A passenger train collided with a vehicle obstructing the line at the entrance to a tunnel in Taiwan and derailed. At least 34 people killed.
Taiwan: Dozens killed as train crashes and derails in tunnel
At least 50 people are dead and scores more injured in the island's worst rail disaster in decades.www.bbc.co.uk
The BBC are accurate sadly. If over 40 people are dead in this crash it is definitely worse than the two other accidents which you cite. They didn't say the only accident in decades which is how you appear to be taking it.
I would argue that 18 is almost as bad, but to say first serious in decades is incorrect, however, they have now realised their error and altered it !
From the BBC report:
...so we don't know if the vehicle was actually being driven at the time, or where it's come from.
The text that you quoted in post#3 said "worst" and not "first". If it had said the latter l would have wholeheartedly agreed with you.
Crane truck driver questioned by police over fatal train accident
04/02/2021 05:25 PM
Taipei, April 2 (CNA) Local police are questioning the driver of a crane truck that is believed to have slid down a hillside and blocked the path of a moving train heading south in Hualien County on Friday, leading to an accident that caused the deaths of at least 48 people.
The driver, surnamed Lee (李), was still being questioned by Chungte police as of 4 p.m. Friday, according to the Xincheng Precinct of the Hualien County Police Department.
Police department commissioner Tsai Ting-hsien (蔡丁賢) said the crane truck was parked on a hillside road close to the construction site of a tunnel for the northbound rail line.
The road hovers above the southbound track, and authorities suspect that the driver parked the vehicle without engaging the emergency brake, Tsai said.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Fire Departmen
The truck began to move on its own and eventually slid down the hill and landed on the track, before being run into by the ill-fated southbound Taroko Express train as it was about to enter the Qingshui Tunnel on Taiwan's eastern coast, Tsai said.
The collision led the first five carriages to lose control inside the tunnel and pile up. The front carriage was completely destroyed, while other carriages at the front of the train were badly twisted out of shape.
As of 4 p.m., 48 people, including the train's driver, had been confirmed dead and 66 were said to be injured, according to National Fire Agency data.
The 45-year-old Lee owns one of the contractors involved in the tunnel construction project, police said.
He parked his crane truck with the license plate 775-TX at around 7 a.m. Friday at the construction site, located not far from the Daqingshui Recreation Area where the new and old Suhua Highways converge.
The ill-fated train was the No. 408 Taroko Express train, which set off from Shulin Station in New Taipei at 7:16 a.m. and was headed to Taitung County in southeastern Taiwan with about 350 passengers on board, police said.
(By Chang Chi, Tyson Lu and Elizabeth Hsu)
I have seen video of trains trains where pairs of seats can be spun round so they are always facing forward (a bit like hinged backs on early trams). Maybe this is the system here and, under the unusual circumstances, turning the seats sideways creates a wider gangway.The train was heavily loaded with a lot of people standing but I wonder if another contributor to the high casualty rate was the seating. The seats were in longitudal pairs facing outwards towards the windows with a corridor down the centre of the carriage, a seating arrangement ive never seen before. In a head on collision the seating would do nothing to protect the passengers from the deceleration.
I get the impression that rather than an actual crane on track we may have a Road Rail Excavator and Trailer or more likely just the Trailer.
This makes sense to me, I have been on similar Japanese trains where the seats do that. Google images shows these trains with airline seating, not facing outwards
This is probably not the accident train; that was newer. This would more likely be another nearby train diverted for the rescue.The train was heavily loaded with a lot of people standing but I wonder if another contributor to the high casualty rate was the seating. The seats were in longitudal pairs facing outwards towards the windows with a corridor down the centre of the carriage, a seating arrangement ive never seen before. In a head on collision the seating would do nothing to protect the passengers from the deceleration.
Railway infrastructure subcontractor working within a railway project worksite. I suggest that’s very different to a random third party (as in our infamous ECML incident)...
agree with that, it was the way I read it ! 