Mexico: railway services and incidents - merged posts

[whole diary]

[broadgage]

News reports state.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-56977129

Pictures from the scene show collapse of Metro overpass whilst a train was on it, many lives lost both on the train and crushed under the fallen structure.
Early reports suggest that structural failure was the cause, rather than the collapse being the result of a railway accident.

WARNING the above link contains contains images from the scene which some might consider inappropriate, but as these are already in the public domain I saw no harm in quoting.

[broadgage]

Slightly later reports suggest that the structure may have been damaged in an earthquake a few years ago, cracks had been reported.
No reports of any earthquake at the time of the accident.

Most of the dead and injured have been removed from the remains of the train, but is feared that there may be more casualties  under the collapsed structure, either pedestrians or occupants of vehicles.

One video from the scene shows a survivor being carried down a ladder by firefighters, and others being treated at the scene for various injuries.

At least one (not very clear) video on youtube shows the actual collapse, most others show show the immediate aftermath and the rescue efforts.

[stuving]

There is an initial report on this from DNV*. The report itself is of course in Spanish (though I suspect it was written in English and translated!), but has loads of pictures and some sense can be made of those using the NYT report. The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) has a report, but that link comes courtesy of the NY Times, which has a more detailed report. Basically, it was shoddy construction:

MEXICO CITY — Construction errors led to the May collapse of an overpass in Mexico City’s subway system that killed 26 people and injured scores more, according to the preliminary results of an independent investigation released by the city’s government on Wednesday.

The report, produced by the Norwegian risk management company DNV, suggests that serious problems with the welding and placement of metal studs, linchpins of the entire structure, directly contributed to the collapse.

“We can preliminarily state that the incident was caused by a structural failure,” the report said, citing “deficiencies in the construction process.”

The results support the findings of a New York Times investigation that highlighted shoddy construction on the metro line. Some of the studs holding the structure together appeared to have failed because of bad welds, The Times found, a crucial mistake that probably caused the overpass to give way.

A Times investigation shows the serious construction flaws and political pressure behind a tragedy that threatens two of Mexico’s most prominent figures.

Engineers consulted by The Times pointed to the presence of ceramic rings, or ferrules, left in place after the welding process, and to irregularly placed studs as evidence of subpar workmanship — findings that were confirmed by the DNV investigation.

Its report documented a “failure to remove the protective ceramic” around the studs, which “reduced the area of adhesion” with the concrete that held up the tracks. Too few studs were used to fuse the structure together, and their placement was inconsistent, something that “contradicts the design” of the overpass, the report said, echoing another finding of the Times investigation.

* DNV are the "Norwegian Lloyds", and originally a ship classification society and shipping registrar. Having broadened their techinical field of operations (to railway infrastructure, but not only that) there don't seem to be any good labels for their current business. So the BBC call them "auditor", the NY Times says "risk management company" - maybe "Like Veritas" is as good as anything!

[Surrey 455]

Railway Gazette and Railtech.com are reporting that several Intercity 125's are on their way to Mexico to be used on a new high speed railway.

From Railway Gazette

Three withdrawn ex-British Rail IC125 High Speed Train diesel power cars and 11 MkIII coaches were shipped from Great Yarmouth in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) onboard the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Arkhangelsk on August 9; the ship called at Castellón in Spain on August 16, and in late August was crossing the Atlantic towards Corpus Christi in Texas.

According to sources in Mexico, the vehicles have been acquired from UK leasing company Angel Trains by Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec. The navy-owned company owns the trans-isthmus rail corridor linking the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico which is being rehabilitated under Tren Interoceánico programme. The operator has been seeking rolling stock for use on planned passenger services.

Angel Trains told Railway Gazette International that it would not comment on a commercial matter.

Those are the only two websites I can see covering this story, I can't see anything on the mainstream news sites.

[stuving]

The Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec does seem more likely than the Tren Maya as a destination. Both are pet projects of AMLO's, and scheduled to start running this year and be complete next year. Tren Maya was, I suspect, suggested earlier because more people had heard of it. But it has a fleet of new passenger trains being built by Alstom, of which the first have already been delivered. They are barely high speed, at 160 km/hr, but the project certainly is by British standards  - over 1,500 route km of new and rebuilt lines to be built in less than five years.

The Interoceánico is really an Atlantic-Pacific freight link, but passenger services were promised in what looks like a political gesture. But there's been no order of new trains, so something is needed to fulfil that promise. And this line is even less high speed - 100 km/hr, and less for freight.

[grahame]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Retired trains set for new life abroad

Shipments of retired UK^▸ (United Kingdom) trains are poised to set sail from Great Yarmouth for Africa and Central America where they will return to passenger service.

Train enthusiasts gathered to see the InterCity 125 cars and carriages taken through the town with a police escort and loaded at the Norfolk port.

Some of the trains had recently been in service with Cross Country and Great Western Railway - before their final journey by rail from Ely to Great Yarmouth.

James Steward, a director of Eastern Rail Services, said: “They’ve got a lot of life left in them."

[grahame]

From the Mail Online

A woman was killed in horrific circumstances when she was hit by a vintage steam train when it arrived in a small town en route from Canada.

The unnamed victim was standing up on a small hill, posing for a selfie, when she was struck by a locomotive known as  The Empress, on June 4.

The young woman, 25, is surrounded by other enthusiastic people welcoming the train but unfortunately, she gets a step closer than the rest, resulting in the accident. It happened in the town of Nopala de Villagran, 60 miles northwest of Mexico City.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Sad - but avoidable. 

[TaplowGreen]

"The" Empress?

[broadgage]

Sad - but avoidable. 

Indeed, a potential Darwin award ?