St. Petersburg Times; Some experts believe Y2K bug may have played a role in train wreck that killed one, injured 15

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This is the first report I've seen that links Y2K with a train wreck. We've had a number of them lately....

St. Petersburg Times on Moscow Train Crash:

"Experts are divided as to the cause of the accident. Some of them believe that the driver may have fallen asleep, while others suggest that the Millennium Bug may have played a role."

Train Crash Kills Driver, Injures Another 15 By Vladimir Kovalyov

STAFF WRITER

A train on the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway link crashed into the back of a freight train on Wednesday morning, killing one of the drivers and injuring 15 passengers who were traveling from Veliky Luki to St. Petersburg. Two people, including the train's driver, were admitted to the intensive care unit of a local hospital with serious injuries. Five others were taken to hospital with less serious injuries, while a further fifteen received medical attention at the scene.

According to Itar-Tass, most of the injured were aged who suffered broken legs and ribs during the collision. The report said many didn't want to go to the hospital, but relented when doctors insisted. On Thursday, the crash claimed another life. A local man was crushed to death by a special repair train while walking along the railway near the crash scene.

According to Oktyabarskaya railway officials, the passenger train crashed into the rear of the other train at 2:50 a.m., between the stations Mfdinsky Most and Verebye, 193 kilometers from St. Petersburg. The engine and two coaches of the passenger train were derailed and turned over in the collision.

Five cars of the freight train, which was carrying lumber, were also derailed.

The crash also caused severe damage to 150 meters of track and part of a fiber optic cable belonging to Roskom, a St. Petersburg communications company. As a result, several St. Petersburg companies, banks and the stock exchange were left without any connection to Moscow. Passenger trains from Moscow were also delayed by eight hours.

After the damaged stretch of track was repaired, trains were again able to pass through, but were required to reduce speed to 25 kph.

Railway officials say that emergency teams took an hour to arrive at the scene, one of whom told Petersburg Television that this was due to heavy forest and the absence of roads nearby.

An official at the Oktyabarskaya Railway said, on condition of anonymity, that if the crash had happened closer to the Mfdinsky Bridge, the consequences would have been hard to imagine.

"There is no embankment on the section of track where the accident happened, but further down there is a very high embankment above the river," the official said. "If the train had been derailed there, there would have been many more casualties." According to NTV, there was a nightmare quality to the scene at the crash site. People from the two overturned coaches, fearing that the freight train might explode, ran into the forest to hide. The temperature at the time of the crash was minus 38 degrees, and one of the passengers was treated for frost bite.

Later, those who had run off returned to find shelter in the four unharmed coaches of the train, which were safe and heated.

Experts are divided as to the cause of the accident. Some of them believe that the driver may have fallen asleep, while others suggest that the Millennium Bug may have played a role.

Railway officials dismissed the sleeping driver scenario, maintaining that this is impossible because of a special telemetric system monitoring whether the driver is awake, which is installed in all trains on the Moscow-St. Petersburg line.

Trains on this section of track run at an average of 150 kph, but this particular train was traveling at 85 kph at the time of the crash.

Link to story:

http://www.times.spb.ru/current/news/n_train.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 31, 2000

Answers

Huh? Y2K mentioned in connection with one of these FRED stories? Whazzup? Is this ... like ... freedom of the press in Russia? Bring on communism!!

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), January 31, 2000.

a most excellent post!

-- boop (leafyspurge@hotmail.com), January 31, 2000.

a most excellent post! but how sad that it caused death and suffering.

-- boop (leafyspurge@hotmail.com), January 31, 2000.

"Railway officials dismissed the sleeping driver scenario, maintaining that this is impossible because of a special telemetric system monitoring whether the driver is awake, which is installed in all trains on the Moscow-St. Petersburg line. "

Hmmm... so we know it wasn't sleep. Wish the reporter included why the experts thought it was the bug.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 31, 2000.


That would have helped. Maybe "the experts" were regulars here. So of course it was y2k related, EVERYTHING is y2k related.

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), January 31, 2000.


Well, they're right about it not being due to sleep. I knew someone who was an engineer for CP Rail and I remember him telling me a long time ago that for many, many years all engines have been equipped with "deadman switches" to prevent just that. The old-style was simply a foot-pedal that the engineer had to keep pressed in order for the train to operate. Let go of this pedal for even a few seconds and the brakes kick-in.

The newer ones come with a button on the instrument panel. Every 3 or so minutes an alarm begins to sound, low-pitch at first, but growing in volume very quickly. If the engineer doesn't hit that button within a short time, again the brakes lock up.

-- Steve Baxter (chicoqh@home.com), January 31, 2000.


If it's one of the older pedal systems, it's easy to put something heavy on the pedal to bypass the engineer having to keep his foot down all the time. There has been no requirement to retrofit to the alerter switch system.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), January 31, 2000.


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