and the Railway Signal Engineer of what they saw demonstrated on the Chesapeake & Ohio (to which articles your attention is invited) is convincing and leads one to believe that the public is forcefully getting behind a movement exacting just such protection to passengers and freight as the American train-control system affords. The value of human life is steadily rising, as measured by the verdicts of the courts covering loss of life and injury to people on railroads; therefore a conservative recapitulation of the Interstate Commerce Commission's tabulation may be made on the following basis: 14,181 head-on and rear-end collisions, resulting in 2,790 persons killed, at $10,000___ 40,448 persons injured, at $500---. Damage to railroad property alone-- $27, 900, 000 20, 224, 000 20,752, 000 68, 876, 000 This is the exhibit for nine and one-half years, and shows an economic destruction of $7,250,000 every 12 months, and does not include minor accidents, which cumulatively would largely increase the waste. Capitalizing this seven and one-quarter million at 5 per cent equals $145,000,000, or a sum sufficient to construct a wholly new Panama Canal every third year. The prevention of wrecks would result in further direct and indirect economies to the railroads and public which can not easily be measured in dollars and cents. Some of these are: 1. Detention to traffic arising from 1,482 collisions per year, and consequent delays in delivery of goods, with loss to owners. 2. The certainty of carrying more traffice on a single track, and consequently the ability to defer building second, third, and fourth tracks for a longer or shorter time. 3. The saving of minor accidents, which cost in the aggregate a large money loss, almost impossible to measure or estimate. 4. Saving the destruction of costly engines and cars. Yours, sincerely, AMERICAN TRAIN CONTROL Co., By CALVIN W. HENDRICK, President. CHESAPEAKE & OHIO RAILROAD, Mr. CALVIN W. HENDRICK, President American Train Control Co., American Building, Baltimore, Md. DEAR SIR: In reply to your inquiry regarding the American train-control system in service on the main line between Gordonsville and Keswick, the signal engineer investigated the entire field of automatic stops, with the result that he recommended your system for test. A committee was appointed to conduct the test, consisting of the heads of our various operating departments, who outlined the following requirements that would have to be met: "If dangerous conditions exist trains must be brought to a stop by a satisfactory service application, covering both passenger and freight trains up to 100 car lengths. "Must operate in connection with wayside signals on either double or single track. "Must give proper signals whether the train is moving forward or backing. "On account of fogs and other weather conditions, an audible as well as a visual signal must be given in the cap to conform to the wayside signals. "Must not interfere with the application of the brakes by the engineman's brake valve, and must work in conjunction with either E T Five or E T Six air brakes. "Must allow two or more engines coupled together and operated only on the engine from which the brakes are controlled. "Must be so arranged that if stop shoe is injured caution shoe becomes stop shoe by throwing switch." These conditions having been met, 7 miles of single track main line were equipped, also 32 engines, with your automatic stop, cab signal, and circuit reverser. After testing the system out under service conditions nearly a year, working under weather conditions when the stop shoe was entirely incased in ice, the signal engineer has reported that trains have been stopped when the following dangerous conditions prevailed: Open switches, block occupied by train, cars fouling the main line, broken rails on three occasions. This would seem to justify the cost of installation. The system is now being extended to Charlottesville. We shall be glad to show the working of the system Tuesday, March 25. Yours, very truly, GEO. W. STEVENS, Federal Manager. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will now be glad to hear from Mr. Moore. STATEMENT OF MR. DAVID PELTON MOORE, PATENT ATTORNEY, WARDER BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D. C. The CHAIRMAN. Please give your name, address, and whom you represent. Mr. MOORE. David Pelton Moore, patent attorney, Warder Building, Washington, D. C., representing the Casale Safety Device Co., of New York; I am in the patent business in Washington. I have had a great deal of experience with automatic train control, both in conjunction with the Railroad Administration and in conjunction with the Interstate Commerce Commission, and I am here to make the statement that I think the time is about ripe now for the enactment of legislation to compel the use of automatic train control. As far as I have been able to judge, with experience since 1904 or 1905 with automatic railroad train control, there are several devices now that are far more advanced in stage than the roadside signals were when they were adopted and used by the railroads. Of course, nothing more perfect than the automatic block signals has been brought out, but, then, you can not get perfection without experimentation. Of course, it costs considerable money to make the experiments with a train-control system, and therefore the conditions have been such, unless there was considerable money behind a proposition, that nothing could be done to test it out. There have been three or four systems that I understand have been tested out. I have seen them and read the reports; some on the ramp and some on the closed-rail proposition, which uses the circuit like they now operate the roadside signals, but the ramp proposition at the present time is the one that is the furthest advanced and is not a laboratory proposition, while the other two are really laboratory propositions. I am borne out in my opinion by the people I have talked with about this matter, and I have witnessed the several tests around the country in the past four or five months. I witnessed the test of the device which is now on the Rock Island road and which the officials of the Rock Island road appear to be very enthusiastic about putting in. Where they use the roadside signals we find that they can connect the ramp and utilize the old battery, and in our device, as we have designed it, there is no necessity of using more than one signaling ramp. That is, one ramp to form clear, caution, and stop conditions, the roadside battery being so arranged as to have the flow of current changed or reversed under caution conditions so as to effect the locomotive carried circuit and thereby transmit a caution condition to the apparatus therein. Our estimate as far as we can estimate, shows that we can furnish and attach the ramp for from $400 to $600 per signal and our equipment on the engine, including what we call a speed-circuit controller, which reduces the speed so that the engine can not proceed beyond a speed of 8 miles, that we can equip an engine for about a thousand dollars and without it for about $600, so an engine and one signal could be equipped for from $1,100 to $1,700. The speed-circuit controller is brought in under caution conditions so that it is impossible for the engineman to speed it through a caution block, such speed-circuit controller being cut from the circuit if the next ramp is clear to permit the engineman to take full control of the train or if the next ramp still continues caution, to maintain the circuit controller in operation. Should the ramp be at stop, however, and should the engineman fail to observe the signal, the train will be stopped when the apparatus is affected by the "stop" ramp. The CHAIRMAN. In your opinion, there are practical automatic train control devices now available? Mr. MOORE. Yes, sir. They are practical, that is what I mean. None of them is 100 per cent perfect, even the roadside signals are not. That is what the railroads have insisted upon. After you have met the conditions they say, we can not install that system because it has not reached the stage of perfection which we desire." and it has been my experience after talking with some of them that they did not want that, they wanted to make the conditions so hard that it was impossible to fulfill them. They would refer They would refer it to some of the signal engineers and some of the gentlemen would not give their approval and they have succeeded up to the present time, until the Government secured control of the roads. I now believe the tide is turning the other way. The railroad men are highly pleased with the idea. I have talked with the enginemen on various roads, and it is their desire, not that they wish an automatic stop, but they all feel the inevitable coming some day when they will get in a wreck and that thing will prevent that some-day wreck. Mr. HAMILTON. Are any of these devices being manufactured? Mr. MOORE. There are some coming into production. The device that I am interested in is coming into production. Our new patterns. jigs, and dies are being made. The CHAIRMAN. The committee is much obliged to you. Mr. Moore. Mr. MOORE. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. (The following letter was submitted by Mr. Moore:) Mr. DAVID PELTON MOORE, HOTEL KNICKERBOCKER, Attorney for James B. Regan, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: The automatic train-control committee of the United States Raflroad Administration was formed for the purpose of selecting and recommendirg for adoption the best system or combination of systems of automatic train t trol now completed or in the course of completion within the jurisdiction of the United States Railroad Administration. The committee was comprised of the most able technical men available in America, The automatic train-control committee issued the following requisites for the guidance of individuals and companies engaged in the business. These requisites are the most comprehensive and at the same time the most difficult to comply with ever formulated by any United States Government committee or railroad association in America. They are as follows, as taken from the official bulletin issued by the United States Railroad Administration: [Adopted Feb. 4, 1919.] "Definition of automatic train control.-An installation so arranged that its operation automatically results in either one or the other or both of the following conditions: "First. The application of the brakes until the train has been brought to a stop. 'Second. The application of the brakes when the speed of the train exceeds a prescribed rate and continued until the speed has been reduced to a predetermined rate. "REQUISITES FOR THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AUTOMATIC TRAIN-CONTROL DEVICES. "1. The apparatus so constructed as to operate in connection with a system of fixed, block, or interlocking signals, and so interconnected with the fixed signal system as to perform its intended function: (a) In event of failure of the engineman to obey the fixed signal indications, and "(b) So far as possible, when the fixed signal fails to indicate a condition requiring an application of the brakes. "2. The appartus so constructed that it will perform its intended function if an essential part fails or is removed, or a break, cross, ground, or failure of energy occurs in electric circuits when used. "3. The apparatus so constructed as to make indications of the fixed signal depend upon the operation of the track element of the train-control device. "4. The apparatus so constructed that proper operative relation between those parts along the roadway and those on the train will be assured under all conditions of speed, weather, wear, oscillation, and shock. "5. The apparatus so constructed as to prevent the release of the brakes after automatic application until the train has been brought to a stop or its speed has been reduced to a predetermined rate or the obstruction or other condition that caused the brake application has been removed. "6. The train apparatus so constructed that when operated it will make an application of the brakes sufficient to stop the train or control its speed. "7. The apparatus so constructed as not to interfere with the application of the brakes by the engineman's brake valve or to impair the efficiency of the air brake. "8. The apparatus so constructed that it may be applied so as to be operative when the engine is running forward or backward. "9. The apparatus so constructed that when two or more engines are coupled togetther, or a pusher is used, it can be made operative only on the engine from which the barkes are controlled. "10. The apparatus so constructed that it will operate under all weather conditions which permit train movements. "11. The apparatus so constructed as to conform to established clearances for equipment and structures. "12. The apparatus so constructed and installed that it will not constitute a source of danger to trainmen, other employees, or passengers." On July 1 and July 28, 1919, the Casale Safety Device Co. submitted their system to two actual working inspections on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad at Blue Island, about 18 miles from Chicago. From what we can learn from the most reliable authority, these inspections showed that our apparatus was well designed and that the official tests indicated that it probably will act as it is designed and intended to act. In so far as it was humanely possible for the experts of the committtee to determine from a scientific study of our detailed plans and blue prints, the working of the two tests, all the requisites adopted by the automatic train-control committee of the United States Railroad Administration were met absolutely. Since these two tests were made we have commenced the work of an initial installation on the main line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad from Blue Island to Joliet. That is our answer to the question: Is there a practical working system of automatic train control as required by the best scientific thought of the United States Government and the railroad corporations representing twenty billions of dollars in America? Yes; we have the system the United States Government has been looking for, the one which will save thousands of lives of passengers and railroad workers, millions of dollars of capital annually, and at the same time increase tremendously the efficiency of passenger and freight transportation to the point where many millions of dollars can be saved every year. From this increased efficiency and also from the amounts of money paid by the railroads of this country for lives lost, widows and orphans left destitute, railroad employees crippled and mained, property destroyed, to say noth ing of the great destructive economic losses constantly growing from the delay, linger, and wait policy of the Government, millions upon millions of dollars can be saved and the absolute protection of the precious lives of railroad men and passengers from instant and horrible death by the adoption of our system. Yours, very respectfully, REDMOND F. KERNAN. COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMUNICATION FROM THE TACOMA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Mr. WEBSTER. I have received from the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce a program of railroad legislation adopted by the traffic and transportation bureau of the Tacoma Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce, which consists of two pages the size of this. Since some of the views of the organization are contrary to my own, I should like to have permission of having this filed as a part of the hearing so that it may appear in the record. The CHAIRMAN. I received a similar communication and I was going to put it in the record. I am perfectly willing for you to put it in. Mr. WEBSTER. Very well. (The program of railroad legislation of the Tacoma Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce, Tacoma, Wash., referred to by Mr. Webster, follows:) PROGRAM OF RAIROAD LEGISLATION ADOPTED BY THE TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION BUREAU OF THE TACOMA COMMERCIAL CLUB AND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF TACOMA WASH. The traffic and transportation bureau of the Tacoma Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce of Tacoma, Wash., embraces as members Tacoma shippers and users of the transportation systems of the country. Due to the importance that Congress should find a correct and adequate answer to the question of remedial railway legislation, and appreciating the effect such legislation will have upon the future commerce of the Nation, this bureau has made a careful study of the question. In view of the importance of the subject and the widespread discussion of our railroad problem, it deems it as a duty to make known its views to its Repre sentatives in Congress, and to the Committees on Interstate Commerce in both Houses of Congress. The fundamental principles which this bureau favors are briefly summarized as follows: PROMPT RETURN OF ROADS TO OWNERS. We favor adherence to the policy of corporate ownership and operation of the railroads under a comprehensive system of Government regulation. |