Poland - various railway related incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[EBrown]

From BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Two trains have collided in southern Poland, leaving 14 people dead, local officials say, and 50 hurt.

The accident occurred on Saturday evening on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline at the small town of Szczekociny, according to Polish TV^▸ (Thames Valley, or TeleVision, depending on context).

Two express trains, one of which was on the wrong track, collided head-on, a senior railway official said.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived at the scene early on Sunday morning, with three other cabinet ministers.

"This appears to be one of the most serious railway accidents in recent years," Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak told the TVN24 news channel.

Some passengers remain trapped in the wreckage, police say. Helicopter ambulances from Warsaw and Wroclaw are helping to take the injured to hospitals.

"The rescue is difficult and complicated," firefighter Jaroslaw Wojtasik told Polish television.

"The damage to the wagons is huge. We have contact with victims. We are approaching very cautiously."

Engineering works
The accident occurred at 21:15 (20:15 GMT), when a train travelling north from Przemysl to Warsaw collided with a southbound train from Warsaw to Krakow.

Scheduled engineering works were taking place on one track at Szczekociny station at the time of the accident.

The Krakow train was on the wrong track, Andrzej Pawlowski, a member of the board of the state railway company PKP, told the TV station TVN24.

Three coaches are reported to be especially damaged, and the rescue operation is focusing on finding passengers there.

The three coaches were "completely destroyed - like a concertina", one eyewitness told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.

Another passenger estimated that his train was travelling about 120km/h (75 mph), when it started braking very sharply.

"Then we felt a powerful impact, and we were thrown about the compartment," the passenger told TVN24.

[Brucey]

Some truly horrific pictures on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17251105

My parents travelled on a Krakow-Warsaw service just over a week ago.  Brings the story much closer to home...

[JayMac]

This cyclist in Poland is very lucky not to have been a Darwin Award winner. Definitely in line though for a Darwin At-Risk Survivor nomination:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EWfUKqEGiU#nf

Miraculously he survived with just a few bruises. Half a second earlier onto the crossing and he would have been a very messy hood ornament.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/30344428/polish-cyclist-shockingly-smashes-into-high-speed-train-and-survives/

[Bob_Blakey]

Given the circumstances, could I be correct in concluding that this individual is (was?) a member of the 'IQ roughly equivalent to room temperature' group of cyclists who believe that listening to music via headphones while riding is a really good idea.

[BerkshireBugsy]

Given the circumstances, could I be correct in concluding that this individual is (was?) a member of the 'IQ roughly equivalent to room temperature' group of cyclists who believe that listening to music via headphones while riding is a really good idea.

I saw that on the news last week and agree with you Bob Blakey

[basset44]

Hi All,

Has we sit most days, engrossed in our paper , phones , you wouldn't want to see this happen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36279898

Lucky no one hurt.

Basset

[Bmblbzzz]

Oh dear. Well done that driver.

It's not clear why the lorry is on the tracks but it seems to be "trapped" between the two barriers. There's no other traffic and it's clearly not a busy road so I presume either it's broken down, there was a crossing malfunction which caused the barriers to suddenly descend without warning or most likely the lorry driver ignored the signals and tried to get across the track as the barriers were coming down. I'm afraid that would not be an uncommon example of Polish driving (though more typical of cars and buses than lorries). 

[Puffing Billy]

According to a report on the website of "Radio Eska", the owner of the lorry claims that his driver has been stitched up, and the train driver had plenty of time to sound the horn and to brake. He also claims that the level crossing was faulty (he does not expand on this). As to the "heroism" of the driver in making his dash down the train, he likens this to a car driver diving into the back seat instead of staying up front with his foot on the brake. Something tells me that the courts will be slightly under-impressed!

[JayMac]

The only thing the lorry owner hasn't asked is why didn't the train swerve out the way! 

[Bmblbzzz]

I can well believe that the level crossing was faulty but the rest of it...

[Bmblbzzz]

A freight train was hijacked in the early hours of this morning (Thursday) while stationary in Legionowo, a town in the Warsaw region. The hijacker knocked on the locomotive door wanting to be let in but the driver refused. He then climbed on the roof, fell off (the report says he might have been electrocuted but it doesn't mention any injuries), then smashed the window, injuring the driver, and climbed into the cab. He threatened the driver with a "dangerous object" and forced him to drive off. The driver informed the signaller over the radio that he was moving, the train was directed into a siding and after about 1.5km the driver said he had to stop the train or they'd derail. The would-be hijacker ran off towards the station and was caught by police. No motive is given or speculated at but it does say he is being held in hospital having had blood tests for drugs and alcohol. He faces a potential jail sentence of up to eight years.

Report here, but it's in Polish so you'll just have to take my word for it : http://metrowarszawa.gazeta.pl/metrowarszawa/7,141637,22370472,wdarl-sie-do-lokomotywy-zastraszyl-maszyniste-i-porwal-pociag.html#Czolka3Img

[ChrisB]

numpties in Poland then too....

[grahame]

Report here, but it's in Polish so you'll just have to take my word for it : http://metrowarszawa.gazeta.pl/metrowarszawa/7,141637,22370472,wdarl-sie-do-lokomotywy-zastraszyl-maszyniste-i-porwal-pociag.html#Czolka3Img

Or we could read Google Translate ;-)

On Thursday at 4:20 in the morning the Legionowo police received a report of the incident. To the locomotive of the freight train with 23 Gdansk-Pruszków coaches, who stopped at the Legionowo-Przystanek station, a man ran up. He started banging on the cockpit.

The driver did not want to let him in, the 35-year-old climbed onto the roof of the locomotive, and was most likely shocked by the current, falling from her. But it did not cool his enthusiasm, the man probably stoned the glass and broke in.

He threatened a dangerous object

As reported in the talk with Metrowarszawa.gazeta.pl podkom. Emilia Kuligowska from the Legion's command, 35-year-old from the province. Świętokrzyski threatened the driver with his death. He had a dangerous item with him - it was a stone.

The aggressor ordered the driver to continue. The radio reported the traffic on the line. The train was directed to the side track. About 1.5 km behind the station, the driver told the 35-year-old that he was not going because he was threatening to derail the train.

On drugs?

Then the man jumped out of the locomotive, ran to the track just before another train approached and escaped to the platforms of Legionowo-PKP Główny.

But the police were waiting for him there. Officers took the 35-year-old, was aggressive. He was taken to a hospital in Warsaw where his blood was examined for the presence of drugs and alcohol.

The driver was slightly injured

Illegal deprivation of liberty has been instituted, the threat of predetermined behavior and the direct threat of land disasters have been initiated. For all this, a 35-year-old can threaten up to eight years in prison.

The detainee stays in the hospital. The mechanic was slightly injured in the hands after pushing the windshield.

"Operation of the nightly service in Legionowo according to the procedure" - wrote in a statement Karol Jakubowski from PKP Polish Railway Lines. The PKP Polish Railway Lines service keeps in touch with the train drivers on the rail network in accordance with established procedures around the clock. This gives the opportunity for rapid response when police or rescue services are needed, "he added.

[Bmblbzzz]

That's not a bad translation for a machine!  Except it obviously has no concept of the passive voice (see the third from last paragraph), which inverts the meaning, and the original says the "dangerous object" might have been a stone, not definitely was.

[broadgage]

Hopefully this was a lone person suffering from poor mental health, or from drugs or alcohol misuse, and was hopefully not part of any wider conspiracy.