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News is just breaking of an astonishing incident which happened a few hours ago on a commuter line into London. A truck carrying cement went out of control and crashed through a bridge parapet, plunging 30 feet onto the track below and landing on the roof of a passing eight-car passenger train!
The truck seems to have badly dented one of the coaches and bounced clear. At present there appear to be no fatalities, although one passenger and the truck driver have serious injuries and a number of others have been taken to hospital.
Fortunately the train was lightly loaded as it was before the evening rush-hour and going into (as opposed to out of) London. Also, the train didn't derail and the truck landed on the verge side of the train, not on the adjoining track.
Had it happened just two seconds earlier a full scale collision would have ensued, debris would have blocked the adjoining track and the potential consequences don't bear thinking about.
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Prevention of this sort of thing is of much concern in HSR schemes in the US. The issue is called "Intrusion Protection."
By the way, this is on what was called British Rail's Southern Region. Don't know what it is called now. Note that this is a third rail system. In the picture in the aritcle referenced by Mr. Kisor, the third rail is the extra rail seen in the space between tracks. (The "six foot" in British parlance. The very close track centers should give an idea of the source of this name. For another name, the space between rails of the same track is called the "four foot".)
mgt Member # 5479
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There was such an accident several years ago in the north of England, when a van towing a trailer left the road through a roadside fence at the approach to a bridge, down the embankment and onto the tracks. Two trains were involved and there were fatalities, including, I think, one of the loco drivers. It was later found that the van driver had spent most of the previous evening on the internet and had had little, if any, sleep. he was sentenced to several years in prison. One recommendation of the inquiry into the accident was that the approach to all bridges over railway tracks had to made secure, usually by replacing wooden fencing with stone or brick walls.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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WOW!!!! Sounds like a scene in a James Bond movie!
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