Whats Metrorails theoretical headway?
Does anybody happen to know for a fact what Metrorail’s shortest theoretically-achievable headway with their current track/sensor/control system? I know it has something to do with block length (a block is an energized segment of track), and that the system was designed to surround each moving train with a buffer of at least one de-energized segment to make it just about impossible to have a head-on or rear-end collision — by accident, sabotage, or otherwise. Apparently, the system was designed so that even a parked train on a non-powered segment will block the energization of an adjacent segment, so a speeding train would hit the unpowered segment and skid to a stop long before reaching the stopped train. I’m pretty sure it’s at least 4 minutes, and less than 7 minutes, but I can’t find the exact number anywhere. I’m interested, because one thing has been seriously bothering me about my proposed map… the possibility of a serious Metrorail “traffic jam” at Earlington Heights station
