Dear Carleton,
In the last Metrication matters newsletter there was this line:
The fast trains between Brussels, London, and Paris have been
upgraded to run at 300 kilometres per hour but lest those naughty
kilometres catch on in the UK, the company that runs the trains,
Eurostar, is actively promoting the new train's top speed as 186 mph!
Go to http://www.MetricationMatters.com/mm-newsletter-2008-01.html to
see the rest of the newsletter.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See
http://www.metricationmatters.com/ for more metrication information,
contact Pat at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or subscribe to
the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter at http://
www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter/
On 2008/01/20, at 11:07 AM, Carleton MacDonald wrote:
Normally, posting from one list to another is a no-no. But this
came from a passenger rail-oriented discussion list to which I also
subscribe, and came without any prompting. It’s a rather
interesting comment on metric use on railroads.
Carleton
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of merccurytravel
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 16:48
To: RailNews; all-aboard
Subject: [A_A] Standards
Rail Manager on Line-
On 23 September 1999, a NASA spacecraft costing $125m was lost
because of a confusion between metric and imperial units. An
inquiry into the incident quickly discovered that two crucial
groups of engineers had been working with different systems, so
that their calculations, when combined, were at fault. The
misguided spacecraft, a Mars Orbiter, overshot that planet and is
probably still uselessly going around the sun now.
The point of this story is that in spite of this dreadful warning,
another safety critical industry is still using both systems of
measurement today. It is very much closer to home and yes, you've
guessed it - it's our railway.
Of course, the railway ran perfectly well on imperial units for 150
years or so. Miles per hour to measure speed, miles and chains for
distance, feet and inches for rolling stock and structures. It
could still do so today, except that the rest of the world (almost
all of it, anyway) has moved on. So new rolling stock is measured
in metres, and so are platforms. Some trains are being driven
according to km/h, not mph. The example which comes to mind is
probably Eurostar, but some London Underground lines also work in
km/h, as do modern trams.
It is tramways which have introduced the first km/h speed limit
signs on British roads: those figures in white diamonds for tram
drivers are in km, not miles. And the rest of the railway has
started to switch, too, although not always in a controlled manner.
A platform sign at Dunfermline Town announces: 'Signal EO714 276M'.
Since, at a rough guess, a signal 276 miles south of Dunfermline
would be somewhere the other side of Retford, that M must stand for
metres. Yet the train is being driven to mph, and all the speed
limit signs and documention are imperial too. Although yards and
metres are similar enough for most purposes, the effect could be
enough to distract a driver for a moment. It's not in the common
tongue.
Similar confusion abounds in releases and announcements. Here's one
from Network Rail:
The Track renewals team achieved good levels of output with 34.55
composite km of Plain Line track delivered . A total of 17 km of
new wiring was delivered ... The remaining 3.5 miles of route were
buried with turning chambers provided every 150 metres ...
Additionally, some 2500 yards of plain line track was also re-
laid ...'
All those statements come from the same document.
In short, it's a mess. Do we measure our railway in miles or km? Do
we divide miles into yards or metres? This problem is arguably an
echo of British society. Some countries are bi-lingual, but the UK
seems to be the only one which is bi-measurement, and a great deal
of time is wasted as a result. Shops must sell in metric units, but
may sell in imperial too. The roads remain firmly imperial for now,
and aircraft still seem to measure their altitude in feet, but the
rest of the professional and trade world has long since measured
its paint and petrol in litres, its tiles and wiring in mm.
But the railway's hand is now starting to be forced. The ERTMS
trials in mid-Wales will be metric only. Network Rail has conceded
that there is no point in inventing a British [=imperial] version.
In the name of interoperability, one would hope not, indeed. As
ERTMS spreads, so must metric working. Drivers on ERTMS routes will
drive to km/h, because there will be no choice. Surely it would be
better for Network Rail to grasp the metric nettle now?
A phased changeover, properly planned, will be infinitely
preferable to a chaotic mixture.
Remember that NASA craft. It's still out there somewhere.
Tony Bailey
