Over 260 people killed in Indian Rail crash

[A380]

India train disaster: Signal fault the likely cause, minister says

India's Railway Board says there was "some kind of signalling interference".

www.bbc.co.uk

A genuine tragedy. You have to feel for everyone involved in the horror of this. Passengers, casualties and their families, railway staff and responders.

It’s probably going to be a signalling failure, either technical or human factors.

Two questions for those more knowledgeable than me on Indian rail matters.

In Europe we have made carriages far safer so when we do have rail collisions the death toll tends to be lower than it would have been in the 20th century. Are Indian railways still running old stock or old design stock?

What’s the state of investment in new signaling there?

 

[platinumsage]

They mostly use an old German design:

LHB coach - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"They are considered to be anti-telescopic, which means they do not get smashed through a second coach or flip in case of a collision (chiefly head-on)." - this fact seems to be evident in some of the photos, but of course a massive three train high speed crash is always going to be nasty, especially if the number of people on board exceeds the seating capacity.

 

[WouldBe]

It’s probably going to be a signalling failure, either technical or human factors.

On BBC news Indians are saying it's not signal failure but a signal fault whatever the difference is.

 

[weltweit]

In the photos and film I have seen the actual carriages IIRC look fairly intact.

Nasty crash though, they are identifying the dead from photographs of the bodies and some relatives have had to spend their savings on Taxis to get to the scene because of course the railway isn't working.

There was an awful short clip with a woman who had been through all the pictures (and the hospitals were hours away) but still couldn't find her son I think it was, perhaps his body hasn't yet even been recovered.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

On BBC news Indians are saying it's not signal failure but a signal fault whatever the difference is.

i'm not a railway person and haven't read the detail about this incident, but from where i'm sitting, 'signal failure' implies the signal system stopped working - and they are usually designed to 'fail safe' as in put everything to show a 'stop' signal until it's sorted out. 'signal fault' could be taken to mean that the signal was giving a 'go' signal when it shouldn't have.

 

[agricola]

i'm not a railway person and haven't read the detail about this incident, but from where i'm sitting, 'signal failure' implies the signal system stopped working - and they are usually designed to 'fail safe' as in put everything to show a 'stop' signal until it's sorted out. 'signal fault' could be taken to mean that the signal was giving a 'go' signal when it shouldn't have.

TBF the circumstances reported so far sound very much like the Quintinshill disaster 100 years ago here, so "fault" may mean the operators of the system were to blame rather than the system itself.

Just simply horrible for those involved and their families though.

 

[Dogsauce]

In the photos and film I have seen the actual carriages IIRC look fairly intact.

Sometimes Indian trains can be insanely crowded, particularly on holidays and stuff like that. I’ve seen pics of people riding on the roof etc, but not sure that still goes on, wouldn’t expect it on a fast express like these trains. A horrifying number of deaths whatever the factors, akin to a plane crash.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Its unfathomable that so many deaths could be caused by one train crash.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

Its unfathomable that so many deaths could be caused by one train crash.

3 trains pile up :/

 

[Puddy_Tat]

yes, a fairly rare set of circumstances where there's a collision between two trains, and a third train runs in to the consequences before it can be stopped.

the two worst accidents on britain's railways (quintinshill, 1915; harrow and wealdstone, 1952) each involved three trains.

 

[existentialist]

yes, a fairly rare set of circumstances where there's a collision between two trains, and a third train runs in to the consequences before it can be stopped.

the two worst accidents on britain's railways (quintinshill, 1915; harrow and wealdstone, 1952) each involved three trains.

And, albeit in a smaller way, the Clapham train crash.

 

[Leighsw2]

Very true though Quintinshill also, horrifically, involved fire (there were five trains at the site, all of which were engulfed in flames.)

 

[Dogsauce]

3 trains pile up :/

One was a freight train, so only two passenger trains involved, one busy commuter/regional and an express.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Clapham train crash was caused by a signalling technician not removing old wiring properly which lowered over time causing a signal to flash between safe and unsafe to pass.
So it could be anything.

 

[WouldBe]

They mentioned 'signal interference' or an interlock failure the other day.