Re: Implications of ICE crash

[David McLoughlin <davemcl@iprolink.co.nz>]

David Bromage wrote:

> The line was not a dedicated high speed line. It was a normal running line
> which had been upgraded to 200km/h some years ago. At this stage it
> appears the train somehow divided and the rear portion derailed and struck
> the bridge, which the collapsed on the train. (Sound familiar, anyone?)

According to the news reports we are getting here, it seems the train 
derailed because a wheel came off the track (tyre problem) some kms 
before the crash, which was at a set of points. Surviving passengers 
report the vibration/noise associated with such an incident. The train 
derailed when the slipped wheel hit the points.


> The normal length of a first generation ICE set is 410m. The rear portion
> was reduced to 50m. You can imagine what sort of momentum was involved,
> considering the front portion (loco and 3 cars), took 2300m to stop even
> on emergency brake.

The news reports here say the loco kept going because the driver didn't 
know he had lost his train, which derailed behind him.

I must say this does sound odd; I would have thought there would have 
been a major and notcicable difference in the traction load/speed of the 
loco on suddenly losing all those heavy carriages at such a speed. 
 
> We should all extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims of this 
> tragedy.

Indeed, as I also do each time a train falls into a river in somewhere 
like India, 400 people die and if they are lucky, it gets a paragraph on 
page 125 of newspapers in New Zealand, Australia, the US, UK and the 
like. 


David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand


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