High-speed train crashes into bridge, killing seven, in Turkey

33Hz · 13 Dec 2018

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/12/13/europe/turkey-train-crash-intl/index.html

A high-speed train has crashed near the Turkish capital Ankara, killing at least seven people and leaving dozens more injured, according to the city's governor Vasip Sahin.

From what I read elsewhere, the train hit a locomotive that was "checking tracks around the station". It looks like a Velaro similar to Eurostar and DB's latest Velaro D generation.

Condolences to the victims.

Edit: Better pictures and detail https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018...gh-speed-train-collision-181213051334317.html

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Esker-pades · 13 Dec 2018

There has been a high-speed train crash in Turkey at Marsandiz station in the capital. First reports are suggesting the train collided with a maintenance vehicle. Pictures show that part of the station has been demolished (mainly the footbridge). Currently, 7 people have died with 40+ injured.

Esker-pades · 13 Dec 2018

To clarify: The actual speed is being reported as 80-90kmh (50-55mph). Not a high-speed crash, but a high-speed train.

LNW-GW Joint · 13 Dec 2018

The Wiki article on the Ankara high speed line is maybe 5 years old, but suggests the first 24km out of Ankara is not in full high speed service.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_Turkey

As of 2013, one track of high-speed line has been completed between Ankara and Sincan and it is being used with reduced signalling features

No doubt Railway Gazette will have a more authoritative piece soon.

LeeLivery · 13 Dec 2018

Thoughts with the victims and families.

Looking at the pictures and considering the apparent speed, it looks very bad. Is this the first serious accident with a Velaro?

33Hz · 13 Dec 2018

LeeLivery said:
Is this the first serious accident with a Velaro?

Depends if you count the transformer catching fire as an accident.

It's not the first such accident with a member of the extended ICE family having a bridge collapse on it though. Last time the train hit the bridge support. This time apparently it hit a hefty looking locomotive.

According to https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46549288

In a tweet (in Turkish), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects quoted its Chairman Yunus Yener as saying that "signalling problems" had been flagged on the line "for some time". It added: "The accident is murder!"

LeeLivery · 13 Dec 2018

33Hz said:
Depends if you count the transformer catching fire as an accident.

It's not the first such accident with a member of the extended ICE family having a bridge collapse on it though. Last time the train hit the bridge support. This time apparently it hit a hefty looking locomotive.

According to https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46549288

In a tweet (in Turkish), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects quoted its Chairman Yunus Yener as saying that "signalling problems" had been flagged on the line "for some time". It added: "The accident is murder!"

I wouldn't count the transformer fire. Eschede was a horrific disaster.

As for the tweet, it is the second recent incident with apparent signalling faults. Heads should roll...

ComUtoR · 13 Dec 2018

FelixtheCat said:
To clarify: The actual speed is being reported as 80-90kmh (50-55mph). Not a high-speed crash, but a high-speed train.

What speed would you consider to be a High Speed crash ?

33Hz · 13 Dec 2018

Looking at the picture of the crash site, it must have hit the locomotive running light engine with some force to push it back to where it stopped. I wonder if the lead car of the Velaro rose into the air and took down the bridge as well? The other passenger train to the left looks like it was very lucky not to be hit. I doubt it drove in there afterwards.

33Hz · 13 Dec 2018

Also if you look at Streetview from the nearby road overbridge, the station buildings and collapsed station concourse bridge were still under construction at September 2017. There was also only one track through there. https://goo.gl/maps/ygG6i9KhTnG2 However from the adjacent road the bridge was complete by June this year https://goo.gl/maps/gzEpDJyJvCR2

So I wonder if there were still issues with the station trackwork and signals that were ignored?

MarkyT · 13 Dec 2018

Horrific damage for such a moderate reported impact speed. There's been a massive ongoing project to quadruple the cross city line through Ankara, segregating express traffic from the local urban mass transit line to create a Berlin-like Stadtbahn, east to west. Thales are supplying the new signalling and control centre equipment according to this article: https://www.railwaygazette.com/news...les-awarded-ankara-resignalling-contract.html

TURKEY: Thales has been awarded a contract to resignal the 36 km Başkentray route which runs east–west through Ankara from Kayaş to Sincan.

The corridor is used by suburban, inter-city and high speed services, and is being upgraded by a joint venture of Gülermak and Kolin under a TCDD project to increase capacity and improve suburban services.

The scope of the contract announced by Thales on July 10 includes the provision of a centralised traffic control system, electronic interlockings, ETCS Level 1 and 2 automatic train protection, bidirectional lineside signalling, level crossing equipment and the interfaces between the high speed and conventional routes.

Thales has previously installed signalling and telecoms on more than 400 km of the Ankara – Istanbul route. It established a Turkish subsidiary in 2009, and now employs more than 80 local signalling staff

I suspect axle counters and reset/restore procedures might have been involved in some way. Perhaps the locomotive "checking tracks around the station" was being used as a 'sweep train' to reset troublesome sections. I can't see how that could result in a section going falsely clear under the sweep train itself but the presence of such an extra vehicle combined with something else could lead to danger, such as project or maintenance staff in a technical hut somewhere doing a manual reset, then an eager ARS system immediately taking advantage of the line clear to grant forward movement authority. In UK, automatic route setting can be switched off in the vicinity of anything unusual going on (using defined 'sub-area' screen controls), or individual signals (including ETCS equivalents) can be collared at red to act as reminders to recheck and confirm before authorising further movements.

Esker-pades · 13 Dec 2018

ComUtoR said:
What speed would you consider to be a High Speed crash ?

For trains, not much short of 100mph.

Cowley · 13 Dec 2018

I must agree that this looks like a huge amount of damage to the stock for the supposed speed of the train involved.
That must have been absolutely terrifying for the poor souls involved.

Unrelated to the crash, but in the photo posted by Marky T there’s a load of strange looking vehicles in the car park behind the station pictured here:

Does anyone know what they are? My screen’s broken on the phone and I can’t see them properly.

MarkyT · 13 Dec 2018

FelixtheCat said:
For trains, not much short of 100mph.

The train might have slowed considerably, once the driver became aware of the obstruction ahead, so may have been doing considerably more than the reported impact speed.

Darandio · 13 Dec 2018

Cowley said:
Does anyone know what they are? My screen’s broken on the phone and I can’t see them properly.

It's a New Holland tractor factory, presumably some sort of tractor body.

MarkyT · 13 Dec 2018

Cowley said:
Unrelated to the crash, but in the photo posted by Marky T there’s a load of strange looking vehicles in the car park behind the station...Does anyone know what they are? My screen’s broken on the phone and I can’t see them properly.

It was 33Hz who posted the photo which I think came from the Al Jazeira report. A streetview investigation reveals a sign in that yard for the company 'New Holland Agriculture', so I suspect they are combine harvesters or similar.

Cowley · 13 Dec 2018

Thanks guys.

Shimbleshanks · 13 Dec 2018

Cowley said:
I must agree that this looks like a huge amount of damage to the stock for the supposed speed of the train involved.
That must have been absolutely terrifying for the poor souls involved.

Unrelated to the crash, but in the photo posted by Marky T there’s a load of strange looking vehicles in the car park behind the station pictured here:
View attachment 56653
Does anyone know what they are? My screen’s broken on the phone and I can’t see them properly.

Combine harvesters by the looks of it.

33Hz · 13 Dec 2018

They are combine harvesters. You can clearly see them in the Streetview link I posted above.

edwin_m · 13 Dec 2018

MarkyT said:
In UK, automatic route setting can be switched off in the vicinity of anything unusual going on (using defined 'sub-area' screen controls), or individual signals (including ETCS equivalents) can be collared at red to act as reminders to recheck and confirm before authorising further movements.

Just for completeness, I would add that ARS in the UK also monitors the occupancy of individual track circuits and gives an alarm for events such as one becoming occupied when no adjacent one is occupied, and more importantly one going clear without the adjacent one being occupied. I think it also switches itself off for the area in question when it detects these conditions.

MarkyT · 13 Dec 2018

edwin_m said:
Just for completeness, I would add that ARS in the UK also monitors the occupancy of individual track circuits and gives an alarm for events such as one becoming occupied when no adjacent one is occupied, and more importantly one going clear without the adjacent one being occupied. I think it also switches itself off for the area in question when it detects these conditions.

And I recall that if you manually replace a signal, the ARS sub-area concerned also switches itself off automatically.

edwin_m · 14 Dec 2018

MarkyT said:
And I recall that if you manually replace a signal, the ARS sub-area concerned also switches itself off automatically.

Yes..

MarkyT · 18 Dec 2018

A video of the crash has emerged.
http://wa-piri-yenisafak-ui-en.azur...e-of-high-speed-train-crash-in-ankara-2198646

33Hz · 18 Dec 2018

Shame there wasn't a camera closer or in the building. Nevertheless the bridge section seems to collapse immediately after the initial impact and before the passenger train moves towards the platform. There are no bridge support poles in the pictures from before the crash, and at 7 seconds it does look like the lead car of the passenger train reared up and hit the bridge. You can see the middle of the bridge wall gives way. One wonders if a heavy power car would have done the same.

In the video it looks like the locomotive that was pushed back was fairly intact, but the view from the other side shows otherwise. The cab was demolished, apart from the left wall (see bottom left corner).

It is also amazing we can see that the local service drove up to the platform after the crash happened.

High-speed train crashes into bridge, killing seven, in Turkey

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