Cause of deadly German train crash still a mystery

cbs ^ | 02/10/2016

[wideminded]

How can this be anything but human error?

1. There was supposed to be an automatic system that would disable a train attempting to enter the single track if it was already occupied.

2. Both trains carried a driver and a trainee. So it is strange that none of the four noticed a red signal. Maybe there wasn't one.

[stinkerpot65]

Mooslims love mass murder and rape. But they’ll settle for mass murder.

[CyberAnt]

Employees ..??????

Could have died or been seriously injured in crash.

[libertylover]

How can this be anything but human error?

I'd say yes, it could be an error in the software.

[libertylover]

I suspect a bug in the train control software. You can't test every combination of events...

Quite right. Also the possibility of a faulty sensor that fed bad information to good software. The possibilities are almost endless.

[mass55th]

"Instead, the two trains slammed into one another on a curve, meaning that their engineers wouldn't have seen each other until it was too late."

My oldest son is on his yearly vacation to Germany. He told me about the two trains being on a curve, and that the video he viewed showed the two trains telescoping. He worked as a dispatcher for Conrail for about 10 years, but gave it up because the job got to be too stressful after CSX and Norfolk Southern merged with Conrail. A friend of his is a train driver for the Deutsche Bahn. They're meeting up this weekend in Berlin, so maybe he'll have some info to share.