German (Transrapid) magnetic train derails, killing one...

[DRoseDARs]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15581822.htm

German magnetic train derails, killing 1
DAVID McHUGH
Associated Press

BERLIN - A high-speed magnetic train derailed on a test track in northwestern Germany Friday, killing one person and injuring up to 25 others, some of them seriously, police said. The accident is another blow to hopes for the magnetic-levitation technology, which can carry people at speeds of up to 270 mph.

The Transrapid magnetic train went off the tracks in the town of Lathen at around 10:05 a.m. local time (4:05 a.m. EDT), police spokesman Helge Nestler said.

"The magnetic levitation train is hanging halfway off" the track, Nestler said, adding that passengers were still inside.

Nestler gave the number of injured as 25, while another regional police department said 21 people were hurt.

German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee postponed a trip to China to get a firsthand look at the accident site, spokesman Dirk Inger said.

Magnetic-levitation trains use electrically charged magnets to cause the trains to hover just above the tracks, allowing them to glide along without friction. Trains can reach 270 mph on the 20-mile test track.

The technology has been around for years but so far has not caught on as conventional train networks have expanded steadily.

The technology's image was not helped by a fire that broke out in an electrical storage compartment aboard Shanghai's magnetic-levitation train as it was headed toward the city's international airport Aug. 11, generating large amounts of smoke but causing no injuries.

The Shanghai system is the world's only commercially operating maglev train. Officials are studying the possibility of a line between Munich and the city's airport.

Not only did it kill someone (possibly others from their injuries), but detractors will certainly use this to make falacious comparisons to other trainwrecks, saying this technology is FAR more dangerous than regular trains or airliners. I hope the planners of several Transrapid-based projects have enough sense in their heads to not fall for false arguments about its safety.

[BeBMan]

Yeah, just read about his too

I also read the train derailed after running into a waggon used for technical work on the line, but how exactly that could happen is not known currently....

[Eli]

From one to twenty one.

[DanS]

Yikes. 15 bodies plus 6 unaccounted for.

[Sandman]

Ah. That's maglevs dead then.

[ajbera]

It depends on your definition of "safe." I'm sure maglevs would have fewer disastrous incidents, but those incidents would probably kill more people.

[Adagio]

Heard on the radio shortly after the accident

[Victor Galis]

So much for trains continuing to be frequently used in the future Even in Europe, with current high speed trains, I could find no way to justify taking a train from Paris to Amsterdam. Not only does it take 6 hours, it costs more than flying. Only faster trains can seriously compete with the airlines

[LordShiva]

The train was driverless, and hence couldn't see the wagon on the line. The technology itself isn't unsafe.

[KrazyHorse]

At 270 mph it doesn't matter if you can see something on the line

[DRoseDARs]

Updated article; Jesus...

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15581822.htm

Germany train crash kills at least 25
IMKE ZIMMERMANN
Associated Press

LATHEN, Germany - A high-speed magnetic train traveling at nearly 125 mph crashed Friday in northwestern Germany, killing at least 25 people in the first fatal wreck involving the high-tech system, officials said.

The train, which runs primarily as a demonstration by its manufacturer, was carrying at least 29 people when it struck a maintenance vehicle with carrying two workers on the elevated track. Mangled wreckage hung from the 13-foot-high track, with seats and other debris strewn below.

Police spokesman Martin Ratermann put the death toll at 25 after a search of the crash site, about a half-mile from the station at the village of Melstrup. Officials also reported 10 people were injured but they did not immediately reconcile the discrepancy in the numbers.

The train runs four days a week on the 20-mile test track between Doerpen and Lathen near the Dutch border. The maintenance car was regularly used to check and clear the elevated tracks of branches and other debris.

Chancellor Angela Merkel flew to the site, saying her thoughts were with the victims and their relatives.

"I want to show that I am with them," she said.

The passengers were believed to be employees and their friends and relatives.

"The magnetic levitation train is hanging halfway off" the track, said Helge Nestler, a police official. Firefighters used ladders to reach the injured.

It was Germany's worst rail disaster since 1998, when 101 people died as an InterCityExpress derailed and smashed into a bridge near the northern town of Eschede in the country's deadliest train crash.

Rudolf Schwarz, a spokesman for IABG, which oversees the track, said the accident was the result of human error.

The train was manufactured by Transrapid International, a joint company of Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp AG. The track is operated by Munich-based IABG mostly as an exhibition aimed at showing off Germany's advanced maglev technology, which has been led by ThyssenKrupp AG and Siemens AG.

Tourists can sometimes ride the train for fun, but otherwise it is primarily used for selling Germany's maglev technology.

Kevin Coates, a technology consultant in Maryland and former spokesman for Transrapid, said there has never been a maglev crash.

Magnetic-levitation trains use powerful magnets to float the trains just above the tracks, allowing them to glide along without friction. Trains can reach 270 mph on the 20-mile test track.

The technology has been around for years but so far has not caught on as conventional train networks have expanded steadily. Concerns include the amount of electricity the trains use at high speed and the precision with which the tracks must be built.

The technology's image was not helped by a fire that broke out in an electrical storage compartment aboard Shanghai's magnetic-levitation train as it was headed toward the city's international airport Aug. 11, generating large amounts of smoke but causing no injuries.

The Shanghai system is the world's only commercially operating maglev train. Officials are studying the possibility of a line between Munich and its airport.

Japan has been experimenting for years with a high-speed maglev line that has clocked a world-record top speed of 361 mph. However, there is no target date for commercial use of the technology.

[Dis]

[DRoseDARs]

I don't know if the Primm-Las Vegas project is still active, but I'd guess its chances are even slimmer now. The California project(s) may weather this, though I suspect the east coast ones are likewise shakier.

[Dis]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
I don't know if the Primm-Las Vegas project is still active, but I'd guess its chances are even slimmer now. The California project(s) may weather this, though I suspect the east coast ones are likewise shakier.

yep, my first thoughts on this news as well. It was a shaky project to begin with.

I had heard plans on putting an international airport out there, and having everyone get into town via high speed train. As our airport is near capacity right now.

And they still talk of a high speed train from Anaheim to Las Vegas. I just don't see it happening.

[Tattila the Hun]

Oh bloody hell, there have been crashes from the conception of the idea of railroads, aeroplanes still go down frequently, and cars kill horrendous amounts of people every year.

And people still fly, drive or ride in a train.

I'll be sad if this hampers progress...