"Derailment kills, hurts dozens; Accident is Spain’s worst in decades" by Harold Heckle and Ciaran Giles | Associated Press, July 25, 2013
MADRID — A passenger train derailed on Wednesday night on a curvy stretch of track in northwestern Spain, killing at least 40 people caught inside toppled cars and injuring at least 140 in the country’s worst rail accident in decades, officials said.
Officials gave different death tolls in the immediate aftermath of the accident....
Renfe, the state-owned train operator, said the derailment happened along a high-speed section that had been inaugurated two years ago....
It was Spain’s deadliest train accident in decades. In 1944, a train traveling from Madrid to Galicia crashed and killed 78 people. Another accident in 1972 left 77 dead on a track to southwestern Seville, according to Spanish news agency Europa Press.
Officials at the Interior Ministry and the Adif rail infrastructure authority did not immediately answer telephone calls or return messages seeking comment. Officials with Renfe also did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
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"Driver’s love of speed scrutinized in derailment; 80 of train’s 218 passengers dead in Spain wreck" by Silvia Taules and Doreen Carvajal | New York Times, July 26, 2013
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain — The grainy video lasts little more than 10 seconds, but long enough to show the blazing speed of a Spanish passenger train bound for Santiago de Compostela that bounced against a curved wall and thundered off the track like a twisted toy.
Emergency workers were still picking through mangled debris Thursday, hours after 80 people were killed in one of Europe’s worst rail accidents in recent years. With the footage from a security camera, investigators were exploring clues, focusing on the train’s speed and a middle-aged driver who relished high velocity and boasted about breaking speed records on his Facebook page, deleted Thursday morning....
?????
Most high-speed lines that are part of the European Rail Traffic system are covered by a sophisticated GPS-based surveillance system that constantly monitors trains’ speed and that automatically brakes them at speed limits.
Slower trains and trains crossing urban areas in Spain and other European countries use a less intrusive system that warns the driver with sound and lights at excessive speeds, but does not automatically brake the train, according to María Carmen Palao, a spokeswoman with Spain’s ADIF rail infrastructure company....
The train was almost full, carrying 218 passengers and merrymakers who were returning to the region for a special holiday on July 25. It is the feast day for St. James the Apostle, the patron saint of Spain who for centuries has inspired pilgrims to walk El Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James. The pilgrimage has had a burst of popularity in recent years, drawing walkers from around the world....
After the crash, the city of Santiago de Compostela canceled its extensive celebration, and authorities urged people to donate blood for the victims.
And thousands of people made another sort of pilgrimage to the site of the disaster. Walking up and down in a small rural path next to the station, they watched as rescuers used cranes and trucks to hoist the engines of the wrecked train. All — children, teens, and older people — stood in funeral-like silence.
Nearby, in a building where an information center had been set up, police officers kept the victims’ families from the public eye. Some walked around the building in tears, hugging and comforting each other.
Outpourings of sympathy came from all corners, including the White House.
“On behalf of the American people, we offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families and loved ones of the more than 80 people who lost their lives,” President Obama said in a statement.
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"Train driver arrested in fatal crash in Spain" by Yesica Fisch | Associated Press, July 27, 2013
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain — Police said Friday they have arrested the operator of the train that sped through a curve and toppled over, killing 78 people, and they plan to question him over suspected reckless driving.
As blame increasingly fell on the still-hospitalized driver over Spain’s deadliest railway crash in decades, authorities located the train’s so-called ‘‘black box’’ that is expected to provide more information on the cause of the disaster.
Investigators said they would seek evidence of failings by Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, the 52-year-old operator, as well as the train’s internal speed-regulation systems in Wednesday’s derailment.
The railroad, Renfe, defended the driver Friday, lauding what it called his extensive experience. But the country’s railway agency, Adif, said the driver should have started slowing the train long before reaching the disastrous turn.
In an interview, an American passenger injured on the train said he saw on a TV monitor screen inside his car that the train was traveling 120 miles per hour just seconds before the crash — far above the 50 mile-per-hour speed limit on the curve where it derailed. The rider, Stephen Ward, 18, said the train appeared to have accelerated, not decelerated.
And Gonzalo Ferre, head of the rail infrastructure firm Adif, said the driver should have started slowing the train 2.5 miles before a dangerous bend that train drivers had been told to respect.
Police on Friday lowered the death toll in the crash to 78 as forensic scientists matched body parts. They previously had identified 80 dead.
Amo was arrested Thursday night in the hospital. Photos indicated he had suffered a head wound in the crash.
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UPDATE: Spanish train’s driver charged with homicide
"Despite 2 crashes, Europe’s trains called safe" Associated Press, July 26, 2013
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Two deadly rail accidents inside two weeks, killing 80 people in Spain and six in France, have raised questions about train safety across Europe. But specialists say such travel remains one of the safest forms of transport on the continent.
From Communist-era trains in parts of Eastern Europe to modern high-speed TGVs hurtling through the French countryside, Europe has a vast array of trains but among the highest safety rates in the world, specialists say.
‘‘Accidents like this are incredibly rare,’’ Sim Harris, managing editor of Rail News in Britain, said Thursday.
Spain, which was plunged into three days of national mourning following Wednesday’s catastrophic derailing at Santiago De Compostela, has a better-than-average safety record, said Chris Carr, head of the European Railway Agency’s safety unit....
In France, prosecutors said that a steel splint that jerked loose and knocked one car off the rails was most likely behind the July 12 accident in Bretigny-sur-Orge that killed six people. An investigation is looking at whether nuts or bolts holding the 22-pound bar in place were loose, missing, or broken, and whether there was a problem in manufacturing or maintenance.
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Related:
"Six killed as train carrying vacationers derails outside Paris" by Greg Keller | Associated Press, July 13, 2013
BRETIGNY-SUR-ORGE, France — A train carrying hundreds of passengers derailed and crashed into a station outside Paris on Friday on one of the busiest days of the year for vacation getaways. At least six people were killed and dozens were injured, officials said.
They won't be doing any more chugging (blog editor frowns).
The crash was the deadliest in France in several years. French President
Francois Hollande rushed to the scene at the Bretigny-sur-Orge station,
12 miles south of Paris. The Interior Ministry said 192 people were
either injured or being treated for shock; nine were in critical
condition.
Four of the seven train cars slid toward the station, crushing part of
the metallic roof over the platform. Images on French television and on
Twitter showed gnarled metal and shards on the platform, and debris from
the crash clogging the stairwell leading beneath the platform.
Some 300 firefighters, 20 medical teams, and eight helicopters were
deployed to get survivors out of the metal wreckage, according to the
Interior Ministry.
The accident came as France is preparing to celebrate its most important national holiday,
Bastille Day, on Sunday, and as masses of vacationers are heading out
of Paris and other big cities to see family or for summer vacation.
Hollande praised ‘‘the mobilization of the emergency services,’’ and
reached out in ‘‘solidarity with the victims’ families.’’ He said an
inquiry has been launched to determine the cause of the accident.
‘‘The inquiries will be public so that there is absolutely no doubt on what happened,’’ he added.
Witnesses reported that the train was not moving at an excessive speed, deepening the mystery of what happened....
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NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"The minister of transport, Frédéric Cuvillier, said there was no indication that a lack of investment in maintaining the system’s infrastructure was at fault.
But he said France’s regional rail lines were out of date, since the
SNCF had focused so much attention on its high-speed TGV lines, one of
France’s prides, adding, “The situation is severe, with the deterioration in recent years of traditional lines because of a lack of resources.”
But they have enough money to invade and occupy Mali.
Commuter rail bidder is linked to French crash
I suppose it's better than flying.
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: Canadian Pile Up
Related:
"Cargo train crash gets NTSB scrutiny
CHAFFEE — The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the cause of a cargo train collision that partly collapsed a highway overpass in southeast Missouri, injuring seven people. The collision occurred about 2:30 a.m. Saturday when a Union Pacific train hit a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train at a rail intersection near Chaffee, southwest of Cape Girardeau (AP)."
"Cleanup of a collapsed southeast Missouri highway overpass continued Sunday, more than 24 hours after a cargo train crash led to a chain reaction. The crash, which happened about 2:30 a.m. Saturday near Chaffee, led to the derailment of about two dozen rail cars that smashed into the bridge’s support pillars."
See: 7 injured in cargo train collision, bridge collapse in Missouri
Derailment, blast near Baltimore rattles homes
