Scooter on the tracks

[The postiepat]

Sorry if this has been discussed l couldn’t see it anywhere I’m surprised the 3rd rail didn’t trip out as a short circuit? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-60571022

A fire broke out at a railway station after a group of youths reportedly threw a scooter on to the tracks causing an electrical fault, police have said.

British Transport Police (BTP) and firefighters were called to St Denys station in Southampton at 20:25 GMT on Monday.

BTP said the item was recovered but, despite a search of the area, the youths were not found.

Local resident Helen Trimarco Ransome said: "It sounded like a bomb had gone off."

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Words fail me....

 

[JKF]

Presuming it was a petrol scooter and the fire was caused by the fuel igniting?

 

[1955LR]

Presuming it was a petrol scooter and the fire was caused by the fuel igniting?

Looks like a battery burning to me .

 

[Ediswan]

Looked to me like electrical arcing was making a contribution.

 

[swt_passenger]

Sorry if this has been discussed l couldn’t see it anywhere I’m surprised the 3rd rail didn’t trip out as a short circuit? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-60571022

It won’t normally trip.

Unless a metallic object happens to make a perfect connection, there‘ll never be enough current drawn to operate the supply trips. A couple of full length DC powered EMUs in a section will draw thousands of amps, and the instantaneous trip values have to be set somewhat higher than the normal current drawn anyway.

 

[fgwrich]

Looks like a battery burning to me .

Reported elsewhere as being one of these E-Scooters. The BBC seems to have forgetting that bit!

 

[edwin_m]

It won’t normally trip.

Unless a metallic object happens to make a perfect connection, there‘ll never be enough current drawn to operate the supply trips. A couple of full length DC powered EMUs in a section will draw thousands of amps, and the instantaneous trip values have to be set somewhat higher than the normal current drawn anyway.

One of the advantages of the 25kV system is that the fault current is way higher than the normal current so it's easy to detect and trip the supply. Although it's quite capable of killing someone in the short time before that happens.

 

[Donny_m]

Presuming it was a petrol scooter and the fire was caused by the fuel igniting?

Little bit of petrol wouldn’t be shooting white light across a skyline. I’m not expert but I immediately assumed that was lithium burning.

 

[i4n]

We went through a spate of people throwing shopping trolleys onto the tracks in Folkestone for a few months a couple of years ago for some reason, guess it's a similar mindset of person that does that as does this. Sigh.

 

[Towers]

Unavoidable really I suppose, but I do fail to see the value in reporting this sort of thing, no doubt the morons responsible will be reveling in the coverage of their work

 

[Deafdoggie]

Reported elsewhere as being one of these E-Scooters. The BBC seems to have forgetting that bit!

The police have refused to comment on the type of scooter. But it is confirmed it is NOT one of the local hire e-scooters. The police have recovered the scooter, but still refuse to divulge any details.

 

[contrex]

A couple of full length DC powered EMUs in a section will draw thousands of amps, and the instantaneous trip values have to be set somewhat higher than the normal current drawn anyway.

I think Richard Catlow said on the uk.railway Usenet group that the substations put in for the Channel Tunnel related upgrades in the 1990s were set for a trip value of 6,800 amps.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Mar 2022 ==

We went through a spate of people throwing shopping trolleys onto the tracks in Folkestone for a few months a couple of years ago for some reason, guess it's a similar mindset of person that does that as does this. Sigh.

50 years ago it was bed springs. You never see them now.

 

[swt_passenger]

I think Richard Catlow said on the uk.railway Usenet group that the substations put in for the Channel Tunnel related upgrades in the 1990s were set for a trip value of 6,800 amps.

Yes, I have often seen figures quoted well upwards of 5000A.

Somewhat of a digression, but IIRC even on a relatively simple DC system such as the Tyne Wear Metro OHLE, instantaneous tripping currents of around 2000A are the norm, although I suspect (hope?) bikes and scooters rarely affect their OHLE. But they’ve had a few incidents where electrical faults have arisen that failed to cause the various protection measures to operate.

 

[contrex]

A problem with short circuit protection on DC schemes has always been telling apart a short, especially one distant from the substation, from a normal current demand, e.g. a heavy train starting. Set the breaker too sensitive and you risk stopping the job. I have seen recent work where techniques such as monitoring the rate of current change (DDL) and also the power control system knows if a train is in the section or not.

 

[mrcheek]

Did anyone else read the thread title and suddenly hear HP Baxxter screaming "SCOOTER ON THE TRAAAAAACKS!"?

No, just me then

 

[Bedwyn32]

It was not a e-scooter. Just a normal one.

 

[FOCTOC]

That's one way to get a rapid charge up I guess.

 

[njamescouk]

iirc aluminium will burn given enough encouragement? certainly a spectacular fire.

 

[dgl]

Did anyone else read the thread title and suddenly hear HP Baxxter screaming "SCOOTER ON THE TRAAAAAACKS!"?

No, just me then

Ha!, though Fire! would be just as relevent

 

[MattRat]

We went through a spate of people throwing shopping trolleys onto the tracks in Folkestone for a few months a couple of years ago for some reason, guess it's a similar mindset of person that does that as does this. Sigh.

Why would you throw away a perfectly good shopping trolley? They could have attached flanged wheels and rode it down the track instead.

The e-scooters I understand though. They are all death traps and should be destroyed.

 

[Deafdoggie]

The e-scooters I understand though. They are all death traps and should be destroyed.

It wasn't an escooter

 

[andrew749]

iirc aluminium will burn given enough encouragement? certainly a spectacular fire.

Indeed - if you remove the oxide layer, it can burn like magnesium