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Author Topic: Train 1 : tree 4 - Montpellier August 17th 2016 (France)  (Read 4252 times)
stuving
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« on: August 18, 2016, 19:58:19 »

From the BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)
Quote
France rail crash: Dozens hurt as train hits tree in hailstorm
    17 August 2016

Dozens of people were hurt, eight of them seriously, when a regional train hit a tree uprooted during a hailstorm in the south of France.

Witnesses said one passenger had been thrown out of the train by the force of the crash, at Saint-Aunes in the Herault region.

Emergency services said one person was critically injured and airlifted to hospital.

The front of the train was badly damaged and windows were knocked out.

The double-decker train had been travelling at 140km/h to the east of Montpellier when it rammed into the tree at around 15:45 local time (13:45 GMT), reports said.

"We were on the train when hailstones the size of ping-pong balls started falling, then we heard what sounded like an explosion," said a 24-year-old passenger from Luxembourg who gave her name as Justine.

"The train shook for a few seconds and then I saw some people whose heads were covered in blood."

Some passengers initially thought the crash was the beginning of a terrorist attack, after the string of incidents across Europe in recent months.

I was hoping to find the same pictures I've seen on TV, showing what this tree did to the train, as these ones are not as clear:



If you look closely at the frontal view you can see that big lump of tree inside the cab comes out halfway up on the side. (the interior view is even scarier). The driver threw himself on the floor and escaped serious injury, but he was very shocked by it. And SNCF (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) say the train was not running at its full speed of 140 km/hr due to the weather.

The passenger who was thrown out of the hole in the side of the train is now off the danger list. Having established that, French TV reporting has concentrated on whose tree did it. It was a private tree, standing in a garden next to the line. Thus SNCF are keen to point out it was not their fault. I get the impression that the owner may be strictly liable - i.e. not knowing it was weak is no defence.

The tree was not uprooted - it snapped several metres up (and it was described as a pine 3 m in diameter at the base). That may explain the early reports that it had not snapped the overhead wires, if it was held up at its trunk end. Alternatively, the fact that the violent hailstorm was still going on may mean the tree fell almost exactly as the train arrived.

Definitely the wrong kind of tree on the line.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2016, 20:25:57 by stuving » Logged
broadgage
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« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2016, 13:35:46 »

Very unfortunate, I am sure that we all wish the injured a speedy recovery.

I doubt however that the tree was 3M in diameter as is reported. 3M in circumference perhaps, though even that is extreme for a pine.
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
stuving
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« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2016, 16:25:12 »

Very unfortunate, I am sure that we all wish the injured a speedy recovery.

I doubt however that the tree was 3M in diameter as is reported. 3M in circumference perhaps, though even that is extreme for a pine.

I suspect you're right - that's just what I heard on the TV, and why it was quoted that way.

Some of those TV pictures are in the video in this page from FR3).

In any case it's misleading. This wasn't the kind of pine tree with one big straight trunk, it was the Mediterranean kind with a bare trunk and a rounded top. But obviously that's also misleading, if it suggests the top was just a load of little branches.

Most of it fell beside the line (it only damaged one track's OLE (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE")), and the train went clean through the bit that was in its way, stopping under the A9 (or the new LGV (Large Goods Vehicle) being built alongside it). So it could have been much worse - if you do look at the video, there's a bit of trunk lying beside the track that is over a metre in diameter.
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ellendune
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« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2016, 17:30:08 »

3 metres diameter at the crown perhaps?
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Bmblbzzz
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« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2016, 21:48:17 »

Scary! Glad the passenger is recovering and the driver was uninjured.

But who else clicked on this thinking of a station on the Severn Beach line? (Yes I know that's only one l, but even so... )
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grahame
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« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2016, 22:12:23 »

But who else clicked on this thinking of a station on the Severn Beach line?

Yeah, I did ...
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Tim
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« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2016, 14:16:37 »

But who else clicked on this thinking of a station on the Severn Beach line?

Yeah, I did ...

me too
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TonyK
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« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2016, 17:57:27 »

Ne pas moi!
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Now, please!
trainer
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« Reply #8 on: August 24, 2016, 23:07:48 »

Ne pas moi!

Une réponse pleine d'esprit, comme toujours

(Oh the joy of Google Translate - which works in reverse and is sometimes accurate.)
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TonyK
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« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2016, 07:42:40 »


Une réponse pleine d'esprit, comme toujours

(Oh the joy of Google Translate - which works in reverse and is sometimes accurate.)

Gracias penis.


(I used google translate because I don't speak Spanish. Thanks, cock!)
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