Train Derails At Penn Station, New York, USA

Trains collide injuring many in Switzerland

Rescue workers inspect the site of a train crash at the train station of Rafz, northern Switzerland. (Photo: AFP/Michael Buholzer)

Two trains slammed into each other near the Swiss city of Zurich early on Friday (Feb 20) tipping over carriages and injuring at least six people, police said.

 

The driver of one of the trains was in serious condition after the crash, which saw ambulances, fire and rescue services rush to the scene as a rescue helicopter hovered above.

 

A regional intercity train hit a commuter train at the Rafz train station, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Zurich and not far from the German border at around 6.45am (0545 GMT), police and media said.

 

One of the trains derailed, and several carriages tipped on their side. The locomotive was smashed in, with broken glass and twisted metal visible through a gaping hole in the side.

 

The police said the driver, 49, was flown to a hospital by helicopter. Five others were also hospitalised with relatively light injuries, the police said in a statement. One of the injured was an Italian, another was a Turkish woman and a third was a woman originally from Afghanistan. Two women of Swiss nationality were also hurt.

 

Switzerland’s national rail service SBB said the trains had been travelling in the same direction and that one had sideswiped the other where two tracks merge. “The circumstances of the accident are being investigated,” SBB said.

 

An 18-year-old passenger on the commuter train told the 20minutes daily the train had just begun pulling out of the station on its way to Schaffhouse when the driver hit the brakes. “An express train from Zurich came up from behind and hit the side of our train. The intercity train derailed,” said the unidentified man.

RENOWNED FOR SAFETY

Services on the train line between the towns of Bulach and Schaffhouse have been suspended until further notice. Buses have been arranged for areas where there is now no rail service.

 

SBB personnel, wearing fluorescent safety vests and helmets, were milling around the site, checking the damaged carriages. SBB said it had secured the tipped cars so they would not topple over completely. Equipment, including a railway crane, was brought to the scene to put the carriages back on the rails.

 

The Swiss are Europe’s top rail users, and their network is normally envied abroad for safety and quality. But a number of accidents have blemished that reputation.

 

In a dramatic incident last August, a landslide derailed a passenger train in the Swiss mountains, on a popular tourist route between the upscale Alpine resort of St Moritz and the eastern city of Chur.

 

One carriage plunged into a ravine and terrified passengers packed into the rear of another carriage to use their weight to prevent it tipping over the edge. Around a dozen people were hurt and one man later died of his injuries.

 

In Jul 2013, two passenger trains collided at a station in western Switzerland, killing one of the drivers and leaving 35 injured.

 

Switzerland counts 122 kilometres of rail lines on average for every 1,000 square kilometres – compared to only 46 kilometres on average in the neighbouring European Union. One million of Switzerland’s eight million people use the rails every day.

Courtesy of Channel NewsAsia

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40 hurt in 2 San Francisco bus, train crashes, USA

A San Francisco transit bus and a commuter train crashed into trucks minutes apart Friday, injuring 40 people and sending more than 20 of them to the hospital, authorities said.

A San Francisco Municipal Railway bus and a dump truck collided at 1:29 p.m. in the Japantown neighborhood, leaving the bus with a smashed windshield. Twenty people were examined at the scene and a dozen of them went to hospitals, including one with serious injuries, fire spokeswoman Jennifer Balestrieri said. Five had moderate injuries and six minor injuries. All of the injured were bus passengers, Municipal Transportation Agency spokesman Paul Rose said. The two drivers weren’t hurt.

Less than 10 minutes later, a Muni light-rail train collided with a tractor-trailer in the Bayview neighborhood. The train was derailed but its two cars remained upright.

Television reports showed the truck cab and trailer sitting at right angles, with the train squeezed between and its front pushed up against the cab.

Nine people were taken to hospitals with minor and moderate injuries, and 11 others were examined but declined to be taken to a hospital, authorities said.

Investigators told the San Francisco Chronicle that the big rig made an illegal left turn. However, the driver was not immediately cited, Officer Albie Esparza said.

Light-rail passenger Robert Williams said he suffered neck and shoulder pain.

Williams told the Chronicle that the train was full of passengers and had been slowing down as it pulled into a stop.

“The next thing you know, I heard a loud screech and the train came to a sudden stop,” Williams said. “It was like an earthquake. Lots of people fell down.”

Both accidents were under investigation.

A San Francisco light-rail train crashed into another city light-rail train in July 2009, injuring 46 passengers and the operators of both vehicles. Federal investigators concluded that the driver of one of the trains had lost consciousness.

Also Friday, a light-rail train collided with a van in Seattle, injuring five people. A 6-year-old boy was taken to a children’s hospital in stable condition while the others went to a hospital with minor injuries, KOMO reported.

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Deadly train crash in South Korea

Train crashed, ferry accidents, shopping mall fires, South Korea had a hand full of issues recently reflecting the confidence in the travel and tourism industry to that country.

Korea has a very modern infrastructure, but today two passenger trains collided in South Korea on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring dozens, a hospital official and police said, in the latest in a string of accidents that has rattled the country.

A commuter train and a tourist train collided in Taebaek, a resort area about 200 km (125 miles) southeast of Seoul.More than 70 people had been injured, but declined to confirm any deaths.

South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, has developed into a vibrant and technically advanced democracy, but faces criticism that regulatory controls and safety standards have not kept pace.

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