quinntopia Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 I don't quite understand how this happened given all the new controls that are supposed to prevent this, but apparantly some empty container cars took out an ICE trainset in the Netherlands today. http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/faits_divers/story/Collision-entre-deux-trains-aux-Pays-Bas-25422692 Good photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob46/5345945699/in/photostream/ Link to comment
KenS Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 It has to have been a slow collision, as the news story says none of the passengers on the ICE were injured and the ICE stopped still in contact with the freight rather than a km or two down the line. From the photo it looks like the collision occured at a switch, so somebody overran a signal (or the signaling system failed). It looks like the freight was departing the line (left on the switch) as the ICE was entering it (from the right). But yeah, that just shouldn't happen. It will be interesting to see the eventual accident report. Link to comment
Martijn Meerts Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 It's a somewhat older story already actually, so there's been a lot of investigating going on already. They expect the safety system wasn't operational because copper thieves stole 300 meters of wire from the side of the track, including connection wires for the safety system. Copper thieves is a common problem here at the moment, some time ago they stole a bunch of wires from alongside the track as well, which caused a lot of level crossings to stop functioning, and thus cause massive delays. They also recently stole safety pins from some gates that keep water out. Turned out those pins were copper colored steel though... Link to comment
quinntopia Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 It's a somewhat older story already actually, so there's been a lot of investigating going on already. Whoops! Sorry about that! Somehow "Google Translate" or something interpreted the date from the French site I was on to appear more current. Makes sense as those photos on Flickr (of apparently the same wreck?) have been up for awhile. Copper thieves is a common problem here at the moment, some time ago they stole a bunch of wires from alongside the track as well, which caused a lot of level crossings to stop functioning, and thus cause massive delays. They also recently stole safety pins from some gates that keep water out. Turned out those pins were copper colored steel though... Interesting that this has been linked to the cause....and it makes sense too given the investment in safety that was made for these high speed trains. Unfortunately, this sort of crime is not limited to your corner of Europe....its been happening here as well. What I don't understand is why enforcement of the salvage/recycling firm that pays for these stolen goods isn't forced to do more due diligence on their customers. I mean, its not they're recycling aluminum cans....this is industrial grade copper for crying out loud! Link to comment
Martijn Meerts Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Well, with "older" I meant around a week old or something ;) Obviously, being in the Netherlands means I heard about it the day it happened .. The biggest problem is that often the salvage/recycling firms are in on it. They know exactly when they're buying stolen goods. It's become so common in the Netherlands that they're now investigating if there's organized groups. There's also talk about police teams specifically aimed at preventing these cases. The thing is, the people doing it care nothing about the consequences. Imagine copper being stolen from a line where trains run at 200+ km/h and those crash head on. However, if they do manage to arrest someone (very unlikely), they get comparatively light sentences. Anything else and the human rights organizations start showing up all over the place.... (personally, I think human rights is nice, but quite frankly if you willingly put other people at risk or willingly kill other people, you loose your rights the moment it's proven you're guilty. But that's just me ;)) Link to comment
KenS Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Aren't signaling systems normally designed to "fail safe" when an element stops working? I can see theft of wire causing all the signals to go to "stop", paralyzing the line. But why a collision? And yeah, if they catch the people responsible they should be prosecuted for much more than just theft. Link to comment
Martijn Meerts Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Aren't signaling systems normally designed to "fail safe" when an element stops working? I can see theft of wire causing all the signals to go to "stop", paralyzing the line. But why a collision? And yeah, if they catch the people responsible they should be prosecuted for much more than just theft. Maybe in parts of the world where train companies actually care more about safety than money ;) Link to comment
keitaro Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Aren't signaling systems normally designed to "fail safe" when an element stops working? I can see theft of wire causing all the signals to go to "stop", paralyzing the line. But why a collision? And yeah, if they catch the people responsible they should be prosecuted for much more than just theft. Maybe in parts of the world where train companies actually care more about safety than money ;) True. Which is not many places... Link to comment
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