"The two trains collided head-on, causing large damage to them..."
Head-on train collisions in a country with world class infrastructure like Denmark are incredibly rare. Modern European railways have multiple automated safety systems and emergency brakes designed specifically to prevent two trains from ever occupying the same track at the same time.
For a catastrophic crash like this to actually happen, there had to be a massive, multi level failure of both the digital signaling systems and the human oversight.
It is absolutely terrifying that every single redundant failsafe somehow missed this. Hoping the critically injured passengers pull through and make a full recovery.
40
cinyar2 days ago
+13
ETCS (and similar systems) are generally only put on main corridors, this seems to be like a local line.
13
Front_State64061 day ago
+1
It is indeed a very small local line. Vital but small. Source: i live 10 minutes from it
1
thedancingchain1 day ago
+1
From what I understand ETCS and ATC are mandatory for railway traffic in Denmark. For these two systems to fail simultaneously is nearly impossible. This seems like tragic oversight from operators.
Source: I’m a railway technician in Sweden
1
Fywq2 days ago
+5
There's definitely a lot of work to do now to figure out what went wrong. Authorities have stated it is far too early to say anything about the cause, but they are gathering technical evidence from the scene and will also gather all available data from systems as well as interview people.
It's a local train which is operated by a smaller local operator with only one track for trains going in both directions, where trains typically pass each other at stations where an extra track is available for the purpose. This also means (my personal thought) that either a signal was wrong, was ignored or was missed for both the trains to be heading out on the same section of the track. Some passengers have reported signal errors on the same line several times over the past few weeks, but authorities have yet to confirm anything.
One man that was on one of the trains and have been interviewed mentions that the train was going high speed when it happened, indicating to me that the operator in that train either had no time to react or was somehow not capable of doing so when the train came from the opposite direction. There has been reports that at least one of the trains had hit the brakes prior to collision.
One of the trains is completely squashed at the front. Fingers crossed for the operators. Looks like it could be some really bad injuries they suffered.
Liveblog from Danish National Radio/Television here: [Større togulykke på Gribskovbanen | Indland | DR](https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/stoerre-togulykke-paa-gribskovbanen)
5
Consistent-Bad12612 days ago
+2
Could you tell me which line it was?
2
Fywq2 days ago
+4
It's called "Gribskovbanen"
4
BritishAnimator2 days ago
+5
Reminds me of the "2018 Rome Metro accident**"** when an escalator sped up and crushed a load of football fans at the bottom. They have multiple failsafes on them too.
5
SeparatedI1 day ago
-1
I love in Copenhagen and I think this incident will have a huge impact. The entire Metro system operates without human drivers here.
-1
BitterAd92271 day ago
+1
This is not comparable to the metro system, not even the slightest
1
Substantial-Equal-622 days ago
-6
barely two or three months ago, two high speed trains crashed head on in spain, leaving about 50 dead and hundreds injured. There is still no official answer as to what happened, but most probably it was due to corruption.
-6
AndyHCA2 days ago
+7
They didn't crash head on. One train derailed due to broken rail and the derailed rear carriages were struck by a train running on another track.
7
Substantial-Equal-622 days ago
-4
Ah sorry, ill edit my comment: barely two or three months ago, two high speed trains crashed in spain, leaving about 50 dead and hundreds injured. There is still no official answer as to what happened, but most probably it was due to corruption.
-4
Migasand2 days ago
-4
The thing about safety systems is that they are like slices of Swiss cheese. One alone is full of holes, but if you overlap several of them, then hopefully the holes will not overlap. This, unfortunately, means that something can still happen (albeit unlikely) if conditions that no one has foreseen before coincide.
-4
jfdirfn2 days ago
+7
It isnt clear in the article but these local trains in Denmark operate on a single line with the trains passing each other at the stations where there is a short section with two lines. For the accident to happen, two trains must have entered the single line.
7
Fuckkoff-2 days ago
+1
I'm fed up with those absolutely meaningless statements from politicians about condolences etc. That has nothing to the do with what happened. You could ask literally anybody and they would say the same.
Now, if he had said that he couldn't be bothered by it because he had more important things to do, that might be newsworthy
18 Comments