Oops International
It woud appear that most news feeds have simply pushed the Swiss Railway press release in German through Google Translate and printed the result. "Faido Interchange" appears in various accounts and the number of "carriages" is variable!
The Gotthard "Base" Tunnels (two single track tunnels each 35.5 miles long) opened in 2016 by-passing the old Gotthard pass line and speeding trans-Alpine traffic mightily.
In the tunnels there are numerous safety features including crossover tunnels, escape platforms and fire containment doors. References to the Faido "interchange" are to one of these deep level platforms. Here is Faido station on the old route ...
... and here is a diagram showing what lies in the tunnel way below.
There is a safety platform in case evacuation of passengers is needed ...
... and the two separate tunnels are joined by crossovers.
There are also fire doors like the one below to seal off any section where fire is burning or possible.
There are lifts to the surface ...
... plus other safety systems. So strict are the safety rules for passenger trains, that the undamaged tunnel cannot be used for passengers because it is a requirement that the second tunnel MUST be available either to get trains out via the crossovers or to evacuate stranded passengers.
Clearly the derailment is such that nothing carrying people can run
It appears that a broken wheel was the cause ...
... and the derailed wagon(s) severely damaged one of the safety critical fire doors.
A colleague opines that, if Swiss Railways can't get things up and running quickly, the damage must be bad!
Ooops Bloggable!
Thanks to several correspondents who pointed out fbb's bludner in yesterday's blog.
Wrong picture! The picture to match the caption should have been as below.
fbb is not sure whether the error was due to eyeball fatigue (unlikely) or brain fatigue (VERY likely)!
And so to the answers to Quiz Part 1 with a few extra commens.
Hayling Island. The first Southdown bus to Leigh Park was an hourly extension tacked on to the route 47 to Hayling.
Dawlish. The substantial rebuild of the sea wall aims to mitigate the onslaught of big waves and high winds.
Brighton. The edifice referred to is the sumptuously OTT Royal Pavilion.
The old bus station was plumb outside the railway station. It's somewhat less convenient and much smaller replacement has been delayed once again.
Leicester (formerly tagged "London Road"). Northampton Alan points out, perhaps unnecessarily, that, when King Richard 3 was buried in 1485, the site was not a car park.
... and Terrys ...
Stockport
... had factories in the city.
The Manchester and Birmingham Railway opened in stages from Manchester and reached Stockport in 1840. The 5+1⁄2-mile line ran from a temporary station in Manchester to another in Stockport at the north end of the uncompleted Stockport Viaduct. The temporary station, which was later renamed Heaton Norris, was Stockport's only station for more than two years. After the viaduct was completed, the M&BR built a station at its southern end as an experiment. The decision was prompted by complaints that the first station was a long way from the industrial parts of town and even farther from the residential districts on the south side. The second station opened on 15 February 1843 as Edgeley. By 1844, it was the town's principal station. Heaton Norris, at the north end of the viaduct, closed in 1959.
Edinburgh Waverley. The blocked out sign reads Diesel Trains to Glasgow - when diesel trains were a novelty!
Windsor and Eton Central. Queen Victoria preferred Riverside. The tall gates ...
... were installed to enable their Majesties' Household Cavalry escort party to ride to and from the platform without dismounting. There were lots of them to cover all alighting and boarding eventualities.
Also, tastefully shielded by the trees on the right and at the outer end of the platform to avoid contact with the snivelling minions, was the Royal Waiting Room.
The Royal Waiting Room at Windsor and Eton Central is now a pub.
H M Q V would NOT have been amused!
Peterville Puzzle
After some delay a major piece of infrastructure work is in hand for the model railway. But what is it?
fbb will reveal more when it is finished - if it works.
Next Variety blog : Saturday 19th August
I think you made a mistake again with the picture, the DMU that is in the new picture has a station name on it, giving the game away
ReplyDeleteNo 4 is Cardiff Central.
ReplyDelete