Posted on 07/25/2013 3:21:25 AM PDT by markomalley
The carriages careened off the tracks at a curve approaching the station at Santiago where the limit is set at 80 km per hour (50mph).
But one of the drivers has admitted that the train took the curve at a speed of around 190km per hour, according to local media reports quoting sources close to the investigation.
Alberto Nunez Feijoo, president of the region of Galicia, described the scene as "Dante-esque".
"I saw a woman who had lost one foot," said Lidia Cannon, a tourist visiting the local fiesta. "But instead of crying or shouting or whatever because of the pain she was looking very, very serious. She was in shock."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Bush’s fault!
I saw an article on this last night (nothing on FR, though it may be here), and that article listed recent train tragedies in Europe; amazing how many people have died on trains there in the last decade. And that doesn’t take into account train messes in places like India.
I first thought of Spain’s terror group, but this doesn’t seem to be that?
That would be the Basque separatists. The train seems to have derailed because it was going too fast.
I seem to recall that the Basques are very targeted when committing terror acts. They do not attack random people.
The trains in Spain crash mainly on the plains
I’ve ridden many times on Spanish trains. They are clean, comfortable and have remarkable on-time performance. I wonder if this train was running late and the driver felt compelled to speed up to arrive on time. Whatever the reason, this is horrifying.
But it’s a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville
And from Lima it’s on a three mile grade
It was on that grade that he lost his air brakes
see what a jump he made
He was goin’ down the grade makin’ 90 miles an hour
When his whistle broke into a scream
He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle
A scalded to death by the steam
Then the telegram come to Washington station
and this is how it read
Oh that brave engineer that run old 97
he’s a layin’ in old Danville dead
Every kid who ever had a train set or slot cars knows this. Something went wrong with the controls or the driver.
They’re saying no terrorism, but why couldn’t it be?
Trying to show off some of his Fernando Alonso moves?
Waa. LOL
Doubtful India would keep tallies of the number who died falling off trains. Yes, under there somewhere is a train.
I have a friend from Europe who thought America was foolish for not investing heavily in rail transportation. Then she came here and found out that America is too big to move everyone where they want to go by train. However she does say that a lot of places in Europe are effectively off limits to people who don’t own or rent a car.
“Casey Jones you’d better watch your speed.”
A simple lesson in physics would suffice.
Don’t forget the Al Qaida attack on the trains in Spain which got blamed on the Basques. The voters responded by electing a socialist government.
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