- Joined
- Nov 18, 2004
- Messages
- 23,993
- Reaction score
- 4,017
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 69
- My Satellite Setup
- Has gone to a good home elsewhere
- My Location
- Blackburn, Lancashire
Dozens Killed In Magnetic Train Crash Friday September 22, 04:48 PM Sky News
Fifteen people have died after a high-speed magnetic train came off a test track in Germany. The Transrapid train hit a vehicle and came off the tracks in the town of Lathen around 09:05 British time. Prosecutor Alexander Retemeyer said 15 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of the train so far. Officials say 10 more people are injured.
A spokesman for IABG, which oversees the track, said the train crashed head-on with a maintenance vehicle.
He said the accident was "not caused by a technical failure" and was "the result of human error".
The train was travelling at nearly 200 kph (125 mph) when the collision took place.
There were 29 passengers on board the train, which is being used four days a week on the 32-kilometre test track between Doerpen and Lathen, near the Dutch border.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is reported to be travelling to the crash site.
Magnetic levitation trains use powerful magnets to float the trains just above the tracks, allowing them to glide along without friction.
The accident is another blow to hopes for the magnetic-levitation technology, which can carry people at speeds of up to 270 miles per hour, after a fire on one such train in Shanghai.
Fifteen people have died after a high-speed magnetic train came off a test track in Germany. The Transrapid train hit a vehicle and came off the tracks in the town of Lathen around 09:05 British time. Prosecutor Alexander Retemeyer said 15 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of the train so far. Officials say 10 more people are injured.
A spokesman for IABG, which oversees the track, said the train crashed head-on with a maintenance vehicle.
He said the accident was "not caused by a technical failure" and was "the result of human error".
The train was travelling at nearly 200 kph (125 mph) when the collision took place.
There were 29 passengers on board the train, which is being used four days a week on the 32-kilometre test track between Doerpen and Lathen, near the Dutch border.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is reported to be travelling to the crash site.
Magnetic levitation trains use powerful magnets to float the trains just above the tracks, allowing them to glide along without friction.
The accident is another blow to hopes for the magnetic-levitation technology, which can carry people at speeds of up to 270 miles per hour, after a fire on one such train in Shanghai.
