A passenger DMU and a freight train collided head-on at the small village of Hordorf in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Early reports are that 10 people have died, 18 are seriously injured, 25 lesser injuries. The passenger train was operated by the regional operator Harz-Elbe-Express (HEX) which collided with a freight train operated by the Verkehrsbetreibe Peine Salzgitter (VPS). The passenger train was traveling from the state capital of Magdeburg to Halberstadt in the Harz Mountain region. The line lacks any train protection system such as PZB (Indusi). The accident happened at 10:24 pm local time.
OK! for those who are only fluent in some dialects of English (ie: Mississippe, or Kanglish, or maybe Pennsylvania[swg]) you can get a sort of translation by copying the URL into Googles search window and then requesting a translation.
This should give enough tanslation to get an idea from the story. (Hopefully[:^)])
The speed at impact according to the translation, FTA (translation)FTA: "…
Remember the speeds are in kilometers per hour so the passenger train would have been doing 62 mph, while the freight was doing 50 mph. Giving a combined 110 mph.
Beaulieu:
You are correct, my reference about mileage was from the Google Translation. Where the transposition from Kilometers to Mileage was referenced in the quoted item as mph rather than kpm.
From my post "…commuter train was single track with a speed of 100 landed on the freight train to meet him at about 80 mph…"
It struck me as strange at the time that the translation was donein mph, but who was I gonna argue that point with/ So i went with it. MY BAD! [|(]
Closing speed is irrelevant. If the train hit and stopped, it doesn’t matter whether it hit an opposing train or a brick wall. The impact is the change of velocity. Now if the collision caused it to go from 100 kph forward to 80 kph backward, THEN you would have a 180 kph impact.
Part of the impact is the force generated by both trains. A car hitting a stationary wall at 30 mph is bad enough; hitting another car coming at you at 30 mph significantly worse.
EK = (1/2)mv2
More information is coming out after another day has passed. The line is partially equipped with PZB train control, but not at the area where the crash occurred. The remainder of the line is scheduled to receive PZB by the end of 2011. Just a little to late.
You can see the station, grade crossing, the signals, and the DMUs involved on this video beginning at the 5:05 minute mark.
Improved coverage of the accident with good slideshow.
The slideshow indicates that the railcar was number VT810.
A light blue coloured object that might be the freight loco appears in two views as having the numbers 700 BB in white on the end.
M636C
The blue coloured object is part of the hood of the freight locomotive. The 700BB is part of the builders model designation for that type of locomotive it is called a G1700BB by Vossloh its builder. It was similar to the MPI GP20D in appearance. The DMU was a Alstom LINT41.
That is the equation for determining kinetic energy. The severity of the impact is determined by the kinetic energy applied to the vehicle and occupants in the sudden stop. If there is a large difference in the mass of the two vehicles, so that the energy of the larger overcomes the energy of the smaller causing it to reverse direction, THEN the energy of the opposing vehicle becomes a factor. If the vehicle only comes to a stop then only it’s own kinetic energy is applied to the occupants. On the other hand, if the vehicle continues forward after the impact then only a portion of it’s kinetic energy is applied to the occupants.
If an 18 wheeler and a passenger car, each traveling at 30 mph hit head on, the car passenger experiences a greater than 30 mph impact and the 18 wheeler passenger gets a smaller than 30 mph hit because post impact the car will be going backward while the 18 wheeler continues forward.
Looks like the investigation is focused on the engineer of the freight train. There is also anger about the failure to upgrade traffic control on this old single-track line in the former DDR.
Update in English:
Some of the slowest acting crossing protection devices I have ever seen. The apparent lead time is far in excess of anything that US drivers would find acceptable. The auditory warnings have no standardization and are anemic as a ‘warning’.
I do like the fact that the gates, in all the crossings shown, cover the entire crossing.