Belgian passenger trains collide

[jannyk]

Source: BBC

Two passenger trains have collided head-on in Belgium, causing a number of injuries, railway officials say.

The trains collided during the morning rush hour at Halle, south-west of the capital Brussels, a spokeswoman for Belgian railways said.

Belgian media reported the trains collided in snowy conditions. One unconfirmed report on Belgian TV said 20 people had been killed.

Railway officials have been unable to confirm the number of casualties.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8515855.stm

---

Watching BBC News now and they say at least 20 killed. Happened at height of morning rush hour. :(

[aquart]

1. This is so not supposed to happen.

Somebody really screwed up.

[Tesha]

11. According to last night's TV news, one driver ran a red signal. (NT)

[t0dd]

2. Photo here:

Courtesy brusselnieuws.be

[jannyk]

3. More photos from the BBC

at link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8516037.stm

[bikebloke]

4. More here with video

http://www.france24.com/en/20100215-rail-collision-death-toll-20-train-transport-accident

[Blue_Tires]

5. very sad...

did the trains get put on the same track? how does this continue to happen?

[WriteDown]

6. Well it was rush hour...

Bumper to bumper train traffic? :shrug:

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. It was head-on, not the front of one hitting the back of another

The governor of Flemish Brabant province, Lodewijk De Witte, said one of the trains seemed to have missed a stop signal.
...
Infrabel said one train had been going from Leuven to Braine-le-Comte while the second train had been travelling from Quievrain to Liege.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8515855.stm

[WriteDown]

8. Sorry, it was a joke....

Not sure that you can coin the phrase "train rush hour."

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Oh no, rush hour is very real for commuter trains (it's in the OP)

and trains do have to slow down for ones in front if they deviate from the timetables.

[Baclava]

10. Human error?

Don't these terrible wrecks usually come down to this?
I guess I'll have to wait for this 'Seconds From Disaster' episode on the NGC.




Details of some of Europe's worst rail accidents in recent years:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6058202.stm

[Tesha]

12. Depending on your definitions, yes, essentially all "accidents" could be classed as "human error".

Sometimes it's the train drivers or system operators. In this case,
it appears a train driver proceeded past a "stop" signal. In other
cases, a switch has been mis-set, directing the trains onto the
wrong track.

Sometimes it's the engineers who design the trains. The infamous
German ICE train crash was the result of the engineers who designed
the "composite" wheels for the train. When they interposed a layer
of rubber under the steel tread of the wheel, they created the conditions
where metal fatigue would eventually cause a steel tire tread to break,
derailing the train. The derailed train then struck an overpass.

Sometimes it's the humans who do the maintenance on the trains
or the workers who assemble the train. The famous over-run of
the GG1-pulled train into Washington's Union Station was the
result of a trainman who failed to open a brake cock when they
were making-up the trainset.

But if you're willing to look deeply enough, somewhere, some human
made a decision that they probably ended up regretting.

Tesha