• UK government finally opens inquest for 2002 train derailment.
    4 replies, posted
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8715011.stm]Via the BBC[/url] [img]http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/4632/479629080002414091.jpg[/img] [Release][B]An inquest into the Potters Bar rail crash in 2002 will open later in Hertfordshire. Seven people died and 76 were injured when a high-speed train came off the rails just outside the station. The inquest will hear from survivors and relatives of those who died, including the children's author Nina Bawden whose husband died. ... The inquest will be held at the Spirella Building in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, and is expected to last about two months[/B][/release] It's too freaking late now, people! This crash happened EIGHT YEARS AGO, and it's now that we're looking at who to blame? (When in fact we already know it's the track maintainance company's fault for not making sure that a vital peice of the track hadn't fallen out, broken or gone missing) For the uninformed, here's basically what happened in the crash. [release]A commuter train is heading for the station at just under 100 Mph, and it crosses a set of points in the station throat (basically the last set of points before a platform). As the last carriage goes over these points, they pretty much fall to peices, the rear end of the train train straddles the track and flips over, knocking a wall on a bridge. Parts of the wall drop to the road below and kill an eighty year old woman. At the same time, the front carriage jumps from the rails as from the sudden derailment, and RUNS ALONG THE PLATFORM, before coming to a rest about 45 degrees from the vertical, wedged under the station canopy. In the end, seven are dead (including the woman on the road) and 76 are injured, but no charges are put against the people responsible.[/release] What are your opinions here? I can't help but feel that this is both a waste of time and money, since it's clear what caused the accident. I don't see how this could possibly take two months. :10bux: says that the maintainance company are charged with some form of negligence.
Rated clock for comedy value. Seriously though, why are they just barely taking care of this?
It is strange, considering people wanted one in 2005 but they went "Nope". Maybe it's the conservatives trying to show off after the last government, I'm not sure.
The rear of the train didn't straddle the tracks (as in jumping off rails), IIRC the last bogeys switched to a different line due to the rail switch malfunctioning and switching. While [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potters_Bar_rail_accidents[/url] doesn't state sources, I remember there being a BBC documentary about this, which fits what is on the wiki. EDIT: I knew there was a diagram somewhere. [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/potters_bar/3.stm[/url]
[QUOTE=KFrohman;22300833]The rear of the train didn't straddle the tracks (as in jumping off rails), IIRC the last bogeys switched to a different line due to the rail switch malfunctioning and switching. While [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potters_Bar_rail_accidents[/url] doesn't state sources, I remember there being a BBC documentary about this, which fits what is on the wiki. EDIT: I knew there was a diagram somewhere. [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/potters_bar/3.stm[/url][/QUOTE] That's exactly what straddling the tracks is. Granted it didn't quite manage to run on both sides at once, but it still was half on the right line half on the wrong line.
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