BHP derails 268-car Pilbara iron ore train

That would have been a spectacular scene to witness ... Perhaps they should install "Runaway Train Incline Ramps" if this continues to occur ... I wonder how fast it was going after 57 miles elapsed ?
 
Oh boy, that was horrible, a runaway train that became a derailed one, whoever is responsible for this incident if it was deliberate should be fired, this is how people who work for the railroad or not gets killed and/or injured.
 
I wouldn't say "Deliberate" ... To deliberately let a train sit, and go home for the night, that would be negligent, and not even deliberate ... however the operator got off the train to check on a defective car, and it got away from him like the CSX 8888 train did ... To "deliberately" set an unmanned train in motion would require intentional premeditation, and planned sabotage ... This was not such a case

The purposeful derailment of the train was decided upon by the railroad management in order to lessen damage to surroundings
 
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mikeaust said:
Looks like single driver was not such a good idea after all.
Cheers,
Mike
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I was wondering about that. I'm not familiar with Australian railroad news ,baring the AI trains that made the news. Single man crews on a haul that long seems like a terrible idea....
 
It probably would have been a smart move by the driver, when he saw the train starting to move forward, to climb aboard a wagon, then work his way back to the lead loco again. You see it in the movies.

Of course he might have sprained an ankle, which prevented him from achieving that.

Anyway, two-man crews should be mandatory on runs like that.

Cheers,
Roy3b3
 
Roy3b3 said:
It probably would have been a smart move by the driver, when he saw the train starting to move forward, to climb aboard a wagon, then work his way back to the lead loco again. You see it in the movies.
Roy3b3
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Denzel Washington was not available at the time :hehe:
 
Cost will be round A$50 million and will close rail operations for BHP for at least a week. Only a small number of wagons will be salvaged.
Also queries as to why the dead man switch didn't operate.
Cheers,
Mike
 
At a red light, I leave my car in drive, on a downhill slope, and get out and raise the hood to adjust my engine all the time, and it has never gotten away from me ... Makes perfect sense to me

Iron ore and scrap metal ... they'll just make more ... It's Australia's only renewable natural resource, aside from ice cubes recipe: "fill with water, apply cold"

A tool box on the dead mans pedal, and duct tape disabling all safety devices should be SOP

I loved the subway trick, where the telephone cord was wrapped around the cab controls, so the engineer could get off, and throw a platform switch, and hop back on in time ... sept' it dint' xzctwy' werk' owt' as planned
 
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mikeaust said:
Cost will be round A$50 million and will close rail operations for BHP for at least a week. Only a small number of wagons will be salvaged.
Also queries as to why the dead man switch didn't operate.
Cheers,
Mike
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I've seen discussions about this accident by people much closer to the rail industry and BHP than me, and according to them application of the locomotives' independent brake over-rides the dead man's switch.

One thing I'm certain of is that the events that led to this accident are more complex than what the media and commentators are making them out to be.
 
cascaderailroad said:
Iron ore and scrap metal ... they'll just make more ... It's Australia's only renewable natural resource, aside from ice cubes recipe: "fill with water, apply cold"
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Are you deliberately being obtuse ? our ONLY renewable resource? Do you know ANYTHING about Australia ? we have enough sunlight to provide power for half of Asia if we weren't so wedded to coal and we have more of that than almost anyone else on the planet. if you had any idea of what the place was like you would also know we are incredibly windy and an ideal place for wind farms.

Why don't you educate yourself and read these articles and then come back and tell us we only have iron ore.

http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/energy/resources
http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/energy/resources/other-renewable-energy-resources
 
cascaderailroad said:
I loved the subway trick, where the telephone cord was wrapped around the cab controls, so the engineer could get off, and throw a platform switch, and hop back on in time ... sept' it dint' xzctwy' werk' owt' as planned
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Classic ain't it!

The guy that did this got fired and was going to appeal his firing to the union, but for some reason that never happened.
 
Maybe they should have a run off track like trucks do, fitted with retarders, once the track reaches flat ground.
Cost less thanm a new train.
Cheers,
Mike
 
JCitron said:
It' sad to read here, above, that BHP lost a good number of wagons in the derailment, but at least they stopped the train from plowing through any towns on it's deadly journey like this one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-Mégantic_rail_disaster

Read about the events leading up to the disaster. Pretty scary stuff.
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Not a lot of 'towns " anywhere in that country, might be a few villages but even they are far and few. of course if it had made it to the coast it would have caused a lot of damage, but even then, its hardly an inhabited area like the town in johns example, which was a horrible accident >
take a look, its just desert, they did the derailment automatically 1500ks away from the train itself. https://www.google.com/maps/search/...-21.7941443,118.7137442,622205m/data=!3m1!1e3
 
dangavel said:
Not a lot of 'towns " anywhere in that country, might be a few villages but even they are far and few. of course if it had made it to the coast it would have caused a lot of damage, but even then, its hardly an inhabited area like the town in johns example, which was a horrible accident >
take a look, its just desert, they did the derailment automatically 1500ks away from the train itself. https://www.google.com/maps/search/...-21.7941443,118.7137442,622205m/data=!3m1!1e3
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Thanks that's good to know unlike eastern Canada and my own New England area which are still very populated even in the less populated areas.

Here's an "on the ground view" along Utah Road in Boodaire. This is a view of the FMG Port Hedland operations. Those look like the ore hoppers here.

https://goo.gl/maps/6rq9pw7q6m62

More pics. An Iron ore train from BHP.

https://goo.gl/maps/LaDm1AHCKVC2

https://goo.gl/maps/gKToGvVp5vK2

https://goo.gl/maps/1sDLUJAGJwN2

The area looks similar to parts of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Texas in the US.
 
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