How Not to Get Killed in a Live Train Tunnel - 9/11/12

Shoe · 10 Nov 2012, 12:39 am

A train gives warning before it reaches your exact location. Knowing the signs of an approaching train and what to do before it reaches you means life and death.

The moment you enter a live tunnel - you shouldn't really - pay attention to the following:

A distant rumble that gets louder as it nears your location.
Air rushing towards you.
You can even place a hand on the rail to feel the vibration.

Once you feel the above:

Find a cut out in the side of the tunnel's wall and wait for the train to pass.

Midget · 10 Nov 2012, 12:48 am

The first two points you mentioned are mostly valid, but there were parts where hawkeye and I explored that don't. The exit to a certain bridge has some really confusing acoustics, due to a busy crowd, traffic and buskers.

All you need to do, if you're unsure, is to get to a safe point. While at one, you could do Shoe's point #4.

I always say, just be smart and it'll be safe. (This includes no drinking.)

Panic! · 10 Nov 2012, 9:50 am

then there's the noise that comes through the rail as the train is close. if you've heard it you'll know what i mean. the metallic hum and twang of the rail as a train approaches.
i have walked along beside live rail lines and though you may be tempted to walk along the side of the sleepers because it is easier than the dirt and ballast, don't. I was once walking along a rural line, and was off to the side and thought I would hear a train approaching. It was a good thing I was not walking along the rails as a train blasted its horn barely 50 meters behind me as it approached me on a bend. If I had been walking on the rails I'd have been killed as there was not enough time to do anything but be shocked.

Midget · 10 Nov 2012, 12:30 pm

Panic! wrote:then there's the noise that comes through the rail as the train is close. if you've heard it you'll know what i mean. the metallic hum and twang of the rail as a train approaches.

Just a small note, the singing (as I call it) of the rails is easily heard on topside lines, but in the tunnels, they tend to be drowned out by wind and other stuff.

Shoe · 10 Nov 2012, 12:34 pm

Midget wrote:
Panic! wrote:then there's the noise that comes through the rail as the train is close. if you've heard it you'll know what i mean. the metallic hum and twang of the rail as a train approaches.
Just a small note, the singing (as I call it) of the rails is easily heard on topside lines, but in the tunnels, they tend to be drowned out by wind and other stuff.

@Panic

+1 for not hearing the rails "sing".

Inside a tunnel it's a distant rumble and rush of air. Pay very close attention to both.

I remember hearing the distant rumble first.

hawkeye5086 · 10 Nov 2012, 12:40 pm

The biggest thing I reckon is the change in pressure (ie wind) and the noise, when you hear that you have about 30 seconds roughly to get into one of the cutouts. I think like with anything like this just be cautious.

Echo · 27 Mar 2015, 11:32 pm

Solid guide. I r8 8/8 m8.

peterh13 · 28 Mar 2015, 4:53 am

In a previous life when I worked on the natural gas and oil pipelines we were boring under the rail line at Rookwood Cemetary in Sydney. I was crossing the rail line and if it wasn't for the driver blasting his horn I would have been flattened. I didn't bother to look because i hadn't heard anything coming. I now have the utmost respect for trains after that incident.
This happened 25 years ago pre WHS so there was no flag men etc etc.

timdole · 28 Mar 2015, 5:24 pm

Midget wrote:
Panic! wrote:then there's the noise that comes through the rail as the train is close. if you've heard it you'll know what i mean. the metallic hum and twang of the rail as a train approaches.
Just a small note, the singing (as I call it) of the rails is easily heard on topside lines, but in the tunnels, they tend to be drowned out by wind and other stuff.

That, and for most underground lines the tracks are on dampeners, which are like shock absorbers, so the accumulative noise is reduced significantly. If you were ever standing in the airport line prior to their installation, you would know what difference they make, reduces noise by about 30dB.

phytrix · 28 Mar 2015, 9:49 pm

Man, trains are scary.

Unclehaggz · 28 Mar 2015, 11:03 pm

I think, I would leave active train tunnels well alone!

On a calculated risk scale they are just too high !!

Just my 2c worth

UH

ironfistdoug · 04 Sep 2023, 9:10 am

This thread came in handy for
>THIS< scenario.