Video: train collides with bus on level crossing, Gothenburg 8/3/2021

[jamesontheroad]

SVT News (public broadcaster) has published eyewitness footage of a crash that occurred this morning near Gothenburg in western Sweden.

Roughly translated into English, the accompanying article reads:

Here is the clip from the violent crash on Hisingen during Monday morning. Suddenly a train thunders straight into a bus that has stopped on the track.
"I just ran and it rained glass over me," says Freddy Persson who captured the incident on film.
He was on his way to work, standing and waiting at the bus stop. Freddy Persson will then see a bus marked "not in traffic" and which was without passengers. When the bus stops on the train track, Freddy Persson starts filming.
Shortly afterwards, according to Freddy Persson, the barriers go down. Then comes the train.
...
The driver was able to get out himself and had time to leave the bus before the train drove into it. There is no information that any person was seriously injured in connection with the accident. According to information from the police, three people themselves have visited the health center with minor injuries.

Link to story and video: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vast/se-filmen-nar-taget-kraschar-rakt-in-i-gasbussen

Edit: the bus was, as stated above, empty and en route to/from a depot and the driver had exited the vehicle before the crash. The train was a pair of X14 two-carriage EMUs, in service as Västtrafik 3725 from Uddevalla (06:37) to Gothenburg (07:50).

 

[Gloster]

Warning for language on the video. A certain post watershed word is not uncommon in Sweden nowadays.

It appears to be where Finlandsvägen meets Lillhagsvägen. There were around fifty passengers on the train.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Warning for language on the video. A certain post watershed word is not uncommon in Sweden nowadays.

Oops. Yes The cameraman apparently brushed shrapnel off, so the people standing at the bus stop in the video were very close to the impact.

It appears to be where Finlandsvägen meets Lillhagsvägen. There were around fifty passengers on the train.

Here is a link to the crossing on Streetview: https://www.google.com/maps/@57.750...289.94653&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i16384!8i8192

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm not sure it being a gas bus had much impact on the severity of that - it was, as you might expect, just smashed to bits by a train. Indeed, gas may have been better because it'd disperse, whereas diesel might have hung around and cause a longer duration of fire.

 

[jamesontheroad]

I'm not sure it being a gas bus had much impact on the severity of that - it was, as you might expect, just smashed to bits by a train. Indeed, gas may have been better because it'd disperse, whereas diesel might have hung around and cause a longer duration of fire.

I think the prominence being given to this fact in the Swedish media is that these buses are now known for catching fire (February 2021 in Gothenburg) and/or exploding (March 2019 in Stockholm). This has lead to criticism from fire departments and others about the difficulties of safely containing fire.

 

[edwin_m]

I'm not sure it being a gas bus had much impact on the severity of that - it was, as you might expect, just smashed to bits by a train. Indeed, gas may have been better because it'd disperse, whereas diesel might have hung around and cause a longer duration of fire.

LPG is heavier than air and tends to "pool" in depressions which may reach explosive concentrations. Diesel being a liquid is easier to see, and hydrogen would dissipate upwards.

 

[TRAX]

LPG is heavier than air and tends to "pool" in depressions which may reach explosive concentrations. Diesel being a liquid is easier to see, and hydrogen would dissipate upwards.

LPG is liquid too.

The bus on the video is fueled by CNG though, not LPG. CNG is a volatile gas.

 

[edwin_m]

LPG is liquid too.

The bus on the video is fueled by CNG though, not LPG. CNG is a volatile gas.

LPG is liquid when under pressure in the cylinder, but if is returned to atmospheric pressure, such as in a camping stove or if the cylinder is breached, it becomes a gas.

CNG is methane, which is lighter than air. Apologies if I thought it was LPG, I thought watching a video in Swedish wasn't a good use of my time and chose to believe the thread title instead.

 

[TRAX]

LPG is liquid when under pressure in the cylinder, but if is returned to atmospheric pressure, such as in a camping stove or if the cylinder is breached, it becomes a gas.

CNG is methane, which is lighter than air. Apologies if I thought it was LPG, I thought watching a video in Swedish wasn't a good use of my time and chose to believe the thread title instead.

Just wanted to make sure we were on the same wavelength regarding LPG !

Re CNG vs. LPG. LPG as a vehicle fuel is almost completely phased out in Europe (and elsewhere) now, and all gas vehicles sold now are CNG or LNG.

 

[edwin_m]

@jamesontheroad if this bus is indeed CNG then can you edit the thread title please?

 

[JonasB]

To be strict, it is probably biogas and not natural gas.

 

[TRAX]

To be strict, it is probably biogas and not natural gas.

Knowing Sweden, indeed.
Although the industry usually says CNG for biogas too. Only in the UK (and not everywhere) can we see CBG for Compressed Bio Gas, although this more specific term is gaining traction as biogas itself is.

 

[Gloster]

A certain amount of searching around finds plenty of reports of bus fires in Göteborg, but few details. However, the vehicles may be CNG.

 

[TRAX]

A certain amount of searching around finds plenty of reports of bus fires in Göteborg, but few details. However, the vehicles may be CNG.

They are, I wasn't guessing when I said so, I know these buses.

 

[westcoaster]

Do we know why it stopped yet, a breakdown or could it have grounded it self (looks like a bendy bus) on the crossing.

 

[Gloster]

Do we know why it stopped yet, a breakdown or could it have grounded it self (looks like a bendy bus) on the crossing.

Nothing definite as yet, but the papers seem to be hinting that it was the bus driver’s error in stopping in the wrong place, although it is possible that he stopped but couldn’t restart. But note, that is my interpretation of what the papers are saying.

 

[jamesontheroad]

@jamesontheroad if this bus is indeed CNG then can you edit the thread title please?

Done, happy to be corrected and learn a bit about the different types of compressed gas!

 

[edwin_m]

Knowing Sweden, indeed.
Although the industry usually says CNG for biogas too. Only in the UK (and not everywhere) can we see CBG for Compressed Bio Gas, although this more specific term is gaining traction as biogas itself is.

It's the same stuff and it's still natural, so CNG seems to be the most logical term and CBG is a bit of a brag! The Nottingham CNG buses use biogas, but not directly as their gas provide injects the relevant amount into the gas grid while the bus operator draws gas elsewhere. So the actual molecules fed in at the biogas plant are used by a wide range of users, and depending on flow directions in the gas mains may never actually find their way into the buses.

 

[Gloster]

The latest seems to be that the driver stopped the bus across the crossing while waiting to turn out on to the main road: the bus then broke down. It looks probable that the leading unit, X11 3141, will not run again.

 

[JonasB]

It seems like there was a problem with the bus, causing it to stop: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vast/kant-fel-trolig-orsak-till-bussolyckan-pa-hisingen A safety switch designed to shut down the engine in case a hatch is opened malfunctioned and turned off the engine despite no hatch being opened.

 

[Gloster]

SVT’s report suggests that it was the hinged panel on the front nearside corner (right-hand side) below the windscreen that registered as open, although it may not have been, and caused the shutdown. The depot knew about the problem, which is either with the lock or the panel itself, four days in advance.

 

[MarkyT]

The layout at this crossing looks fairly dangerous to me with a T junction just over one side of the single track and insufficient clearance from that junction stop line for one of those articulated buses to stand safely clear of the track (clearance 14m, bus length 18m). The crossing seems to work like an AHBC with a short warning time and no manual supervision or obstacle detection interlocked with rail signals or any other 'crossing clear' indication for the train driver. It would definitely NOT be a suitable application for AHBC-style functionality in the UK. I did some signalling design work for Swedish Railways in the 1990s and I came across full barrier automatic crossings equipped with obstacle detection radar, but these were only provided on busy high-speed lines, so possibly this relatively low traffic suburban line doesn't meet the criteria for that type under their rules, even with the risky road junction layout. OD was fairly novel at the time and I believe the only other large scale user of the tech then was Japan. It's clear that Sweden hasn't extended OD deployment to this particular higher risk suburban installation, but I don't know whether its use has been extended elsewhere.

 

[JonasB]

OD was fairly novel at the time and I believe the only other large scale user of the tech then was Japan. It's clear that Sweden hasn't extended OD deployment to this particular higher risk suburban installation, but I don't know whether its use has been extended elsewhere.

There are some crossings with OD in Sweden, but I think it has been pretty low priority and as mentioned most fitted on high speed lines. If I'm not mistaken they are required at level crossings where the maximum speed is 200 km/h. For other lines, doing something about crossings without lights and barriers can be a better way to reduce accidents.

 

[godfreycomplex]

Warning for language on the video. A certain post watershed word is not uncommon in Sweden nowadays..

Sweden - light years ahead of Britain as usual. The watershed idea has had its ****ing day.
As for the video, that’s automatic crossings with no obstacle detection or local monitoring for ya!!

 

[philthetube]

Sweden - light years ahead of Britain as usual. The watershed idea has had its ****ing day.
As for the video, that’s automatic crossings with no obstacle detection or local monitoring for ya!!

considering the circumstances of this incident I am not sure about Sweden being light years ahead.

Some people are offended by language so why not warn about it, it is called consideration

 

[jamesontheroad]

considering the circumstances of this incident I am not sure about Sweden being light years ahead.

Some people are offended by language so why not warn about it, it is called consideration

The problem with the Swedish language (well, one of the problems for me as a non-native speaker ) is a genuine lack of swearwords. The most frequently used curse words are all quite mild: fan (devil), helvete (hell), jävlar (devils) etc.

 

[Gloster]

The problem with the Swedish language (well, one of the problems for me as a non-native speaker ) is a genuine lack of swearwords. The most frequently used curse words are all quite mild: fan (devil), helvete (hell), jävlar (devils) etc.

If you want to say something stronger you are pretty well limited to combining the words: fan jävlar etc. There is an f-word, although in meaning it is really the c-word, but it is more likely to be used as a noun rather than a general swear word. It is a taboo word, but not to the level of the English equivalents. (I should make clear that my experience may be a few years (well, decades) behind the times.)

Although most Swedes learn English at school, for many their main exposure to English is through TV and films. Even when I lived in Sweden I was surprised to see how often the f-word was left on the soundtrack of subtitled films, even well before the watershed. This casual use of the word is picked up at a young age and the word is used in English without a full understanding of its meaning and strength. When I used my local library’s computer terminals, it was not uncommon to find that the library’s software would block a Swedish site because it found too many examples use of the f-word in the text (and it wasn’t that sort of Swedish site).

A final, general point. If you use swear words all the time in your normal conversation, what are you going to say when something extreme occurs?

 

[185]

Nice to see Keolis adding their sparkle to the railways of Sweden... it was their bus.