Chuck
09-22-2006, 09:43 AM
High-speed train went off test track; 1 body recovered, 18 believed dead (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14953396)
AP - Sept 22, 2006
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Shanghai_-_Maglev.jpg
Maglev like this one in Shanghai built by Siemens, ThyssenKrupp took at least 23 lives today.
LATHEN, Germany - A high-speed magnetic train carrying 29 people went off a test track in northwestern Germany on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring others in a new blow to hopes for magnetic-levitation technology. A town councilman said the number of dead was expected to rise substantially.
Trains using maglev technology can reach 270 mph, but it was not immediately clear how fast the train was traveling. One such train in Shanghai caught fire last month.
Most of the 29 people were in the front of the train when it crashed head-on with a maintenance wagon on the elevated track.
Hermann Broering, a member of the town council, said 10 people had been rescued and one dead body was recovered. As far as the 18 others were concerned, he said: “We must prepare ourselves for the fact that they are not living any more.”
'Hanging halfway off'
“The magnetic levitation train is hanging halfway off” the track, said Helge Nestler, a police official. Firefighters were using ladders to reach the injured at the accident site on an elevated track.
Before Broering spoke, police said one person had died. Nestler said 25 people were injured, while another regional police department said 21 people were hurt.
The train is made by Transrapid International, a joint company of Siemens and ThyssenKrupp. The track, which runs between the towns of Lathen and Doerpen near the border with Holland, is operated by Munich-based IABG. Official from Transrapid International referred questions to IABG, where officials could not immediately be reached.
German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee postponed a trip to China to get a firsthand look at the accident site, spokesman Dirk Inger said.
Shanghai hosts maglev train
Magnetic-levitation trains use powerful magnets to float the trains just above the tracks, allowing them to glide along without friction. Trains can reach 270 mph on the 20-mile test track.
The technology has been around for years but so far has not caught on as conventional train networks have expanded steadily. Concerns include the amount of electricity the trains use at high speed and the precision with which the tracks must be built.
The technology’s image was not helped by a fire that broke out in an electrical storage compartment aboard Shanghai’s magnetic-levitation train as it was headed toward the city’s international airport Aug. 11, generating large amounts of smoke but causing no injuries.
The Shanghai system is the world’s only commercially operating maglev train. Officials are studying the possibility of a line between Munich and its airport.
AP - Sept 22, 2006
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Shanghai_-_Maglev.jpg
Maglev like this one in Shanghai built by Siemens, ThyssenKrupp took at least 23 lives today.
LATHEN, Germany - A high-speed magnetic train carrying 29 people went off a test track in northwestern Germany on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring others in a new blow to hopes for magnetic-levitation technology. A town councilman said the number of dead was expected to rise substantially.
Trains using maglev technology can reach 270 mph, but it was not immediately clear how fast the train was traveling. One such train in Shanghai caught fire last month.
Most of the 29 people were in the front of the train when it crashed head-on with a maintenance wagon on the elevated track.
Hermann Broering, a member of the town council, said 10 people had been rescued and one dead body was recovered. As far as the 18 others were concerned, he said: “We must prepare ourselves for the fact that they are not living any more.”
'Hanging halfway off'
“The magnetic levitation train is hanging halfway off” the track, said Helge Nestler, a police official. Firefighters were using ladders to reach the injured at the accident site on an elevated track.
Before Broering spoke, police said one person had died. Nestler said 25 people were injured, while another regional police department said 21 people were hurt.
The train is made by Transrapid International, a joint company of Siemens and ThyssenKrupp. The track, which runs between the towns of Lathen and Doerpen near the border with Holland, is operated by Munich-based IABG. Official from Transrapid International referred questions to IABG, where officials could not immediately be reached.
German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee postponed a trip to China to get a firsthand look at the accident site, spokesman Dirk Inger said.
Shanghai hosts maglev train
Magnetic-levitation trains use powerful magnets to float the trains just above the tracks, allowing them to glide along without friction. Trains can reach 270 mph on the 20-mile test track.
The technology has been around for years but so far has not caught on as conventional train networks have expanded steadily. Concerns include the amount of electricity the trains use at high speed and the precision with which the tracks must be built.
The technology’s image was not helped by a fire that broke out in an electrical storage compartment aboard Shanghai’s magnetic-levitation train as it was headed toward the city’s international airport Aug. 11, generating large amounts of smoke but causing no injuries.
The Shanghai system is the world’s only commercially operating maglev train. Officials are studying the possibility of a line between Munich and its airport.