Lisbon tram crash

[Neil]

Reported here by the BBC. Twenty-eight are reported to be injured. Looking at the photos it's seems miraculous that no fatalities have been reported.

[Grovenor]

Talking of crashes, no one seems to have mentioned the rather more serious one in Ankara 2 days ago.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-46549584/turkey-train-crash-survivors-pulled-to-safety-in-ankara

Rgds

[NIK]

Reported here by the BBC. Twenty-eight are reported to be injured. Looking at the photos it's seems miraculous that no fatalities have been reported.

 

Yes,

 

I would be surprised looking at the photos if most of those reported injured were still on the tram when it hit the building. I could envisage people being hurt jumping off the tram if its brakes failed going down hill and pedestrians being hurt after the tram overturned and slid along the road.

 

Video 125 have a video showing the remaining tram lines in Lisbon and some of the older lines have very steep sections mixing with road vehicles and pedestrians.

 

Regards

 

Nick

[Mike Storey]

Quite unnerving. Four friends of ours, as two different couples on two separate trips, have recently returned from Lisbon, saying how good the trams and metro were, and how much they used the system. Don;t know whether to tell them or not.

[Neil]

The Turkish crash looks to be absolutely horrific. The Lisbon tram crash caught my eye as a couple of years ago we went to Lisbon and used the trams lots. The older four wheel cars are the only ones allowed/fit for the steep hills and sharp curves of some of the routes. I remember reading somewhere that drivers on the hilly routes undergo extra training before they're passed out for these sections. It certainly seemed a safe and competent operation when we were there and I thoroughly enjoyed trips around the city by tram.

[SRman]

Quite unnerving. Four friends of ours, as two different couples on two separate trips, have recently returned from Lisbon, saying how good the trams and metro were, and how much they used the system. Don;t know whether to tell them or not.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about that. Major accidents involving trams (or trains, for that matter) are rare. Here in Melbourne, with lots of street running, there are frequent minor bingles, mostly between trams and cars (trams have the "right of way" and usually come out of these better than the cars involved!). Occasionally there are bigger incidents involving two trams, or trams and trucks or buses, but when all is said and done, the chances of being injured in a tram accident are described in absurdly small numbers.