The wet weather here is causing problems, even for trains.

Freight train derails at Inverleigh, west of Geelong, leaving dozens of containers strewn across tracks. No injuries were reported and thankfully it was just a freight line.

Cheers.

The Swiss look to have the problem covered.

Swiss train innovation hits a major milestone with track-jumping cars.

Swiss trains are already considered the gold standard by train enthusiasts and travelers alike for their spectacularly scenic routes, clockwork punctuality and incredible engineering. This is why trains like the Glacier Express can navigate narrow tracks and climb into the sky-tickling reaches of the Alps.

It may come as a bit of a surprise to discover that the Swiss had not been able to achieve a major milestone in rail innovation until this past weekend. On Dec. 11, the new GoldenPass Express journeyed from Montreux to Interlaken via Gstaad without requiring a change of trains for the first time in history.

It's not just the route that's noteworthy. The train itself, operated by the Montreux-Berner Oberland Railway (MOB), is a combination of eye-catching design and revolutionary technology that allows it to "jump" in both height and width, while also changing electrical voltage. This way, it can connect some of the most popular tourist destinations in Switzerland into one seamless trip — a journey 150 years in the making.

Engineers have been trying to link these scenic Swiss destinations since 1873. But for nearly a century and a half, connecting the two main train routes between sparkling Lake Geneva and towering Swiss Alps destinations had proved too difficult because there were two different types of tracks — metric gauge and standard gauge — to navigate. These two track types aren't just different widths; they're also different heights and use different voltages. So to travel from one stunning Swiss location to another, passengers had to disembark and change trains....

Watch it in action.

Cheers.

I must post here, I hear my sig wants attention. Toot! 100mph, I would love to see that smashed by steam...

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Just reported in AP News
50-car train derailment causes big fire, evacuations in Ohio

Yeah, i just saw a news story about that crash.
Amazed there are no deaths so far. And it's going to be quite a while before that mess is cleaned up and traffic can use the line again.


I'm wondering if the chickens are coming home to roost.
With COVID so many companies were cutting costs as much a & as fast as they could, and general/preventative maintenance is always a target for that sort of cost cutting. Over the last few months there seems to have been an increase in the number of incidents occurring, particularly in the aviation industry.
Mothballed fleets coming back online with way less staff than in the past, something's got to give to make that possible.

---

Grant
Darwin NT

US railroads have, over the years, had a pretty poor safety record, particularly on freight only routes.
They've been very slow in adopting some of the technologies that we take for granted in Europe, and will take the costs of this accident as another excuse to further delay their implementation.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Yeah like US freight railroads going all electric like in Europe.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Just reported in AP News
50-car train derailment causes big fire, evacuations in Ohio

Update.

Explosion fears loom as Ohio train continues to burn days after derailment.

Just reported in AP News
50-car train derailment causes big fire, evacuations in Ohio

Update.

Explosion fears loom as Ohio train continues to burn days after derailment.

Finally after all this time.

Residents allowed to return after fiery Ohio train derailment.

Cheers.

I wouldn't be in a hurry to move back home. :-(

‘Definitely not safe’: Animals falling sick, dying near hellish Ohio train derailment site.

And more vinyl chloride needs to be released. :-O

Vinyl Chloride is a really unpleasant chemical. It gets into the body by inhalation, vapour absorption through the mucus membranes, sick contact, consumption of contaminated food and causes a whole raft of symptoms depending on the duration and nature of the contact - the range is from mild irritation to stomach upsets, to breathing problems, to death. In short, just don't go near the stuff.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

And it gets worse. :-(

3 more chemicals discovered in Ohio train derailment.

..The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to Norfolk Southern stating that ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene were also in the rail cars that were derailed, breached and/or on fire....

Too much heat?

Freight train derails at Two Wells, north of Adelaide, with several carriages coming off track.

We've been waiting.

Iconic Zig Zag Railway to reopen in Blue Mountains after more than 10 years.

...All 11 kilometres of the track and the steam trains used for the service have been restored, with the co-op now only waiting on final accreditation from the National Rail Safety Authority.
The railway first opened in the 1860s and used for transporting passengers and cargo from Western NSW to Sydney, before becoming a tourist attraction in the 1970s.

It is now run by the Zig Zag Railway Co-op, a dedicated group of volunteers who have been working to restore the site, with the help of the NSW government, since its closure in 2012....

Cheers.

Another freight train comes off the rails. :-)

Nebraska coal train derailment sparks emergency operation.

Expect more details soon enough.

Now that could've been an expensive mistake.

Spain's rail head resigns over bungled train orders resulting in trains too wide for some tunnels.

Thankfully the mistake was spotted before production began, but it will result in a 2yr longer wait for delivery.

Cheers.

Juan Browne looks at the prelimanary NTSB report on the East Palestine freight train derailment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5D2LA-Llyc

I don't think that the residents will be all that happy hearing this. :-(

‘Déjà vu’: A train derailment 40 years ago holds clues for East Palestine’s future.