Virgin Train Derailment in Cumbria

Virgin Train Derailment in Cumbria

Source Link: news.bbc.co.uk

A Virgin train has derailed and slid down an embankment in Cumbria, witnesses say.
Witnesses said the train derailed before sliding down an embankment and a number of carriages were on their side. It is unclear if people were injured.

It is understood the train was the 1750 GMT Virgin Train from London's Euston Station to Glasgow.

(visit the link for the full news article)

the story has only just gone live on the BBC news site

early reports indicate that the train has toppled onto its side , and some passengers may be trapped

no early indications of casualties

Oh boy... rush hour train.. doesn't sound good.

Wow, I've actually been on that exact route when I stayed with relatives in Cumbria, and visited a friend in London.

This is just another in a series of accidents that seem to plague British railways. If there was ever an argument against privatising essential services, this is it.

A tilting train that tilts too far, perhaps?

Joking aside, I hope all concerned are well. Report's from inside the train by trapped commuters indicate the train possibly hit something and now almost all the carriages are derailed. Having said that, many appear to have only superficial injuries, bumps and cuts mainly. There are reports of some more serious injuries, but mainly spinal.

news.bbc.co.uk...

There saying that 45 people have been takjen to hospital

news.bbc.co.uk...

I really hope all are ok, Its pitch black out there as its evening and the weather is cold, which im sure wont be good,

My dad is a railway man and has had to attend this kind of crash before,

Its a very dangerous situation,

I really hope they get all the people out

Latest update, all passangers from the train crash have been removed

Crews are still ,going over the carrages with thermal imaging cameras.

UPDATE:

Sadly 1 person has now died in this,

Services between Preston and Carlisle were suspended
A passenger is reported to have died and dozens have been injured after a train derailed and slid down an embankment in Cumbria.
Ambulance crews said three were in a critical condition in hospital.

news.bbc.co.uk...




[edit on 23-2-2007 by asala]

Ahh no...

And I thought everyone had escaped with minor injuries. They were only talking about walking wounded..

How sad..

Photo: BBC

An elderly woman died
Here's some links:

BBC: One dead in Cumbria train crash
Scotsman.com:Train derailment kills one
The Guardian: One dead, many hurt as train derails at 95mph
Mirror: TILTING TRAIN IN DERAIL HORROR
The Sun: Terror as tilt train flips over
Times Online: One dead, many injured after 95mph rail crash
BakuTODAY.net: One killed, dozens hurt in British train derailment
Xinhua: Passenger train derails in northwest England, one dead

Richard Branson has come to the scene and also been at the hospital to see the injured people,

news.sky.com...

Richard Branson was on a family holiday abroad, he flew straight to the UK upon hearing about the crash.

He gasped when he saw the wreckage,

[edit on 24-2-2007 by asala]

This accident actually demonstrate just how safe modern trains are - imagine coming off the motorway in a car at 95mph and walking away with a slight bruise .....

Most of the passengers had only very minor injuries. Sadly one elderly lady later died in hospital (cause not known). But looking at the wreckage and knowing how fast the train was travelling one can only say "how come dozens more weren't killed?"

Well done to the locals and the emergency services for a quick and efficent response.

Originally posted by subz
If there was ever an argument against privatising essential services, this is it.

I think this is from 2003 -

BBC Today Programme

The authors of the report for the Rail Safety and Standards Board say train managers are working under a false assumption that ever-increasing investment in safety gadgets will satisfy the public.

...

They point out that the incidence of fatal train crashes has been going down steadily from 8.8 a year in the 1940s (see chart) to 1 a year so far this century. Contrary to popular opinion, they say, fewer people have died in the 9 years since rail privatisation (97) compared with the nine years before privatisation (127).

Sourced from 'The Economist', 2001 -

igreens.org.uk
...
A striking example is the government's commitment to massive safety investment on the railways. The policy is in line with the recommendations of the joint safety inquiry following the Southall and Ladbroke Grove crashes. The inquiry recommended that the "advanced train protection system" should be installed across the network saving, possibly, an average of two lives a year at a cost of £2 billion - roughly 200 times more than is spent on preventing a road death (see table below).

...

Despite popular myths about the effects of privatisation, rail travel is getting safer. Research by Andrew Evans, professor of transport safety at University college, London, shows that fatal train accidents per billion train-kilometres have consistently declined from 11 a year in 1967 to three a year in 2000.

i do not want to jump the gun on the police and HSE investigation , but according to the BBCs latest update :

The leader of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union, Bob Crow, told ITV News: "All our indications are that people on the scene are saying that it was a points failure.

"And I think people can dismiss the idea that it was a cow on the track or vandalism."

i hope he is wrong ............... because if he is right, then the idiots in charge have clearly learned NOTHING from the potters bar crash

The problem with saying this is an argument for the privatisation is that that was 40(?) years ago, and therefore there will have been improved technology since then, for example nowadays I have heard of plans to signal trains with GPS, rather than mechanical systems.

On another note, there were loads of railways before privatisation, and they would of come in very useful for getting rid of these lack of public transport to help combat greenhouse gases.

On topic, it is sad that one person died, but looking at the wreckage and the fact that it almost completely derailed, it could have been a lot worse.

Originally posted by apex
On topic, it is sad that one person died, but looking at the wreckage and the fact that it almost completely derailed, it could have been a lot worse.

They are incredably safe trains. Crumple zones and other fancy engineering marvels help in an accident.

Designed by Italian's... Who da thunk it?

Points Failure?

Would that be the points of a rail-switch?

Is Britain having more rail accidents now than it did prior to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq?

I don't have the statistics, but it seems that's true here in the US.

Originally posted by Desert Dawg
Points Failure?

Would that be the points of a rail-switch?

Yes

Is Britain having more rail accidents now than it did prior to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq?

I don't have the statistics, but it seems that's true here in the US.

This is the first serious rail accident of this type for a long while. We do get a few accidents involving trains hitting cars on level crossings in rural areas though ....

This is the first serious rail accident of this type for a long while. We do get a few accidents involving trains hitting cars on level crossings in rural areas though ....

Yeah, agrees, but, just goes to show that they have not learned from previous train crashes to sort out the problem, which caused the train crash in the first place. Thank Gd that there wasnt more fatalities, (Sympathy goes out to that lady's family in glasgow who died), When will the company who owns the network or rail in the UK buck up their ideas...............

This now on the BBC web site, they are going to check 700 sets of rail points:

Up to 700 sets of points across the entire rail network are to be checked as a "precaution" following the Cumbria crash, Network Rail has said.

Investigators earlier said the accident, in which a woman died, could have been caused by a points failure.

News Source

apparently the circumstances are similar to the 2002 Potters Bar rail crash.