Accident in South Africa

[Peter Mugridge]

Does not sound good.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8635303.stm

And by "luxury train" this wouldn't be the "Blue Train" would it?

 

[jopsuk]

Appears to be this ultra-plush train

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Those pictures of the train on their website are fantastic; it is very unfortunate that this accident has happened.

That third picture on the scrolling sequence strikes a chord with me; my great grandfather was the man who went out there to supervise the construction of the Zambezi bridge.

 

[Railjet]

From news.com.au:

"Safety inspectors said the accident appeared to have happened as the train was changing from an electrical locomotive to Rovos Rail's emblematic steam engine.

"The rest of the train went into motion and ran away before the steam locomotive could be coupled, resulting in a derailment outside the Blue Train depot in Pretoria," the Railway Safety Regulator said."

Amazing if that is the case. The pictures seem to suggest it was travelling at speed.

 

[will1337]

Safety inspectors told AFP that it appeared the accident happened during the switch from an electric locomotive to the steam engine Rovos Rail sometimes uses to pull its carriages.

Sounds odd that there could be that much devastation then without another train hitting it as you'd assume that the carriages would be stationary. Looking at their site and prices it must be an incredibly luxury train!

 

[A60K]

Sounds odd that there could be that much devastation then without another train hitting it as you'd assume that the carriages would be stationary.

As the next sentence says, the carriages ran away during a loco change and derailed into a heap. A pretty elementary operating failure - something you might expect in the 1860s, not in 2010.

 

[will1337]

As the next sentence says, the carriages ran away during a loco change and derailed into a heap. A pretty elementary operating failure - something you might expect in the 1860s, not in 2010.

I did not see Railjet's post as I was composing mine and the link in the OP didn't mention this.

 

[A60K]

I did not see Railjet's post as I was composing mine and the link in the OP didn't mention this.

Ah, I see now, my apologies.

 

[WatcherZero]

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/822750-...way-train-passengers-told-jump-for-your-lives

"I screamed at the others to tell them to jump off," said Rohan Vos, managing director of the train company who was on board. "I jumped off while it was moving."

The passengers included 44 Americans, four each from France, South Africa and Britain, and three from Germany.

The Cape Town-Pretoria route costs between £1,000 and £2,000 per passenger for the two-day trip.