Spanish Jack Ass

[MajGenl.Meade]

Bizarre stuff. Daily Telegraph Thursday (true? rumour?):

Spain train crash: Driver: 'I'm at 190 kmph and we're going to derail!'

The driver of the train that crashed in northern Spain, killing at least 80 people, made a panicked phone call moments before the crash saying that the train was going too fast.

"I'm at 190 (kmph) and I'm going to derail!" the engine driver told the controllers of RENFE, the rail network. Two men were at the controls of the train at the time, and it was not clear who had made the call. Police sources told Spanish newspaper El Pais that, moments after the crash, the traumatised driver made another call to the operator.

"It derailed!" he said. "What am I going to do, what am I going to do?. We are all humans – we're humans. I hope there are no fatalities because it will all be on my conscience."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... erail.html

Daily Fail:

It is thought the driver, who boasted on Facebook last year about going 125mph and wanting to set off police speed guns, faces manslaughter charges.
Yesterday he spoke to a local paper from his hospital bed using a mobile phone, after having nine stitches to a head wound, to say: ‘Imagine how I’m feeling. I can’t say anything at the moment.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -time.html

[Lord Jim]

We are all humans – we're humans.

Well that answers one question I've certainly been wondering about...

This wasn't an alien transport....

(Also , Note To All Air and Rail Companies: monitor the social media postings of your pilots and engineers, with an eye out for things like: "wanting to set off police speed guns")

Okay, it's pretty obvious that one guy was a few cars short of a full trainset, but what about the other one?

At the risk of offending rube by expressing an opinion, it looks to me based on what is known so far that one guy was nuts, and trying to pull some sort of dare devil maneuver; I'd like to hear the other guy's story...

[dales]

Spain train driver was on the phone, going nearly twice the speed limit

Associated Press

Posted: 07/30/2013 09:24:40 AM PDT

Updated: 07/30/2013 09:24:42 AM PDT

MADRID -- A Spanish court says "black box" data recorders show that a train conductor was on the phone and traveling at 95 mph (153 kph), almost twice the speed limit, when the vehicle derailed, killing 79 people.

Investigators say the train had been going as fast as 119 mph (192 kph) shortly before the derailment and that the conductor activated the brakes "seconds before the crash."

In a statement, the court said Tuesday that the conductor was talking on the phone to an official of national rail company Renfe when the crash happened and apparently was consulting a paper document at the time.

The conductor, Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, has been provisionally charged with multiple counts of negligent homicide.

[Big RR]

Is the conductor the person driving the train? Ordinarily, I would think that would be the engineer, but I'm not sure what tiitles are used in spain.

[dales]

I had the same thought.

[Lord Jim]

So did I...

And what about this:

Two men were at the controls of the train at the time, and it was not clear who had made the call

What about the second guy? Why are we hearing nothing from or about him?

[MajGenl.Meade]

He only raised an umbrella at the critical moment.

[oldr_n_wsr]

There's a lesson here, Don't be driving a train and using a cell phone at the same time.

[MajGenl.Meade]

It's little known but 100% of Spanish train derailments involved a cell phone

[dgs49]

With all of the incredibly sophisticated signalling instrumentation and controls, not only on that train, but also on the wayside and in the dispatcher's office, it is simply unbelievable that there was no provision to limit the speed of a train to some percentage over the posted limit.

Having worked in mass transit for some years (Union Switch & Signal), and seeing the number of mechanical and electrical protections in place, this rash of passenger train collisions and accidents is difficult to understand. They spend millions on the train and can't afford a governor?