Train derailments

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Spain Experiences its Worst Train Accident in 40 Years An increase in train derailments was one of the first symptoms of the approach of Planet X to become noticeable, being expressed even before Planet X entered the inner solar system in 2003. Planet X was described as affecting the Earth from afar, like tugging on the edge of a spider web where the effects are felt elsewhere on the web; in this way there has been an increase in earthquakes and unpredictable weather going back years, even before Planet X entered the solar system, due to the increased swirling of the Earth’s core. It is therefore logical that an increase in train derailments would accompany any increase in seismic activity – train tracks need to be straight and even the slightest shift to the side of a section of track would cause a train to derail. The area most affected by train derailments is the stretch zone.  Stretch zone quakes are silent, and people are generally unaware anything is happening, although signs such as booms and trumpet sounds can occur. This zone stretches from Western Europe across the Eurasian Plate, and also includes the South-East United States, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Red Sea and the African Rift. In other parts of the world, shifting ground is more associated with earthquakes that people are aware of, such as the Pacific which is compressing, so authorities inspect railway tracks after any seismic activity, reducing the likelihood of accidents. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some Examples (click on pictures for link):

[Mark]

Rajdhani derails, none hurt

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150919/jsp/frontpage/story_43397.jsp...

Jamshedpur, Sept. 18: Around 900 passengers of Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express had a lucky escape this afternoon, as two front wheels of its engine derailed before reaching Tatanagar station, but the train managed to stand on tracks.

Though it jerked to a stop around 3.50pm just before reaching platform 2, the impact was mild enough not to hurt passengers on board.

South Eastern Railway (SER), under which Tatanagar falls, has initiated a high-level probe into why the engine of the New Delhi-bound Rajdhani derailed. But, prima facie, authorities feel it was a mechanical glitch and not sabotage.

Railway staff worked swiftly, pulling all 18 coaches of the train, including first, second and third AC ones, pantry, luggage van among others, to platform 3, and attaching a different engine.

The train chugged out of Tatanagar at 5.20pm, delayed by roughly an hour-and-a-half. Normally, Rajdhani reaches Tatanagar at 3.50pm and pulls out at 3.55pm.

The timing was also such that no other train was delayed as a domino effect.

"A major mishap was averted as the train was moving slowly at 10-12kmph while approaching Tatanagar," said Ashok Agarwal, spokesman and senior divisional commercial manager of Chakradharpur railway division, which falls under the SER zone.

"A probe has been initiated in this regard," Agarwal said.

"There seems to be some mechanical snag that led to the derailment, not foul play," Tatanagar station manager O.P. Sharma, who along with officials of railway engineering department and loco shed, personally supervised the bogies as they were being shifted, said.

When The Telegraph met the passengers, the general mood was relief mingled with anger.

Rahul Singh (35), a third AC passenger, said he was standing near the door of his coach because he wanted to alight at Tatanagar, when he heard a "thud". "The next thing I knew, a jerk had dashed me against the door of the coach. I'm lucky I escaped a head injury. Thank god," he said.

Passenger Malini Sharma (46), who was waiting on platform 2 to board the train, said she heard the loud sound and saw the train stopping just before entering the station. "It seemed like the driver of the loco might have applied brakes after the train derailed," she said. "But, a major mishap was averted."

Sujit Mahapatra, in his twenties, who like Sharma was supposed to board Rajdhani from Tatanagar, was furious about the delay. "Unthinkable that a prestigious train like Rajdhani can be derailed. All this is the result of the sheer callousness on the part of railways," he said.

Earlier this March, Rajdhani had another narrow escape near Tatanagar railway station due to a mechanical snag in the engine.

[M. Difato]

Ten cars of a BNSF Railway train carrying ethanol derailed in rural South Dakota, starting a fire and forcing detours on the company’s main track.

SCOTLAND, SD - Personnel from several area emergency response agencies are on the scene of a train derailment near Scotland.

http://www.ksfy.com/home/headlines/Crews-battling-fire-following-tr...
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad says 10 ethanol tanker cars derailed and two caught fire Saturday morning in southeast South Dakota.

BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth says the 98-car train carrying ethanol derailed at about 6:15 a.m. between the towns of Scotland and Lesterville. She says in a statement that there were no injuries and no nearby structures were threatened by the fire.

Bon Homme County Emergency Management spokesman Lee Rettig says one rural road was shut down as firefighters from several departments worked to extinguish the blaze at a bridge southeast of Scotland. BNSF hazardous materials teams were also responding to help with the cleanup.

Rettig says the derailed cars were near the front of the train.

The local response effort is being led by the Scotland Fire Deparment and also includes firefighters from Lesterville, Menno, Tabor, and Tyndall. The South Dakota Highway Patrol and the Bon Homme Couny Sheriff’s office is also on scene.

Sources 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-19/bnsf-derailment-f...

http://www.ksfy.com/home/headlines/Crews-battling-fire-following-tr...

 

[Mark]

LIRR RESUMES NORMAL WESTBOUND SERVICE AFTER DERAILMENT WEST OF HICKSVILLE, LONG ISLAND

http://abc7ny.com/traffic/lirr-resumes-normal-westbound-service-aft...

HICKSVILLE (WABC) -- Normal Long Island Rail Road service has resumed westbound. Service was suspended due to a freight train derailment west of Hicksville.

Even though service has resumed, LIRR customers were advised that some residual delays were possible.

Two cars out of a 16-car freight train derailed west of Hicksville on Tuesday, officials tell Eyewitness News.

The freight train is operated by New York and Atlantic.

No injuries were reported.

It is unclear what caused the cars carrying construction materials to derail. One track was taken out of service.

Emergency crews planned to bring in a crane to remove the train from the tracks, then inspect the 100 foot section of track that was damaged.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/Two-Dead-as-Durant...

Two Dead as Duranto Express Derails

Published: 13th September 2015 04:37 AM

KALABURAGI:Two women passengers were killed and seven others injured when the Mumbai-bound Duranto Express from Secunderabad derailed at Martoor station, 15 km from here, early morning Saturday.

The victims have been identified as Jyoti Paramanddi (44) and K Pushpalata (28), of Hyderabad.

Of the seven passengers injured, six were admitted to the Kalaburagi Government Hospital with fractures. They were shifted to Hyderabad by the railway authorities in the afternoon. Another woman has been admitted to a private hospital here.

Surendra Reddy, a passenger in the ill-fated train, told Express that the train left Secundarabad at 11.10 pm on Friday. He said most of the passengers were asleep when the train derailed at 2.15 am. “There was a sudden jerk ... we all fell down and the chaos began,” Reddy added.

Express noticed that the track was broken at three spots within a 200 m range.  Coach number eight and the pantry car were completely off the track, while coach number seven was partially derailed.

Rescue teams from the Railways, ambulances and fire and police personnel reached the spot from Kalaburagi by 3 am. However, by then the passengers and Martoor locals had begun the rescue operations.

[M. Difato]

2 British nationals killed as train derails on Shimla-Kalka track
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/himachal/2-british-nationals-kille...
Shimla, September 12 
Two British nationals were killed and 10 others injured when three carriages of a train that was carrying a group of tourists from Britain derailed this afternoon about 90km away from here.
According to officials, the mishap occurred at around 1pm on the Shimla-Kalka narrow gauge route near Parwanoo between the Kalka and Taksal stations.
The Great Railway Journey chartered train had 37 passengers aboard, all from Britain.
While two victims, women aged about 35 and 65 years, died on the spot, reports in Chandigarh said that one of the injured passengers had died at a hospital there.
“We have information about two persons who died on the spot. The third death can only be confirmed by authorities in Chandigarh,” said Madan Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner, Solan.
Railway authorities from Ambala and officers of Solan district administration rushed to the spot and all the injured have been taken to hospital and provided medical aid, he said.
The cause of the accident could not be immediately ascertained but experts suspect that it might have occurred due to over-speeding.
A senior Northern Railway official said that two of the passengers were seriously injured in the derailment.
An inquiry is being ordered into the derailment incident and senior officials, including Railway Board Member (Engineering) VK Gupta and Northern Railway General Manager AK Puthia, have rushed to the spot, said the official.
The train had a total of four coaches of which three got derailed on the Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge section.
Three of the injured were in a critical condition, with two of them having sustained head injuries while another one had suffered a fracture, Head of Emergency Services of Max hospital, Dr Sumit Arya said in Mohali.
The patients were in a state of shock and unable to come to terms how a day of joy and outing had turned into mourning and despair.
"However, one of the woman passengers said all were travelling in a happy mood and talking about their holiday.
The woman told us that she felt a sudden jerk and almost fell out of window when she was caught by her friend. The coaches derailed after the sudden jerk, she told us,” Arya said.
“The accident occurred when the train was about 3.5 km away from Kalka. The accident site falls in Himachal Pradesh," Divisional Railway Manager of Northern Railways, Ambala, Dinesh Kumar told PTI.
Kumar also said the cause of the accident was not "immediately clear" and an inquiry had been ordered into the incident.
The Kalka–Shimla Railway is a narrow gauge service which mainly covers the mountainous route from Kalka to Shimla. — PTI

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-34183935

Warwick train fire 150 passengers evacuated

• 8 September 2015

• A train carrying 150 people was evacuated when a fire started underneath a carriage at Warwick Parkway railway station.

  The 07:46 Leamington to Worcester Shrub Hill via Birmingham service caught fire just before 08:00 BST.

  The fire had started in the running gear of one of the rear carriages, said Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service.

  Engineers for train provider London Midland are investigating and replacement bus services are in place.

• The 08:00 Leamington to Birmingham service was held up as fire crews from Leamington and Coleshill put out the flames.

  Francis Thomas, for London Midland, said the train was in the station when the fire alarm went off.

  "I'm glad to say all the automatic fire systems kicked in immediately."

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/many-injured-af...

5 coaches of Chennai Egmore-Mangalore Express train derail in Tamil Nadu, several injured

The Chennai Egmore-Mangalore Express train derailed near Vridhachalam in Tamil Nadu

At least 38 passengers of a Mangalore-bound express train were injured today after its five coaches derailed near Cuddalore district, about 200 kilometres from Chennai.

Police and railway officials said that the mishap occurred around 2 AM after five coaches of Chennai Egmore-Mangalore Express derailed at Puvanur in Vriddhachalam.

The injured have been rushed to nearby hospitals, official said, adding that the train services on the busy route were disrupted for sometime.

However, trains were later operated on alternative route but they were running late, official added.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2015/09/02/trail-derai...

Train derails in Randolph County

7:12 p.m. EDT September 2, 2015

PARKER CITY - Randolph County officials were responding Wednesday afternoon to a 16-car train derailment that had closed one county road.

Sheriff Ken Hendrickson said Randolph County Road 1000-W, which runs directly east of Monroe Central Jr-Sr. High School, would be closed for several hours.

The sheriff said nine of the 16 cars -- which were empty coal cars -- were off the tracks and on their sides near the crossing. Seven other cars remained upright but were considered derailed, he said.

The derailed cars were at the end of a westbound locomotive, on the east-west tracks that run parallel to Ind. 32.

No injuries were reported. Traffic on county roads 900-W and 1100-W has been not impacted by the derailment, which was reported just after 3:30 p.m., the sheriff said.

Hendrickson said cranes would likely have to be brought to the scene to lift the overturned cars back onto the tracks.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known, but foul play was not suspected, the sheriff said.

[Mark]

Family lucky to be alive after rail horror

http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/local/family-lucky-to-be-al...

Two couples have spoken of their holiday horror after their train travelling at 100mph crashed whilst they were sleeping.
Sue and David Williams and Karen and Peter Turnbull were ripped from their sleep when their train derailed on its way to Cape Town.

The holidaymakers said “they are lucky to be alive” as they crawled their way out of their cabin into the dust filled night.

Sisters Sue and Karen clung onto each other whilst their husbands on the top bunks scrambled for their lives as their carriage flipped and bounced off the track.

The Prasa train was heading for Cape Town from Johannesburg, in South Africa, but the 27-hour journey was cut short at midnight when it crashed leaving 60 people injured.
Sue and David, from Bare, and Karen and Peter, from Lancaster, all suffered minor injuries including dust inhalation and brusing.

David, 51, suffered a head injury after the force of the crash catapulted him towards the ceiling leaving him needing stitches. He said: “We felt lucky to be alive, it took a few seconds to realise what was going on.

“When it skidded with the dust it was really difficult to breathe. The four of us were in a sleeping cabin, it was like being in a washing machine, bed pieces and our things all over the place.”

Sue, 46, said “It made it worse because it was pitch black, it felt like ages until we got out but it must have only been about 30 minutes.”

[Tracie Crespo]

nation.lk/online/2015/08/26/train-derailment-causes-travel-chaos/

Train derailment causes travel chaos

Many commuters are currently stranded at the Maradana Railway Station as only one line is in operation (Pics by Sajitha Prematunge)

Railway passengers are currently stranded at many railways stations due to a derailment of a train that had occurred between the Maradana and Fort railway stations today.

Speaking to The Nation, officials at the Maradana Railway Station said even though the derailed train has just now been cleared only one out of four railway lines are currently under operation, causing a major disruption and delays in train services during after office hours.