Re: English Railway Accident

[Dion Williams <onamission@today.com.au>]

Tom C wrote:

> Pretty well. In previous accidents the strength of MkIIIs (and MkIIs)
> has been cited as one of the reasons casualties were not far worse.
> MkIs and similiarly-constructed vehicles would have separated from
> their underframes and sliced through each other.
> 
> It's also worth noting that most British passenger stock uses Buckeye
> or bar couplers which are much more rigid than the screw couplings
> still used on most continental hauled stock.

The Amfleet cars in use in the US are of a similar design standard to
the Mark IIIs, and have withstood some extremely rigorous tests. Their
ability to absorb the decelerative forces at Chase, Maryland in January
1987 saved innumerable lives in an accident where by rights 100 people
should have been killed.

Dion