO: 7 OF 28

8 3. 3. OBJECTIVES The objectives for this exercise were:- i. To ascertain the likely sequence of structural and kinematic events from the point of impact through to the final resting positions of the train and truck; ii. To ascertain the likelihood of a secondary impact event contributing to the observed damage to the power car cab structure; and iii. To estimate the energy absorbed by the power car cab structure (and other relevant means) during the incident METHOD QT provided a package of 468 photographs [1] to Interfleet for the purposes of this investigation. Each of the supplied photographs was reviewed by Interfleet in order to identify relevant features of interest. Interfleet also reviewed a small amount of photographic evidence available from other sources, including photographs taken by Interfleet personnel who inspected the power car after it was removed from the accident site. The photographs provided by QT were supplied in electronic format in a set of six folders with the following folder names:- Bruce Photos; Larry; Mike 01; Mike 02; Ross Photos; and Will. For reference purposes, the QT-supplied photographs are referenced in this report by the relevant folder name followed by the electronic filename e.g. Larry PB QT also provided Interfleet with a copy of a summary of the Train Management System (TMS) log [2] taken from the derailed power car, and with various information, drawings and documentation related to the incident and to the design of the train and truck. Interfleet reviewed this body of information in order to ascertain the likely sequence of events during the incident. Subsequently, Interfleet carried out an energy balance calculation in order to estimate the energy absorbed by the power car cab structure and by other relevant means. The findings of this investigation are discussed in the following sections. The energy balance calculation is included as Appendix A of this report. References to left and right within this report are looking in the direction of travel of the train unless otherwise stated. ISSUE: B QT Copy PAGE NO: 8 OF 28

9 5. 5. OBSERVATIO BSERVATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE Key photographs and observations are presented in this section. Where appropriate, photographs have been marked up to indicate relevant details and features of interest. Figure 1 below shows the initial directions of travel and the final resting positions of the train and the truck. Direction of travel of train Final position of truck tractor unit & leading semi-trailer Final position of leading power car Direction of travel of truck Final position of trailing semi-trailer Figure 1: Aerial shot showing final positions of vehicles (Courier Mail newspaper photo dated 28/11/08) The following observations are noted from inspection of Figure 1:- The truck was split in two, such that the trailing semi-trailer became detached from the leading semi-trailer. The truck left the road and lost all of its forward momentum very quickly; The power car derailed and overturned onto its RH side; The final orientation of the power car was such that the cab end pointed backwards at an angle away from the railway line; and The remainder of the train stayed on or near the rails and pushed the trailing truck semi-trailer several vehicle lengths beyond the level crossing before coming to rest. ISSUE: B QT Copy PAGE NO: 9 OF 28