Spain train crash

[gotoPzero]

Being reported a very serious crash in Spain.

Sky not currently showing pictures which is not a good signs.

Some news outlets reporting dozens killed.

[Hippea]

Didn’t they have one in a similar area not long ago?

[Earthdweller]

When it goes wrong on high speed rail it can be catastrophic, this reported as being on the Madrid- Andalusia high speed line

Hopefully not as bad as being reported, but dozens of fatalities according to some reports

[gotoPzero]

The one image I have seen looks like a plane crash. What ever happened was at very high speed.

[stuckmojo]

Awful. I know that line quite well.

Spanish trains went from being the best in Europe to a complete mess.

[airbusA346]

Sky News reporting at least 39 killed.

BBC News are saying at least 10 killed.

[Chris Stott]

Different cause to the crash earlier this year, but won't help confidence in the network.

Being reported here as one high speed train running in to the back of another stationary one.

39 dead, but that's almost certainly going to increase.

[Xenoous]

Oh this is incredibly sad. What a horrendous scene for first responders to have to attend. That'll be with them for the rest of their lives.

[Chris Stott]

SUR reporting 46 deaths so far.

Around 500 passengers on the 2 trains involved.

Terrible.

[airbusA346]

WOW!

[Wheel Turned Out]

More pictures being released and it's an absolute horror show - what a terrible thing. A black day for an awful lot of families.

[Chris Stott]

Local news here saying 46 dead and 120 injured so far... deaths likely to rise.

Initial reports say the automatic signalling and collision avoidance systems were down and trains were being managed manually from the Madrid control centre.

[Earthdweller]

I was on earlies in East London the day of the Paddington train crash back in 1999

Was parked up on the A12 Eastern Ave and heard the call go out on the main force radio about 0815 and units from all over being called and responding

About an hour later I was driving a carrier down to the scene with more cops as part of the next wave response

Got there probably four hours after it happened and was lnvolved in cordons marshalling emergency vehicles and the like

Didn't get really up close to it but the tv footage and pictures didn't show the true scale of the scene or the carnage

Being the first responders and turning up to a mass casualty event must have been horrific

Feel for the 999 responders and hospital staff that have to deal with this incident ans aftermath and hope they get the support they need

[redrabbit29]

Earthdweller said:

Feel for the 999 responders and hospital staff that have to deal with this incident ans aftermath and hope they get the support they need

Absolutely - must be truly horrific and a real mess of noise, emotions, sights, panic, confusion and almost a situation where you're pretty helpless just due to the sheer scale of it

[Hippea]

Sadly I think fatalities could end up being in the hundreds

[Tango13]

redrabbit29 said:

Earthdweller said:

Feel for the 999 responders and hospital staff that have to deal with this incident ans aftermath and hope they get the support they need

Absolutely - must be truly horrific and a real mess of noise, emotions, sights, panic, confusion and almost a situation where you're pretty helpless just due to the sheer scale of it

I used to work nights with a retained fireman who went to the Buncefield disaster where umpteen thousands of gallons of fuel went up in flames. On his first day back you could tell he was still in shock from what he'd seen just by looking at him and how he was talking.

Over the next few nights if he wanted to talk about it the rest of the night shift were there to listen and he was back to his usual self in a few days but there were no fatalities at Buncefield.

This is a whole new level of trauma and PTSD, I sincerely hope everyone dealing with this is given all the help they need and more.

[gotoPzero]

Reports over 60 dead. It appears the automated system for traffic control failed this morning so they were running on radios and human control.

[peterperkins]

gotoPzero said:

Reports over 60 dead. It appears the automated system for traffic control failed this morning so they were running on radios and human control.

If that's true what a monumental cluster ....... Surely not being run at full speed???
The poor buggers who had control of that or made the decisions will never get over it.

If it fails again in future it will surely be all trains stopped until it's fixed.
The accident report will make sombre and sober reading.

RIP Those involved.

[Chris Stott]

If they were running at anything like full speed everyone would be dead and the wreckage would be spread over kilometres... I've been on that route and seen speeds over 280kph.

Spanish news says the systems were down and trains were being advised by the control centre in Madrid (a bit like air traffic control for planes).

The stationary train was at a holding signal and had been told to continue its journey... but it wouldn't restart for some reason.

The train behind it then ran in to it.

Would appear to be human error compounded by system failure and a bit of bad luck.

[Iamnotkloot]

Óscar Puente, the transport minister, said the accident had been caused by an “inexplicable” human error when a railway traffic controller had told the driver of the AVE train to proceed despite all trains on that stretch of track being stationary because of a system failure.

So a system issue followed by human cockup.