Train de-rails

[brapbrap]

a virgin train has de-railed.

Passengers are reported to be injured and trapped after a train derailed and slid down an embankment in Cumbria. Nine carriages were left on their side, with some "stuck up in the air", passengers said. Fire crews said it was thought there were "numerous injuries".
The Virgin train, the 1715 GMT service from London's Euston Station to Glasgow Central, came off the rails at Grayrigg near Kendal at 2015 GMT.
Passenger Caroline Thomson said there were "lots and lots walking wounded".
She said the train seemed to hit something before the derailment.
RAF helicopters, police and fire crews have been sent to the scene of collision, between Oxenholme and Tebay in the Lake District.
Cumbria Ambulance Service said six to eight people are feared to trapped in one of the carriages of the train which had about 180 people on board and was in Glasgow at 2154 GMT.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif There's some carriages stuck up in the air and some are just lying on their sides http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Ruth Colton, passenger


Michael Mulford from RAF Kinloss rescue centre said his crews were searching the carriages "systematically and are finding people injured in all sorts of places".
"What the helicopters are being used for at the moment will be casualty evacuation," he said.
"Three big hospitals are already on major standby and at least one other is ready to receive as well."
BBC executive Ms Thomson said: the train "did a sort of bump - and I was thinking don't worry this fine - but then the swaying became very dramatic.
"It suddenly appeared to hit something and then lurched very, very badly from side to side in a very dramatic way. This a very scary experience."
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42608000/gif/_42608455_cumbria1_oxen_map203.gif

The Pendolino tilting trains, which are built in Italy, have been introduced by Virgin over the last three years and have a top speed of 125 mph.
Network Rail said the line speed for the area where the crash took place was about 95 mph.
Another passenger, Ruth Colton, said: "I was just reading a book and it started to get really bumpy like we were being battered by heavy winds or something and then suddenly the carriage flipped over.
"Pretty much all of the carriages are off the track.

"The train seems to have fallen down an embankment and rolled...
"There's some carriages stuck up in the air and some are just lying on their sides. We all had to climb out the top of one of ours".
The British Transport Police is setting up a family liaison centre at Glasgow Central station for people worried about friends or relatives on the train.

[Barkseh2131]

Just been watching it on sky news, must be awful for their family tuning into the news and seeing that their trains crashed.

[:Hazel]

:o i wonder what the train hit :s

[brapbrap]

i was a train like that in the summer, virign one, it got hit by lightening and we had to geet a tube ype train to liverpool.

anyways yeah im not surprised they derailed, when they go round corners they proper slide to one side, its not safe really.

[Jamie!]

Im watching it on sky news now, tebay is in the middle of nowhere although next to the M6 motorway.. looks like a tragic accident :(

[brapbrap]

any fatalities yet?

im not saying that as if im excited, just worried.

[Jamie!]

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4372/42608909traindaylight2gx7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Suprised theres only been 1 killed because every carriage has came off the track and slid down the bank to the side of the track.

[velocity]

anyways yeah im not surprised they derailed, when they go round corners they proper slide to one side, its not safe really.

there made to do that, there records are almost perfect anyway ;s

[ebay]

sad to hear it

[brapbrap]

there made to do that, there records are almost perfect anyway ;s


i know there made to do that idiot, im just saying, if something slides to one side as bad as that, then obviously its going to affect balance.

i mean on the way to liverpool, coming out of watford junction, there is a massive bend, your practically on your side.

[ChrisMoyles]

1. Tragic accident
2. Dont know about any more fatalities
3. I never travel with Virgin, But by the sounds of what I have been hearing about corners and sliding to the side, this may give virgin bad rep?

I mean REAl bad rep

4. Richard Branson arrived at the scene at around 10:45 am this morning

[brapbrap]

surely they can report it for being pointless and get it removed?

[Kymux]

i was a train like that in the summer

wow whats it like to be a train

[brapbrap]

wow whats it like to be a train

LMAAAAAAO

i meant to say, i was on a train like that

[cocaine]

i mean on the way to liverpool, coming out of watford junction, there is a massive bend, your practically on your side.

i know where watford junction is

but ive never taken a train on it.

[ZL2.]

1. Tragic accident
2. Dont know about any more fatalities
3. I never travel with Virgin, But by the sounds of what I have been hearing about corners and sliding to the side, this may give virgin bad rep?

I mean REAl bad rep

4. Richard Branson arrived at the scene at around 10:45 am this morning
I dont think its going to give them a bad reputation if it was caused by the points on the track. You also have to keep in mind this is virgins first major incident since owning the franchise of the WCML, which is about 10 years... So they are doing very good tbh.



anyways yeah im not surprised they derailed, when they go round corners they proper slide to one side, its not safe really.

Well, the reason they slide to one side is because of the new high tech computers installed on the Virgin Voyagers and Pendolinos which make it safer for them to travel at higher speeds around bends then an average HST.

[Seacat]

lol the people who made these trains aren't just gonner be some university graduate in his first year or something. They'll be the best engineers that exist and I'm sure they'll take in to account the balance e.t.c. :p Plus they're probably controlled by computers, and although they can go wrong, I think it's fair to say they'll be the safest trains that exist. Richard Branson even said in a Press Conference earlier that they're well above the safety standards expected by law and cost a lot more to build as a result.


i know there made to do that idiot, im just saying, if something slides to one side as bad as that, then obviously its going to affect balance.

i mean on the way to liverpool, coming out of watford junction, there is a massive bend, your practically on your side.

It is a tragedy but everytime people see a train crash they assume that all trains are unsafe for some reason, when, if you look at it in context only 1 person has died on a train (lastnight) since 2002 (from technical/engineering faults anyway, of course a lot of people died on the tube trains but that was because of terrorist attacks). 1 out of 5 billion passengers. I'm not sure how many die from car crashes each year but I'm sure the odds aren't that good - so I'd say travelling by train is still the safest way to go.

[ZL2.]

lol the people who made these trains aren't just gonner be some university graduate in his first year or something. They'll be the best engineers that exist and I'm sure they'll take in to account the balance e.t.c. :p Plus they're probably controlled by computers, and although they can go wrong, I think it's fair to say they'll be the safest trains that exist.


I agree with you on that.

[GTA-Andy]

As someone actually from Cumbria with family from the Tebay rail area I can tell you now: This isn't serious Tebay as seen much much worse. Considering the state of Britain’s rail it's a wonder this doesn't happen more often, these Pendelinos cant even get to their maximum speed in Cumbria due to the poor state of the rail lines. I was insulted by Richard Branson describing the Greyrigg area as "The Sticks" though. Meh make a great airline end up with a naff train service :P

[ZL2.]

As someone actually from Cumbria with family from the Tebay rail area I can tell you now: This isn't serious Tebay as seen much much worse. Considering the state of Britain’s rail it's a wonder this doesn't happen more often, these Pendelinos cant even get to their maximum speed in Cumbria due to the poor state of the rail lines. I was insulted by Richard Branson describing the Greyrigg area as "The Sticks" though. Meh make a great airline end up with a naff train service :P
I wouldn't say a 'naff train service' IMO, I think virgin trains are one of the best and most reliable train operators, so far pendolino's and voyagers (I don't know about the hull pioneers) are the most advanced passenger trains in britain.

[GTA-Andy]

And compare them to any train service anywhere and our looks terrible. Woefully slow trains and badly maintained track, our rail service is nothing like it used to be.