Stopping a runaway train.

[ac6000cw]

Yes but gravity (among other things) is on your side on the railway.

....and it's guided by the rails, and if it's an electric train the power supply can be turned off (which was always the silly bit about the subway train in the film 'Speed'....)

 

[Railsigns]

You know what I mean. A take over of an aircraft. Nothing to stop the same thing happening on a train or a rogue driver.

Never happened yet and I doubt very much it will

It might have happened at Moorgate on 28 February 1975. No-one knows for certain.

 

[edwin_m]

Yes but gravity (among other things) is on your side on the railway.

For that reason and various others, most impacts of aircraft with the ground are non-survivable. Whereas in almost all train derailments and collisions, most of the people on board will survive.

 

[satisnek]

It might have happened at Moorgate on 28 February 1975. No-one knows for certain.

Have to admit that I never saw any parallels between this recent plane crash and the Moorgate disaster, but it's a very good point.

However, they've now 'got something' on the co-pilot but the actions of the Moorgate driver could never be explained.

Thankfully the odds of having a nutjob at the controls of a plane or train are about as slim as winning the lotto jackpot.

 

[ComUtoR]

Thankfully the odds of having a nutjob at the controls of a plane or train are about as slim as winning the lotto jackpot.

Odd of winning are 1 in 13,983,815 How many train journeys are made per year ? In the UK ? Worldwide ?

Since 1994 the lotto has created over 3000 millionaires.

In my experience Million to one chances happen nine times out of ten

 

[bramling]

Have to admit that I never saw any parallels between this recent plane crash and the Moorgate disaster, but it's a very good point.

However, they've now 'got something' on the co-pilot but the actions of the Moorgate driver could never be explained.

Thankfully the odds of having a nutjob at the controls of a plane or train are about as slim as winning the lotto jackpot.

I think the general feeling is that Moorgate *probably* wasn't deliberate, although we will never know for sure. As we saw at Great Heck, sometimes the set of circumstances will all come together to produce the most unfortunate outcome.

Although the exact same situation at Moorgate will not be replicated as Tube trains no longer approach that particular dead-end, it's worth noting that alrhough measures were taken on oth British Rail and London Transport to prevent an accidental over-run, little was done to prevent a deliberate act. Changes in rolling stock design have reduced this risk on London Transport over the 40 years since Moorgate, but it's still not fully eliminated.

Not something worth losing too much sleep over though, as there are ways to stop a train for those in the know.

 

[edwin_m]

Odd of winning are 1 in 13,983,815 How many train journeys are made per year ? In the UK ? Worldwide ?

Since 1994 the lotto has created over 3000 millionaires.

In my experience Million to one chances happen nine times out of ten

Approximately 1 billion in the UK. According to a random google about 3 billion passenger journeys are made workdwide by air each year, and the stories on the BBC etc suggest that pilot may have deliberately crashed their planes about every five years in recent history. As I'm not aware of anything like this on UK rail since (perhaps) Moorgate, it appears UK train drivers are less likely than pilots to crash deliberately.