Show WHAT ARE ABE DOING I the train control committee was created on january it 14 1919 its first chairman was C A ir forse assistant director of the division of operation ot of the railroad nall road administration and chief engineer of 0 the chicago Clil cago rock island and pad pact tic lie railroad its present chairman Is A N M burt assistant director of 0 tho the division of 0 operation U S liall road administration tho the other members are arc W P norland borland chief bureau of S safety interstate commerce commission C ea R denny assistant federal feber at manager new york chicago st louis railroad 11 S balliet Ball let assistant terminal manager grand central terminal new york city henry bartlett sup superintendent crittende crint ende n t pennsylvania railroad and R W superintendent in of motive power illinois central railroad since beginning its work it has made inspections at various places ai n the country has inspected 37 dif erent devices either in laboratory form or in actual service on the railroad aaa in addition has hap d plans and specifications of 0 rain control devices in reciting the ohp history of investigations of train control devices the committee pointed out that in 1906 congress directed the interstate commerce commission to investigate and report upon the subject 0 of f Ruto automatic matic train control alia that ilg a result in 1907 the commis commission stoll sub gub knitted a report to the Con congress gresi recommending om that official test for automatic tonia tic appliances tor for the control trl of rail railroad roaL trains condu conducted cled at government expense should be au liori lionized zed by congress con consequently sequent an appropriation of 0 wap provided ded by congress in 1007 1507 and expended in 1908 since that time the commission has conducted varl vari nus examinations and tests of train iram control devices and has reported thereon these investigations have hav been een made use of by the committee of the railroad administration in its report the committee laid down clear cut definitions of automatic train control and ou outlined ouI ined lined the requisites for the design and construction st of such devices it discussed extensively all the mechanical elements of the problem au train control the committee said is popularly regarded as a panacea for railroad acel accidents dents persons who are not familiar with railroad operating requirements generally fall fail to understand fully the factors which must he be taken into account in the practical use of train control devices briefly stated the leri lera is to 80 f revision provision against accidents when employees disregard signal indica j gloni or sa so far a ai as jo i slbil ha when i signals improperly indicate proceed the committee believes bel levea that any gom comprehensive study ot of automatic train control auit IT begin it n wi with th the block system is as the atje p principal ot of the block system Is fundamental to I 1 ibe he subject arif and must be the I 1 ot of any automatic train control contro isya system the superiority of tho the block block I 1 I 1 system as asi compa compared Fed with other methods of of 1 t train rain operation Is ia goner toner ally recognized it Is 1 in isern i selon practically ally 10 00 00 miles qa i railroad rall road d line including Inc including ludin g the busiest roads of ha busiest parts dt practically gall all railroads in this co country 1 the first s tep step therefore which thich should te be taken oh on lines which I 1 are not operated on oil the he block system in order to meet the ithe need for more coni complete train protection Is not experimental peri perl mental with or the a adoption of some form of train rain control device but the adoption of the plea bleek k S ya tein itself iteck the committee stated that from a practical standpoint automatic train control devic devices es arek still in the development stage and that many problems in connection with their practical application remain to be solved development of automatic train control devices declared the committee by individual enterprises must of necessity be extremely slow and it is believed that the time has come when more active cooperation be undertaken by the railroads to accomplish this task a systematic study of the problem must be b continued linued tip ilga available engineering talent must be utilized to design and eon apparatus suitable for the purpose intended apply it to many various operating conditions and conduct experiments on a more comprehensive scale than has been done in the past |