Train crashes abound in Europe- What's up with that?

[Team Zen]

I find it incredible that this past month there have been three terrible train accidents in France, Spain, and today in Switzerland:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brétigny-sur-Orge_train_crash

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela_derailment

http://rt.com/news/trains-collide-switzerland-injuries-754/

How strange, how terrible! What are the odds? Hmmmmm...:suspicious:

[Flash]

Add in Canada, Quebec, Lac Mégantic to that

45 dead

a whole downtown destroyed

oïl pollution for miles around (i am talking in hundreds of miles)

[Team Zen]

That's right!! Yet another recent train tragedy...

[GaelVictor]

I was thinking the same..

The electronic back-up safety system didn't work in most cases, while they are pretty advanced and smart. Can Sun spot activity impact these electronics/sensors? Can the systems be hacked? I think the software runs on a server in a central location. There is also sensors and software running inside the trains.

[ParakeetMGP]

There was that 1st one (? (around the area of?) Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA) in April a week(?) after the Marathon Boston, Massachusetts Bombing. Yet? The Marathon Boston, Coverage was more important to over ride this other News to more Coverage. And also around the same time was also was in Hillsboro, Texas which had that Huge Fertilizer Plant Explosion. The Hillsboro, Texas Explosion had 2nd Priority over the News from that Train Commuter Rail Accident and this Train Accident just got ignored pretty much (It seems to me anyway), because of these other Bigger News Events.

I still never heard what caused it? (And then the Airliner Crashes also) :suspicious:

[Koyaanisqatsi]

stuxnet? wonder if there were any siemens software involved in any of these computer systems

[Tesseract]

Major train accidents in Pakistan and Russia as well, at the same time as the Canadian accident.

[ghostrider]

making people afraid to travel ...plane crash, train crash, bombings at marathons, shootings at schools, fear to be out and about ... preparing the minds for changes in the law concerning the way we travel ... member they need you to think you need them to make you feel secure ...you'll give up freedom for security and get neither ...

[Violet]

I rather found it odd that the Italian train - just like Spain's - was carrying pilgrims.

[Conaire]

I was just wondering the same thing today.
There was a bus crash today (July 29) in Southern Italy killing 28.


A bus crash killed 38 people and injured 18 after a bus plunged 25 metres off a viaduct in Italy.

Initial reports suggested the coach was travelling at speed and hit four or five cars before crashing over roadside barriers near Monteforte Irpino, east of Naples last night.

There were around 50 people on board, many of them children.

It was one of Italy's worst road accidents.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta, on an official trip to Athens, cancelled a private visit to the Acropolis.

He said: "It is a very sad day for Italy, what happened last night. There are no words for it, It is a huge tragedy."

A statement from motorway operator Autostrade per l'Italia said the coach appeared to have been travelling fast near slower-moving traffic, even though a lower speed limit had been clearly indicated.

Officials were examining onboard instruments and the guardrail on the A16 highway where the accident occurred to try to determine the cause of the crash.

As rescue services worked, the crushed wreckage of the coach lay on its side.

Bodies covered in white sheets were lined up on the road before being taken away by ambulances.

There was some initial confusion over the number of casualties but a police official said 38 people died in the accident.

A police official said 35 were killed immediately and another three died later in hospital.

Eighteen people, including a number who were travelling in cars struck by the coach, were injured.

Infrastructure Minister Maurizio Lupi said it was too early to say what may have caused the accident.

He said that there was no indication of technical problems with the bus, which had passed its annual inspection in March.

The driver was killed in the crash and an autopsy has been ordered on his body, officials said.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0729/465169-italy-coach-crash/

[Violet]

Spanish train driver has been acquitted (without bail) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23480803).

Swiss train driver was first missing but his (dead) body was later found (http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/990/Buitenland/article/detail/1677701/2013/07/30/Levenloze-lichaam-machinist-gevonden-in-Zwitserland.dhtml).

[Team Zen]

stuxnet? wonder if there were any siemens software involved in any of these computer systems

What's that?

[Robert J. Niewiadomski]

stuxnet? wonder if there were any siemens software involved in any of these computer systems

What's that?It's a computer virus designed (allegedly) by US Military to interrupt work of Iranian uranium enriching facilities. It was designed to attack siemens industraial-grade computers controlling automated factory-lines (and more). There are built-in accounts in such computers and many are left with factory passwords granting easy access for hackers. Many such computer systems control critical infrastructure too. Most are secure. But you have to factor in a human error. As usually :(

Stuxnet article from WiReD magazine with aditional links:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/with-stuxnet-did-the-u-s-and-israel-create-a-new-cyberwar-era/

EDIT:
My theory on probable cause of accidents (Quebec included) is natural phenomenon not an act of terrorism. Accidents happen. More or less often. If you look at frequency of accidents in different countries like orbital frequency of Solar System planets you could call those train crashes happening one after another, "an alignment". A nodes of those accidents frequencies happened to align closely in time. I would also factor in "human feelings" (love or anger) affecting things around us. Quebec crash was about transporting product of ecologically dubious affairs. People could feel bad about it and things gone wrong. I wonder what was the mental state of train passengers in Spain and Italy. Maybe it was hot. Everybody were angry at each other. Some bad news enraging people around. Have you ever noticed how things like to break when we are angry? Or in hurry? Collective, coherent feelings are powerful enough to co-create reality... That's the reason behind fear mongering :(

You can track various accidents (many of them) with google trends. It gives rough view of those frequencies. This is for "train crash":
http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=train+crash#q=train%20crash&cmpt=q
And this is summer, nothing happens look at that spike at the right side of graph. We have to factor in journalist striving for something to write about :(

Train accident in Baltimore, USA on May 28th, 2013 (have you heard about it?)
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/29/18561840-fire-rages-for-10-hours-after-baltimore-chemical-freight-train-crash?lite

Train accident in Neuhausen, Switzerland on January 10th, 2013 (have you heard about it?)
http://rt.com/news/trains-collide-northern-switzerland-696/

There is more of train crashes if you look closely at the google graph...

A summary of "Normal Accidents Theory"
http://www.hazardcards.com/research.php?aid=36
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_accident
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/accident/accident.pdf

Shortly: we live in a complex world (more than ever). Things happen. Deal with it ;)

[MorningSong]

One of the things that I am noticing about many of these accidents are that they are being blamed on the "automatic" mechanisms in their computer components that are not giving off the "right" signals, not causing the breaks to work, not tuning on the warning signals.... as well as the absence or lack of intervention of the human condutors to override the vehicles' actions.

Is it possible that we humans have become so confident in the artificial intelligence of our computerized world that we have become lazy and are just not paying attention?

[ParakeetMGP]

EDIT:
My theory on probable cause of accidents (Quebec included) is natural phenomenon not an act of terrorism. Accidents happen. More or less often. If you look at frequency of accidents in different countries like orbital frequency of Solar System planets you could call those train crashes happening one after another, "an alignment". A nodes of those accidents frequencies happened to align closely in time. I would also factor in "human feelings" (love or anger) affecting things around us. Quebec crash was about transporting product of ecologically dubious affairs. People could feel bad about it and things gone wrong. I wonder what was the mental state of train passengers in Spain and Italy. Maybe it was hot. Everybody were angry at each other. Some bad news enraging people around. Have you ever noticed how things like to break when we are angry? Or in hurry? Collective, coherent feelings are powerful enough to co-create reality... That's the reason behind fear mongering :(


I'm sure this is part of it. Yet, with many other factors as well. I get the Parody of this as while I have been a Watcher of "ICE ROAD TRUCKERS" on the HISTORY CHANNEL.

You can see each Driver (Like watching the Psychology in Parody) to when they try to get in a hurry and angry that they also get more problems by having "Break Downs".

Yet? What we see also is that the World Exponentially is trying to make modern changes so fast and not even understanding how it is effecting our other ways of Life, that it seems to be trying to change our own rhythm of Life so often. People now are getting Newer Cell Phones and Ipads :cell::typing::phone::dizzy::lazy: And people are trying now in our days to "Multitask" :juggle::moil: (Juggle) (Trying to keep up with the Fast Pace On Life).

[Conaire]

Just as I predicted - the Spanish Rail Horror last week would be used to smear train drivers in the media. Thomas Sheridan.

Le1E-qSwJLE

[Flash]

Well, as for the Québec train crash, where a town downtown was destroyed, 45 dead, the train was carrying oïl from the US, from fracking sources.

2 things are going on:

1. the train company may go bankcrupt in order not to pay, saying they have problems with their insurers

2. The most important: expert here say that the train was listed as carrying only oïl, but it cannot be true. Crude oïl does not lit and blow up the way it did. There had to be other chemicals that were transported or mixed with the oïl that made it behave strangely.
Samples of leaks, in the non burned out tanks and from the same company on other train track in another town have been taken and are being analysed.
There might have been illegal stuff going on. In which case the insurances would not pay out.

3. The Québec government is actually helping the people and paying the bills, in the millions, and suing US companies to the teeth. DAllas lawyers have taken the case in US and Canadian lawyers here.