Just saw this on the news, a Via train derails, engine rolls over & at least 1 car hit a building. Here's a news link. http://www.usatoday.com/video/1475263369001?csp=taboola
Saw about two seconds on local TV. Then they decided a commercial was more important. Hoping for details or something.
Other news sources.... http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/26/burlington-train-derailed/ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/26/viarail-toronto.html
Wow. Some of those comments readers are posting at the linked sites are utterly ridiculous and even reprehensible.
We do know that three engineers are dead and a fourth was injured plus numerous others injured. http://news.yahoo.com/officials-3-dead-canadian-train-derailment-232634214.html
Looks like F40PH-2 #6404 from the blurry and shaky video. Rolled over and right off its trucks. I see one of the loco's trucks in the footage but not the other. Two engineers and one trainee were killed in the loco. There were about 75 passengers aboard, a few seriously injured and airlifted to hospital. One of the cars rolled over right into a building, peeling off the roof, according to reports.
Terrible. What a horrible way to go. If they were crossing over, it tells me they were going to fast as they hit the switch. But cab signals should have restricted they're speed enough to get them thru. It might have been rough, but it shouldn't have rolled over. Courious to hear the report.
Another update, with info from the TSB: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/high-speed-caused-deadly-train-derailment-west-toronto-150612550.html According to the TSB, the train was going 67 mph through the switches, while the limit for changing tracks at that location is 15 mph.
The problem is that unlike aircraft, locomotives don't have a voice recorder to record conversations in the cab. They can't know what was going on in the cab because the whole crew was killed. The trainee could have been in control, or they could have been distracted by something or other. The trainee was experienced with freight trains, but had no experience with passenger trains. And how could all three miss the signals to slow down? According to the black box, brakes were not even applied. In any case, it's a sad event because good people were killed.
