A Virgin Trains Pendolino derailed between Preston and Carlisle in NW England tonight. The train was traveling from London Euston station to Glasgow, Scotland. Train was traveling at 95 mph at the time of the derailment, there is one reported fatality, and many serious injuries. All passengers and traincrew have been rescued.
Is 95 an average train speed for British passenger lines? I know that Amtrak runs its trains at whatever speed the tracks can handle is this the same case over on the other side of the pond.
The Pendolino is cleared for 125 mph and was designed for 140 mph. The train was passing through a climbing series of “S” curves which limited the speed to 95 mph. A mile previously the limit was 110 mph. There are sections nearby cleared for 125 mph. Yes like Amtrak, conditions limit the top speed of trains.
But what wonderful speeds! “Pendolino” sounds vaguely Italian to me. Is this a “tilt” train of some sort? And if you remember “back in the day” how fast could British Rail run its passenger equipment on that line?
It is indeed a tilt train, they were introduced about 3 years ago, replacing hauled coaches and overhead electric locomotives. Up until then, the max line speed on the fastest stretches along the west coast route was 110mph. They’ve been spending millions over the last few years upgrading track and signaling along this line for the new trains and increased line speeds. Everything seemed to be going very well until this latest incident and i understand the focus is now on a set of points localy operated by a ground frame. An emergency crossover of sorts i’d imagine. Sadly, there has now been 1 confirmed fatality.
Here is some updated info.
English Rail Accident Lambrigg
http://www.burgess57.freeserve.co.uk/Lambrigg.jpg
Source Website
http://www.burgess57.freeserve.co.uk/latest.htm
Yes they run very high speeds on that part of railroading.
If you visit the site regularly, you might catch some British Mainline Certified Steam working actual revenue service or fan trips.
"An elderly woman died and several other passengers were critically injured when a crowded Virgin express train crashed in Cumbria last night.
“A huge rescue operation involving RAF helicopters and dozens of ambulances was launched after passengers were trapped in the train for more than four hours because fallen power lines made access by emergency workers difficult.”
Pardon my ignorance, but does “a set of points” mean a switch?
Yes, the British refer to a switch as a “Set of Points”.
What does “ground frame” mean? Is that a piece of equipment, or a reference to a company that is responsible for keeping the track safe?
“Excellent investment” - Something we will never know in North America.
A Ground Frame is like our Switchstand, but theirs have a different design than ours. As of late Saturday Afternoon, they are now looking at loose bolts on the stretcher bar. If this does turn out to be the case, this would be the same problem as caused the disastrous Potter’s Bar derailment a few years ago.
Yep, spot on. Localy controlled switch. You normaly have to call the panel box/signal box/ tower to ask them for ‘a release’, this then effectivly hands over control of the switch to you. I used one last night to cross over a ballast train.
Unfortunately it now seems increasingly likely that this was down to a switch failure again!
Pendolino is indeed an Italian design, by Fiat Ferroviaria, the rolling-stock-division of Fiat. A Pendolino is a DMU or EMU - like the consist in this sad accident - and AFAIK it is the most successful design of tilt-trains. They run in several countries, not only the UK and Italy. IIRC, they tested on the NEC prior to the acquisition of the Acelas by AMTRAK. I don’t know why AMTRAK didn’t want them. The Acela is a different design, roughly two streamlined A-units with passenger-coaches between.
BTW, I don’t understand why it should be impossible to design new US-rolling-stock to the the same safety standard as the Virgin-Pendolini. Patent problems perhaps?
I believe amtrak purposely wanted to have two power cars at both ends of the trains for safety reasons. In the end of event of a crash, the power cars are designed to take most of the impact of crash. In a crash, the powers are designed to crumple which would absorb the shock of a crash. That’s why there are power cars at both end and the train has a ridiculous amount of horsepower (12,000 hp). It’s a safety thing.
There is no such thing as TOO MUCH Horsepower. This is America after all.
I cannot think in numbers higher than what I am trained with 18 wheeler Power Curves but it gotta take a hell of alot of horses to maintain a object like the Acela at a constant speed.
The one thing I am jealous of a little bit… is that the UK Trains are doing what we should be doing but arent. We sit on the rusting North East Corridor while our butcher Government starves and bleeds Ambroke dry.
The UK ‘Rail Accident Investigation Branch’ has just released an iterim report - see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/26_02_07_grayrigg.pdf
The immediate cause of the derailment was faults with the stretcher and locking bars on the points (switch) which allowed the blades to move freely.
Tony