Head on collision in Italy

[Groningen]

Passengers dead, dozens injured in head-on train collision in Italy

Italian news reports say that two trains have collided head-on in the southern region of Puglia, killing at least 12 people and injuring others. The trains collided near the town of Andria, according to news agency ANSA and Sky TG24. National police and Carabinieri couldn’t immediately give details about the extent of the crash, saying they were in the middle of responding.
ANSA said ambulances and fire trucks were reaching the scene.

 

[Harbornite]

RIP to all the victims.

 

[antharro]

Just saw this on BBC News. RIP to the victims.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36774059

 

[87015]

Pretty brutal picture on the Metro site. Another flirt that has done terribly, questions need to be asked about these units IMO. It was a four car unit

http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/12/at-le...-injured-in-train-collision-in-italy-6001875/

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

According to my Schweers atlas, the line is operated by Ferrotramviaria, a regional railway concern, and is not an FS/Trenitalia line.
The single line is standard gauge and electrified at 3000V.
It's a rural line providing an alternative inland route between Bari and Barletta.
http://www.ferrovienordbarese.it/home
Looks a very serious crash, very sad.
Comes after a similar single-track crash in Bavaria earlier this year, though the technical details will be very different.
I think the red EMU is a Stadler Flirt, the blue one an Alstom Coradia (pictures on the web site). They also have CAF EMUs.
At least 2 coaches seem to have been destroyed.
Some horrific pictures here: http://bari.repubblica.it/cronaca/2...reni_vittime_feriti-143900464/1/?ref=HREA-1#1

 

[Bletchleyite]

Low floor Euro EMUs seem to perform Mk1-badly in crashes, do they not?


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[Scott M]

Thoughts with all those involved.

With all of these European rail crashes lately I believe we should be proud of our safety record, and must not lose sight of it when attempting to emulate international rail with lines such as HS2.

 

[thedbdiboy]

Low floor Euro EMUs seem to perform Mk1-badly in crashes, do they not?


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Pretty much any rolling stock will perform badly in a head on collision at speed hence why prevention of such instances is such a high priority

 

[LAX54]

https://news.google.com/news/story?...ved=0ahUKEwiv0vLR8O3NAhXGgj4KHWw1DRYQqgIIIzAB

 

[Johnuk123]

At least 20 dead.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Pretty much any rolling stock will perform badly in a head on collision at speed hence why prevention of such instances is such a high priority

True, the Turbo at Southall ended up similarly in bits.

FWIW, it will be interesting to see if this incident, like the German one, would have been far less likely under UK rules.

 

[Harbornite]

That's a terrible death toll. We are lucky in the UK to have such a good safety record, with no on-train fatalities caused by a crash since 2007.

 

[YorkshireBear]

RIP, looks a right mess if anyone has got out of the front coaches of each unit i will be suprised.

I think any train head on would end up this bad. As said above, head on should never happen its pretty much impossible to design for.

 

[MarkyT]

Anyone know what kind of signalling and train protection systems are employed in the locality? Also the BBC report stated there was work underway to double parts of this single track line, so there's a possibility there were changes underway to the signalling systems, with remote possibility of design/installation shortcomings producing a wrong side failure, as at Clapham Jn.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

There was work underway to double parts of this single track line

It doesn't appear any such work has started. There is notice of extension of deadline for bidding for the work on the railway company's website. The new deadline is next week on 19/07/2016.

http://www.ferrovienordbarese.it/notizie/gara-raddoppio-corato-andria-avviso-di-proroga-sca

Translated by Google:

Race Doubling Corato Andria: extension notice expires presentation offered

Dated 06.16.2016 was sent to the OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) a notice by which it is willing to extend the deadline, set at 07/01/2016, for the submission of tenders relating to the race contract for the detailed design and execution of the works for the construction of the doubling of the Corato - Bari Andria of the railway line - Barletta (civil works, Equipment, Electric Traction) of the railroad Bari Barletta.
the new deadline for submission of offers is scheduled for 19.07.2016.
the same notice was also sent to the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic (GURI).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Anyone know what kind of signalling and train protection systems are employed in the locality? Also the BBC report stated there was work underway to double parts of this single track line, so there's a possibility there were changes underway to the signalling systems, with remote possibility of design/installation shortcomings producing a wrong side failure, as at Clapham Jn.

Their web site gives details of works in progress/being planned: http://www.ferrovienordbarese.it/company/ferrotramviaria-engineering

Doubling works of the line Bari - Barletta (FNB) between the stations of Ruvo and Corato, whose works are in progress.

"Great Project" funded by the European Community which provides work design and management of the following works:
- Doubling of the line Bari - Barletta between Corato and Andria Sud new Station, the burying of the railway line up area of ​​Andria (with the consequent deletion of 4 level crossings); the construction of the new underground Andria Centrale Station and new Andria Nord and Andria Sud stations.

The line is already double Bari to Ruvo.
The first item above (in progress) is about 10-20km south of Andria, which is where the crash is said to be.
The "Great Project" covers doubling the line north to Andria, and does not appear to have started.
No details of signalling, but presumably standard Italian stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_railway_signalling
Their web site has an up to date safety certificate.

 

[Nippy]

Smal correction, the Turbo was at Ladbroke Grove at a closing speed of around 120mph. That looks like a very high speed collision in Italy to get to that level of destruction.

 

[Kentish Paul]

True, the Turbo at Southall ended up similarly in bits.

FWIW, it will be interesting to see if this incident, like the German one, would have been far less likely under UK rules.

The Turbo was at Ladbrooke Grove not Southall.

 

[87015]

Low floor Euro EMUs seem to perform Mk1-badly in crashes, do they not?

Not as a rule, no. Stadler Flirts as a type however have now done very badly in a number of crashes. You can see the Alstom unit it has hit appears, at face value, to have stayed together far better. Desiro's and the Bombardier variety have also generally had incidents and not been split open on impact.

 

[2HAP]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andria_train_collision

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not as a rule, no. Stadler Flirts as a type however have now done very badly in a number of crashes. You can see the Alstom unit it has hit appears, at face value, to have stayed together far better. Desiro's and the Bombardier variety have also generally had incidents and not been split open on impact.

I've now seen a report that said both units had 4 coaches. I could have sworn the FLIRT was a 2-car

Also interesting that the one that survived better was of a high-floor type - making for a smaller and potentially stronger metal tube?

That means an entire extra FLIRT coach has been demolished.

Worrying.

 

[MarkyT]

Not as a rule, no. Stadler Flirts as a type however have now done very badly in a number of crashes. You can see the Alstom unit it has hit appears, at face value, to have stayed together far better. Desiro's and the Bombardier variety have also generally had incidents and not been split open on impact.

I don't think the Alstom type involved is a low floor train judging from the attached image of Barletta depot grabbed from Google Earth. Flirts are becoming so numerous all over Europe now they are perhaps also becoming commensurately much more likely to be involved in any incident.

 

[matchmaker]

Driver or signalling error? No doubt we'll find out in due course. Interestingly, the last single line head on collision in the UK resulting in deaths was in 1994 (Cowden) and before that (apart from on single lead junctions) was 1921 (Abermule). There have been several elsewhere in the world over the past 20 or 30 years.

Edward Tyer must be turning in his grave.

 

[zuriblue]

True, the Turbo at Southall ended up similarly in bits.

FWIW, it will be interesting to see if this incident, like the German one, would have been far less likely under UK rules.

The Turbos (and all the Networker series), like the Flirts are built primarily of aluminium. That probably doesn't help.

 

[theageofthetra]

Presumably the factor of a high floor vehicle hitting a low floor one will have made the fatalities & injuries far worse as one unit will effectively roll over the strongest part of the other? -rather like the telescoping in mk1's & wooden bodied stock?

 

[Kentish Paul]

I've now seen a report that said both units had 4 coaches. I could have sworn the FLIRT was a 2-car

Also interesting that the one that survived better was of a high-floor type - making for a smaller and potentially stronger metal tube?

That means an entire extra FLIRT coach has been demolished.

Worrying.

Sorry, but what is a FLIRT.

 

[pompeyfan]

I see there has been mention a couple of times of the German crash, would anybody mind saying for the benefit of myself and others what actually happened please?

 

[NSEFAN]

Sorry, but what is a FLIRT.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadler_FLIRT

 

[duesselmartin]

Thoughts with all those involved.

With all of these European rail crashes lately I believe we should be proud of our safety record, and must not lose sight of it when attempting to emulate international rail with lines such as HS2.

That is assuming there is the UK and Europe as a two rail entities. The crashes in Germany, Belgium and Italy happened in different countries for different reasons. I am not sure, if measured on a train milage caluculation, that the UK system would fare any better than most western-European systems.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Sorry, but what is a FLIRT.

One of these (Fast Light Innovative Regional Train): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadler_FLIRT

I see they German crash has been mentioned a couple of times of the German crash, would anybody mind saying for the benefit of myself and others what actually happened please?

It was at Bad Aibling in Bavaria on February 9.
Also a single-track head-on crash, put down to human error.
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/..._list[]=bavaria&sword_list[]=crash&no_cache=1

This was the forum thread at the time: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=126650

 

[amcluesent]

With social cohesion breaking down across Europe, sabotage must be considered