European Railroad Discussion > Italian Commuter Train Crash

BBC News reports 3 killed on a commuter train crash near Milan, Italy. Initial reports say a bad switch was to blame. But passengers reported the train "shaking" minutes before the crash. Details on their web site.

Photos are for example at
http://www.youreporter.it/gallerie/Incidente_ferroviario_Milano_le_foto_dei_vvff_i_soccorsi/#1

It's quite interesting to look at the aerial images. And I've got to say that this made me lose a lot of confidence in the safety of pushed trains.

From the images, I'd say what happened was this:

The leading truck of the third car derailed. The train separated behind the second car, and the third car went off the rails to the left. Its leading end crossed two tracks and got wedged into the ground. Now the momentum of the pushing engine was enough to jackknife this car and bend it at nearly a right angle, which one can assume would not have happened if the locomotive had been pulling the train.

This seems to have come out a lot worse because the train was being pushed.

My thoughts go out to all inflicted by this accident...

Posted from Android

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/25/italian-train-derails-near-milan-2-dead-many-injured.html

sys3175 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Photos are for example at
> http://www.youreporter.it/gallerie/Incidente_ferro
> viario_Milano_le_foto_dei_vvff_i_soccorsi/#1
>
> It's quite interesting to look at the aerial
> images. And I've got to say that this made me lose
> a lot of confidence in the safety of pushed
> trains.
>
> From the images, I'd say what happened was this:
>
> The leading truck of the third car derailed. The
> train separated behind the second car, and the
> third car went off the rails to the left. Its
> leading end crossed two tracks and got wedged into
> the ground. Now the momentum of the pushing engine
> was enough to jackknife this car and bend it at
> nearly a right angle, which one can assume would
> not have happened if the locomotive had been
> pulling the train.
>
> This seems to have come out a lot worse because
> the train was being pushed.
>
> My thoughts go out to all inflicted by this
> accident...

I doubt in stuck in the ground, more likely it bent around a cantenary support much like the Philadelphia wreck.

The accident happened just east of Milan itself. The first aerial photo is looking north. The furthest pair of tracks are the local tracks with the stations on the north side. The second second pair which this train would be on are the through tracks for most other trains. The tracks below that lead west to Milano Segrate Intermodal Terminal, and immediately west of that is Milano Smistamento(the main humpyard for Milan).