Re: English Railway Accident

["David Bennetts" <davibenn@ozemail.com.au>]

Whilst in agreement in principle with your comments on the relative safety
of push-pull trains, they are by no means uncommon in other parts of the
world.  At least in the case of the Intercity 225 trains, there is a driving
luggage van, so that passengers do not ride in the first carriage.  There
are other trains in Britain which have a loco pushing at the rear, and only
have a driving compartment in the leading carriage conveying passengers.
What about Japanese bullet trains which carry passengers in the first car?
All railcars, such as Endeavours and Xplorers, Sprinters, Prospectors etc
are in the same boat. Victoria is in the throes of replacing loco hauled
trains with faster railcars.

I guess a lot of this does get down to economics, but also it is for
operational efficiency.   Loco hauled services are less fuel efficient, you
need to run the loco around its train at terminii (unless it is push pull).

I think you can see from this accident that carriage construction is a very
important factor in the surviveability of railway accidents.  The Mark IV
coaches, about 13 years old, stood up to the tremendous forces very well.
If you look at previous accidents involving Mark I coaches, probably at
considerably lower speeds, the devastation was horrible - the carriages
disintegrated and telescoped into each other.

Regards

David Bennetts