10-01-2010, 10:31 PM
BR60103 Wrote:That last picture prompts me to ask:
How would you get out of a train car on its side?
The mid-car partitions are pretty high and the end ones must be too. At one end the door probably has to be slid upwards.
It's a good question.
The possible egress points I know about are
1) Corridor doors at either end of the car- which would be two seat widths up from the "floor", ie the side wall, when the car is laying on it's side
Old cars, so probably normal door swinging up at one end, down at the other.
2) Doors to outside in the "roof" (ie the side wall that is pointing up) - would be 4 seat widths and an aisle width up from the "floor"
3) Windows along the "roof", same distance as the side walls.
Probably would take some help from fellow passengers, train staff (or arriving fire fighters with ladders) to get out through the sides. Getting out through the end should be possible to do without a ladder or without being hoisted up, but it would not be easy for injured or elderly people.
Good thing there was no fire - the people on the train describe a massive firework of sparks when the 22 kV overhead catenary wire were brought down by the derailing cars slamming into masts.
At the place where the train derailed, a slow order had just been lifted the day before, after the track had had some time to stabilize following a regularily scheduled (every decade or so) ballast cleaning and re-tamping. Might be related to the accident - the investigation will probably show.
Stein