Commuter Train Crash Kills 50/ Injured in Hundreds

[cx500]

There are often complaints about how North American regulations require passenger equipment to be much heavier and overbuilt compared with other countries.  Yet when we see something like this, there may be some justification for our more stringent criteria.  PTC will not eliminate all accidents either.

John

[samfp1943]

BaltACD wrote the following post (in part) on Friday, February 24, 2012

"...The article on the CNN web site that I read said the impact speed was 24 KPH or 16 MPH - with the mass of a train, even a commuter passenger train, the forces generated at 16 MPH are quite substantial..."

snip: "...And at what speed it really hit whatever it hit.  The speeds reported so far seem ridiculously low to have caused the kind of damage that apparently occurred (particularly the telescoping) .  Either the speeds were much higher than have been reported or the cars were very poorly designed and couldn't withstand much of an impact..."

My first impression ws exactly what you have identified: 

 A.) The speed of the incoming train has not been correctly identified in the press.               It would seem the the impact would indicate a much heavier force was involved.

 B.) The reasoning for the crash being  'faulty brakes' is a sop to the media. 

         a) Reporting that the Train had been recently inspected and serviced,

       1) the motorman's (engineer's) attention was somehow  preoccupied(?)

            (could be anything from electronic media, to a micro nap?) 

[BaltACD]

The article on the CNN web site that I read said the impact speed was 24 KPH or 16 MPH - with the mass of a train, even a commuter passenger train, the forces generated at 16 MPH are quite substantial.

Falcon48

samfp1943:

This was a Reuters Story from Yahoo News:(linked)

http://news.yahoo.com/argentine-train-crash-kills-least-40-hurts-550-160437869.html

   According to the Reuters Story a Buenos Aires (Argentina) Commuter train slammed into the bumpers at the station this AM (Wednesday,02/22/2012). 

   The suspected cause is 'Faulty Brakes' according to the story. (?) The speed was reported to be 12 KpH. The train was reported to have 800 passengers and the impact caused the cars to telescope into each other.

  The linked story has photos and video links.

Note: The 'reporter in the linked video says that the moving train crashed into a stopped train in the station, while the Article Text indicates the moving train hit the Bumpers/(Buffers?) in the station.  I guess it'll take some more time to sort out what actually happened to the train and what it hit(?)

 

 

  And at what speed it really hit whatever it hit.  The speeds reported so far seem ridiculously low to have caused the kind of damage that apparently occurred (particularly the teelscoping) .  Either the speeds were much higher than have been reported or the cars were very poorly designed and couldn't withstand much of an impact.

[Falcon48]

samfp1943

This was a Reuters Story from Yahoo News:(linked)

http://news.yahoo.com/argentine-train-crash-kills-least-40-hurts-550-160437869.html

   According to the Reuters Story a Buenos Aires (Argentina) Commuter train slammed into the bumpers at the station this AM (Wednesday,02/22/2012). 

   The suspected cause is 'Faulty Brakes' according to the story. (?) The speed was reported to be 12 KpH. The train was reported to have 800 passengers and the impact caused the cars to telescope into each other.

  The linked story has photos and video links.

Note: The 'reporter in the linked video says that the moving train crashed into a stopped train in the station, while the Article Text indicates the moving train hit the Bumpers/(Buffers?) in the station.  I guess it'll take some more time to sort out what actually happened to the train and what it hit(?)

 

  And at what speed it really hit whatever it hit.  The speeds reported so far seem ridiculously low to have caused the kind of damage that apparently occurred (particularly the teelscoping) .  Either the speeds were much higher than have been reported or the cars were very poorly designed and couldn't withstand much of an impact.

[54light15]

Reading in the paper today, over 15,000 people die every year on the Indian railway system. Your picture gives a good idea why.

[BaltACD]

With no disrespect toward any of those killed or injured - at least it wasn't a Indian max-load train.

[vsmith]

Looks like from the photos most of the fatalities occured in the vestibules where passengers were standing in an already overcrowded train with the force of the impact causing them to collapse as the cars slammed against each other. Even at slow speed theres alot of kinetic energy there. Given the described dilapidated condition of most of the system not many must be surprised by this happening, chances are more accidents will also happen in the future there.

[samfp1943]

This was a Reuters Story from Yahoo News:(linked)

http://news.yahoo.com/argentine-train-crash-kills-least-40-hurts-550-160437869.html

   According to the Reuters Story a Buenos Aires (Argentina) Commuter train slammed into the bumpers at the station this AM (Wednesday,02/22/2012). 

   The suspected cause is 'Faulty Brakes' according to the story. (?) The speed was reported to be 12 KpH. The train was reported to have 800 passengers and the impact caused the cars to telescope into each other.

  The linked story has photos and video links.

Note: The 'reporter in the linked video says that the moving train crashed into a stopped train in the station, while the Article Text indicates the moving train hit the Bumpers/(Buffers?) in the station.  I guess it'll take some more time to sort out what actually happened to the train and what it hit(?)