HSR derailments!

[TH&B]

That's what I say, stiffness in design is one thing but if the TGV was goung say 40 mph <or slower> it would have dipped to at least one side and it would have come off before the last cars and probably dug into the ballast, but that is speculation.

[Modelcar]

...I vote for the fact the train cars are fastened together in a manner vertical movement does not effect anything of coupling and the fact the train passed over the 20 some feet of defective ROW at such speed the weight down on the defective section of track did not displace their position. Much slower speed most likely would have pushed the rail structure out of place and possibly caused derailment to every part of the train.

[cnw4001]

The previous post is pretty much on target, the TGV trainsets are in effect a jointed single car. In the case in point the last two cars derailed and they were pulled along while the trainset was brought to a stop. The cause of the actual derailment was probably vertical, not horizontal displacement.

Dale

[Supermicha]

I think it has a simple reason. France high speed trains are consists, which can not be unlinked by open the coupler between two cars. The cars are connected by trucks, two cars share one truck and so on.

So normally if one truck derails, mostly the coupler will unlink and the cars will fall over. but here the hole train stays in line, just the derailed truck is out of the rails.

Maybe it also was the high speed that prevented something bad.

[Anonymous]

I suppose do to the size of the affected track and speed of the train, the train wasn't even on that part of the track long enough....

It was probably only running over the track for a mere second or so....

Still if the rails were on too much of an angle the whole thing could have been MUCH worse, I would consider the passengers on that train very lucky.

[TH&B]

Don't get me wrong here, I support HSR (High Speed Rail) and beleive it is very safe, but nothing is perfect. Check this image out in France some years ago; http://mercurio.iet.unipi.it/tgv/images/wrecks/hole.jpg
A train went over this at 294 km/h (182 mph) and only the last two cars derailed and came to a bumpy stop, no serious injuries, train stayed upright and together. Had it been a grain train at 40 mph it would likely have piled up. Did the train travel so fast it couldn't do anything but go in a straight line? Was it sheer speed that prvented this from becoming a real train wreck?
See more on this site; http://mercurio.iet.unipi.it/tgv/wrecks.html