Ever thought about what happens if an earthquake strikes while you’re riding a train?
Metrolink has.
The agency has an elaborate quake warning system that slows trains when the earth shakes to keep passengers safe.
On Thursday, Oct. 17, Metrolink conducted an earthquake drill to prepare rail officials — and riders — for the unexpected.
The drill by Metrolink, which has 67 stations in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and beyond, was timed to Thursday’s Great California ShakeOut event.
“Lately there’s been some medium- to minor-sized earthquakes throughout Southern California, so this is just a reminder that we need to be prepared when one occurs,” Metrolink Deputy Chief Operating Officer Luis Carrasquero said Thursday during a visit to the agency’s Pomona-North Station.
Passengers on Metrolink’s 308 train arriving Thursday morning at the Pomona station heard an intercom announcement that a quake drill was underway and that railcars would be slowing down.
“The construction of the Metrolink trains appear to be pretty durable, so I would feel relatively safe if an earthquake hit while I was riding,” said Pomona resident, 21-year-old Adonis Borer, who was returning from visiting her girlfriend in Simi Valley.
The drill was a part of an annual earthquake awareness day aimed at teaching Californians how to prepare for and stay safe during an earthquake. Cities, counties and schools across the region took part with drills and other educational activities.
On Thursday at 10:17 a.m. — a time chosen to coincide with the date — all Metrolink, Amtrak, and freight trains traveling on parts of the system owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, the North County Transit District or Union Pacific in Southern California were automatically slowed to 20 mph during the drill, a Metrolink news release states.
Normally, a Metrolink train can go up to 89 mph, though the speed depends on factors such as curves, inclines/declines and signals on the route.
Slowing down a train aims to lower the risk of a derailment during a significant quake, officials said.
“Trains can be stopped, slowed down or not affected at all, depending on how close they are to the epicenter and how strong the earthquake is,” Metrolink spokesperson Meredith Yeoman said.
This is possible thanks to a system that reduces a train’s engine speed when it senses an earthquake.
This GPS-based technology, known as positive train control system, automatically slows trains when an earthquake strikes if a conductor fails to slow the train themselves. It gives “the train conductor 60 seconds to reach an engine speed of 20 mph before the second, and often most dangerous, set of shock waves strikes,” Carrasquer said.
Similar to a control room, Metrolink’s positive train control lab in Pomona is equipped with numerous computer monitors, safety and communication technology — and the ability to view and control all Metrolink trains.
The technology works with an early-detection earthquake warning system, the ShakeAlert.
Managed by the U.S. Geological Survey, the early-warning system instantly notifies Metrolink when an earthquake is detected. Within seconds of the system sensing shaking, train conductors are told the magnitude of the earthquake.
“The earthquake has to actually happen for the ShakeAlert to notify us, the alert cannot come before the earthquake starts,” Carrasquer said.
The technology that automatically slows or stops trains when an earthquake reaches a magnitude of 5.0 or higher is enabled when operators at the Pomona control center receive a ShakeAlert.
If there were a minor- to moderate- earthquake, passengers on a moving train would probably not feel the shaking.
When experiencing an earthquake on a train, Carrasquer suggested that passengers “try to keep calm and stay in their seats, while following the conductor’s instructions.”
“It’s important that passengers don’t pull the emergency cord or pull their windows and start evacuating on their own,” Carrasquer said.
If a quake is severe enough, they could feel shaking, similar to what drivers or passengers in vehicles might experience, a news release states.
The Northridge earthquake in 1994, which damaged four major Los Angeles freeways, did not damage Metrolink’s rail lines, Yeoman said.
“Thankfully, we have not experienced a major earthquake on our system, though events like the Great ShakeOut give us an opportunity to practice for such an incident,” she said.
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The event’s website, ShakeOut.org, emphasizes precautions for 7.8-magnitude or larger earthquakes along the southernmost part of the San Andreas fault.
Officials believe such a tectonic shift could produce waves of movement for hundreds of miles, over four minutes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, some 2,000 people would die, tens of thousands would be injured and more than $200 billion in damage would result. The cataclysm would have 50 times the intensity of the Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake.
Hundreds of aftershocks would ensue — a few of them nearly as big as the original quake, according to the Geological Survey.
The site suggest that Californians be prepared for 72 hours, in the event of an earthquake, including having a first aid kit, medications, knowing how to turn off their gas, and extra food/water.
City News Service contributed to this report.