Cambridge Guided Busway - ongoing discussion and updates (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[Network SouthEast]

HMRI^▸ (Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate) were abolished a few years ago, so it would be hard for them to investigate anything! The work they used to do is now done by the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about).

[Trowres]

Guided busways are specifically excluded from railway safety regulation. The following Bristol link provides some insight:
www.persona.uk.com/ashton/G_docs/OA-144.pdf

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Cambridge 'guided busway' crash leaves three injured


An eyewitness said a bus crashed into the back of another

Three people have been injured after two buses crashed on a guided busway in Cambridgeshire. The collision at 15:50 GMT at Swavesey was between two buses heading in the direction of St Ives, Andy Campbell from Stagecoach said.

Three people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, the East of England Ambulance Service confirmed.

Passenger Michaela Murray said the bus she was on slowed down for horses and another bus hit it from behind. "Glass smashed into the bus. No-one knew what had happened. The driver got up and asked if everyone was all right," she said. Ms Murray said she saw people who looked like they had broken their noses and she took herself to the doctors after having neck pains.

Diversions were put in place while the buses were recovered.

The 16-mile concrete-tracked busway opened last year and runs services between Huntingdon and Trumpington, south of Cambridge.

It is the second crash on the busway in three months. In November a bus came off its tracks, with the driver treated for shock. No defect was found in the vehicle, an investigation found.

See also another discussion on this forum, at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=551.msg126829#msg126829

[TonyK]

Not something likely to have happened on a railway with block signalling and train protection equipment, something that would have cost considerably less than the ^180 million cost of the BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit), plus a free shuttle service from station to city centre. They know best.

Apart from the several imbecilic motorists who have chosen to rip out their sumps by driving on the guided busway, this is at least the fifth incident since the busway opened. This is on a segregated busway with automatic guidance. The previous incident, where a driver missed the guided bit and ended up with the bus at 45 degrees across the track, should have raised alarms at the West of England Partnership, whose rubbish Bust Rabid Transit project was due to use similar incomplete guideways, but right next to the new cut of the Avon. Luckily, Mayor Ferguson's glasses are not as rose-tinted as his trousers.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Sat-nav takes Yorkshire lorry along Cambridgeshire busway


Peter Metcalfe, who owns the haulage company, has apologised for his driver's error

Council bosses have defended signage on Cambridgeshire's guided busway after a lorry accidentally drove along it.

The 44-tonne Metcalfe's truck from Hawes in North Yorkshire was spotted by a dog walker as it drove about 300m (985ft) along the concrete track.

Company owner Peter Metcalfe said his driver had "relied too heavily on his sat-nav" and had been reprimanded.

A council spokesman said there were "extensive warning signs" but would look in to comments about the sat-nav.

Graham Hughes, director of strategy and development at the council, said: "There are clear and prominent signs on all the entry points. To be honest, we do struggle to understand how this driver, in broad daylight, managed to get on to the busway."

Mr Metcalfe apologised to the council but said the driver told him his navigation system did not give any warning about the concrete tracks, which guide buses along parts of Cambridgeshire. "We don't usually deliver around the Longstanton area, or Cambridgeshire, so it wasn't something the driver had ever come across before," he said. "However, I do think some people rely too heavily on sat-navs instead of reading the road signs."

Mr Hughes added: "Luckily nothing happened, no one was injured and the tracks weren't damaged, but it's a dangerous place to be unless you're a bus. We work closely with sat-nav companies but we will certainly be following up on that," he said. "Drivers of all vehicles need to have a bit of common sense. Clearly this lorry driver didn't. He actually must have tried very hard to manoeuvre on to the busway. It's obviously not a regular road and we're quite puzzled how he managed it."

The council warned Mr Metcalfe that the company could be fined up to ^1,000 if it happened again.

[Scott]

Lol. Need I say more?

[TonyK]

I would say that would not happen on a tram or railway, if it hadn't already happened. Bit rich blaming the satnav, though.

[SandTEngineer]

...the shape of things to come http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-22567092

Cambridgeshire guided bus crash injures two people


The bus was crossing the B1050 at the time of the crash

Two women were taken to hospital after a crash between a bus and a car on the guided busway near Longstanton in Cambridgeshire.

The crash happened at 06:50 BST on the B1050 as the bus was crossing between two sets of tracks.

A spokesman for bus operator Stagecoach said the traffic lights had been on green as the bus crossed.

One woman involved in the collision sustained slight head injuries and another received injuries to her hand.

Andy Campbell, Stagecoach managing director, said a female passenger sitting close to the door of the bus received cuts when the glass shattered on impact.

A witness described the car as "very smashed up".

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service confirmed two women were taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

It is not known whether they were both passengers on the bus.

The 16-mile concrete-tracked busway opened in August 2011 and runs services between Huntingdon and Trumpington, south of Cambridge.

The latest incident is the third crash on the busway in seven months.

In November a bus came off its tracks, with the driver treated for shock. No defect was found in the vehicle.

In February two buses collided on the tracks, injuring three people.

Edit note: For completeness and ease of future reference, I've added a quoted copy of the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article here. Chris from Nailsea.

[paul7575]

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) story raises more question than answers IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion).

At this sort of level crossing, the normal rules for traffic signals would apply AFAICS^▸ (As Far As I Can See), although there may be automatic priority given to the buses. (I believe that's the way it works on the various flat crossings on the Gosport busway - which of course isn't guided, but it's the same segregated route idea.)

The story doesn't really make it clear which route had the green phase though does it?  But whichever way the lights were set, the fact that the bus is from a guided system doesn't really alter things at the crossing itself - it's really no different to any other similar collision at a normal crossroads.  If it happened in a typical town centre, where buses appear out of bus only roads through traffic lights, would it receive the same publicity?

Paul 

[Red Squirrel]

I think we're being a bit harsh here with these negative judgements. Any novel transport such as this is bound to have its teething problems, and I'm sure that over the coming years there will be a process of continual improvement.

One key area that seems to be causing problems is the guidance system. Looking at the detail of this, it seems obvious to me that the guide wheels are too small and badly orientated; by simply rotating their axes through 90 degrees and enlarging them, it would be possible to devise a system whereby the vehicles actually ran on the guide wheels, thus dispensing with some complexity. In such a system the possibility of the guide wheel losing contact with the guideway would be much reduced.

Looking further ahead, I wonder if anyone has considered the possibility of adapting the system to make it compatible with existing so-called 'railway' systems? Obviously this would involve some expense; for example it would not be possible for the busway to cross roads at grade, but the installation of bridges at crossing points would help to prevent other vehicles straying onto the system.

I'm not a transport consultant; I'm not even much of an engineer, but if anyone from Cambridgeshire County Council would like my help with any of this, my fees are very low.

[paul7575]

I'm not making a judgement on the busway at all, the aim is to try and point out that this is not a 'busway' issue. It's a normal collision at a crossroads.

That hasn't necessarily been the case with some of the previous issues covered earlier in this thread...

Paul

[eightf48544]

Not sure it's just a crossroads in the accepted sense where the traffic lights would be in timed phases for each road. Presuambly the lights are green for ordiary traffic and change when abus crosses. So more like a level crossing and we know the problems of those.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I think we're being a bit harsh here with these negative judgements ...

One key area that seems to be causing problems is the guidance system ...

Looking further ahead, I wonder if anyone has considered the possibility of adapting the system to make it compatible with existing so-called 'railway' systems?

Well, I for one appreciated the particular irony running through that entire post, Red Squirrel! 

[TonyK]

I'm not making a judgement on the busway at all
Paul

I am. The Cambridge busway way proposed as a cheap and flexible alternative to reinstatement of a railway line. In the event, it cost far more than the railway would have, probably by a factor of three, even had Cambridgeshire CC provided free buses from the railway station to the city centre. In the absence of an alternative, it is heavily used, but has not led to significant reductions in traffic on major routes into Cambridge.

On the safety aspect, I agree that the most recent incident is not much different to any collision between a bus and a car at traffic lights. Had the railway been reinstated, that car would either have crossed the line by a bridge, or been halted by a level crossing gate. At the junctions, the buses leave the guided sections, then rejoin, a manoeuvre that necessitates the bus slowing then accelerating, and one that has already led to an accident, as a driver misjudged the rejoin. So far, a number of cycles have been mangled by buses, although they shouldn't have been there in the first place. Nor should the poor little dog from the nearby stables, the horses from elsewhere that initiated the collision between buses, the lorry with the satnav calling the shots, nor the several cars to have had their sumps ripped out.

Bristol's BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit) is a different kettle of fish altogether. It is merely a thinly-disguised road building scheme, touted as a public transport project to get government money.

[Chris from Nailsea]

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What he said.