Crash at Cairo Ramses Station

[Esker-pades]

First heard on the BBC World Service, but there are also articles on the BBC news website and other news media outlets

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-47384443

At least 20 people have been killed and 40 injured after a train crash sparked a large fire at Cairo's main railway station, Egyptian officials say.

The train hit a buffer stop near the end of a busy platform at Ramses Station, which is in the city centre.

The collision caused the train's fuel tank to explode, setting the platform and nearby buildings alight.

The cause of the crash is not yet clear, but only hours later Transport Minister Hisham Arafat resigned.

A train crashed into the buffers at the main station in Cairo. This caused the fuel tank to rupture, creating a serious fire. 25 people are confirmed dead, although this will probably rise given how busy the station was and how vicious the fire was.

The Egyptian Transport Minister has resigned.

 

[duesselmartin]

I assume the fuel would be diesel? In that case the spark theory would surprise me .

 

[Esker-pades]

I assume the fuel would be diesel? In that case the spark theory would surprise me .

The BBC article says that "The collision caused the train's fuel tank to explode, setting the platform and nearby buildings alight." My colloquial use of spark has probably confused matters. I will amened my post.

 

[AndrewE]

The fuel tank probably did not explode as it is highly unlikely to have contained enough flammable vapour to detonate.
It was probably crushed, ejecting a stream of compressed diesel fuel as droplets through the first split that occurred. Energy/sparks from something in the collision ( e.g. loco frame and platform edge) would then easily ignite the fuel spray.
Finely divided diesel and even hydraulic oil will ignite and form a fireball, even though it is very difficult to light them in the liquid state.

(And for "train" read "light locomotive.")

 

[Adlington]

The moment the train hits the buffers
To my mind it was running at a pretty high speed - catastrophic brake failure? The driver falling asleep?

People running away from the burning inferno

 

[MCR247]

I read somewhere that a witness saw someone pointing and shouting from the loco as it approached the platform "its got no brakes" before jumping from it onto the platform. I'll try and find where it was

EDIT: found it in the bbc article

"I saw a man pointing from the locomotive as it entered the platform, and screaming 'There are no brakes! There are no brakes!', before he jumped out of the locomotive," witness Ibrahim Hussein told Reuters news agency.

"I don't know what happened to him."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-47384443

 

[Killingworth]

I read somewhere that a witness saw someone pointing and shouting from the loco as it approached the platform "its got no brakes" before jumping from it onto the platform. I'll try and find where it was

EDIT: found it in the bbc article



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-47384443

Watching the videos and looking at pictures carefully there are no signs of a train, just a locomotive.

 

[Adlington]

According to the New York Times:

State media later reported that the train’s driver had left its controls unattended after getting into an argument with a colleague. The driver, who was hospitalized after the crash, was in police custody but could not be questioned because of the severity of his injuries.

 

[MarkyT]

The video of the shunting incident is here: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCon...age-shows-moments-leading-to-deadly-trai.aspx
I think the yard collision happened at the northern neck of the main carriage shed sidings here:

There was clearly no rake of stock standing on the road the loco took through the sidings. It may have gone through the carriage shed itself.
The yard may have no trapping arrangement to arrest an errant movement at the south end exit, leading towards the terminus, or a route had already been set in or out when the runaway approached. It is just over a mile from where I think the loco started moving to the buffer stop; enough to achieve the high speed that led to the horrific consequences.