[EAS] WEA used in NYC bombings

[Alan Kline]

Well, yes and no...

Unlike John, I experienced the Loma Prieta quake first-hand. I was on 
board a BART train which had just left the Concord terminal enroute to 
San Francisco and Daly City. As we approached the Concord yard, at 
grade, the train began gently rocking and then stopped. We learned later 
that it stopped under control of the train operator. After Central 
Control made an initial assessment, trains were instructed to advance to 
the next station in "yard manual" mode--extremely slow and able to stop 
quickly, and under manual operator control, inspecting track and 
structures as they went. I don't believe traction power was ever cut--I 
don't recall any flickering of lights on board that would indicate a 
transfer to battery power.

After that, BART conducted a very thorough assessment of the entire 
system. They found one minor leak in one end of one of the transbay 
tubes--and they weren't so sure that the leak hadn't been there before 
the quake. The tubes were engineered to withstand a greater earthquake 
than Loma Prieta--they actually "float" in the mud at the bottom of the 
Bay. Once the inspections were finished, service began to be 
restored--essential, since the Bay Bridge would be out of service for a 
month. I believe it was a day or so before BART was fully operational. 
(I should note that some of the details were filled in for me at the 
time by two friends who were BART train operators, one now retired, the 
other deceased...) I don't believe that any trains were evacuated 
outside stations.

I also don't recall any derailment of any BART trains due to the quake. 
Keep in mind that BART's wider track gauge and lower-profile rolling 
stock make for a lower center of gravity than conventional rapid transit 
equipment.

John is correct, however, that there was no loss of life or injuries 
aboard BART, and that the majority of the fatalities were on the Cypress 
structure.

I also agree with John that any kind of early-warning system would have 
been ineffective in this case.

Alan Kline, CBTE

On 9/25/2016 2:54 PM, John Willkie wrote:
> We have data points that we can apply against this concern.  Transit has very low ridership numbers in California, with the Bay Area leading the pack.  In the 1989 Loma Prieta quack, which I "experienced" in Washington, DC on live TV, there were several BART derailments, but I don't remember any loss of life or serious injuries underground or even above ground.  There were serious concerns about passengers trapped in underwater tunnels, and BART already had automatic train-stop mechanisms which more or less went into effect.  BART is a third rail system.  There would be zero advantage to sending out alerts in that scenario, because the epicenter is too close to the population center; the waves will travel and do damage before electrons have had a chance to put on their socks.
>
> The major loss of life in that quake wasn't near the epicenter, but in Oakland, where the Cypress structure, carrying hundreds of thousands of people home (slowly) in "rush hour" collapsed -- no "pancaked" turning hundreds of people into memories.