Derailed Again

When it happened ten years ago, the Chinese Rail Authorities guaranteed that it would never happen again. They had at least ten good excuses as to why it did happen.

This one was only slightly elevated and few were killed.

All truth passes through 3 stages. First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted
as being self-evident.

Then came the big one.

Lucky it did not fall on a lot of people but plenty killed and injured. A whole slew of people have been fired from the Rail Authority Boards. And the latest bulletin is that it will never happen again. Guaranteed.

In this respect, passive safety, aiming at minimizing the consequences once an accident or incident does occur, has received much attention in recent years, especially in the European Union. The main research area of passive safety has been concentrated on vehicle crashworthiness, i.e. the structural capability of the carbody to protect passengers or crew following collisions. In this respect, two standards exist or are under completion in Europe that mainly cover longitudinal impacts.

With a few more of these Articulated buses we coulda had it made. And I coulda got the bus right around the corner
where I always got it. Auwe!

Vehicle derailment-worthiness, i.e. the capability of a vehicle to avoid collisions and/or overturning of vehicles following derailments, has not received much attention. Consequently, the vehicle behavior immediately following a derailment is not considered in any standard or in engineering practice. Specially falling off of an elevated platform like in Honolulu.

However we heard the Present Rail Party insists that it could never happen here. They guarantee it.