Why a Bavarian sight pile-up should never have happened

Rail user Deutsche Bahn, that is also obliged for upkeep on a widen of lane where Tuesday’s collision occurred, reliable that it is propitious with PZB.

The PZB complement “is ostensible to meant that this kind of head-on collision can’t happen,” Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told a press discussion on Tuesday afternoon.

“Over a decades, a lot has been invested in technical equipment… we had been roughly assured in new years that such a thing could never repeat itself,” Bavarian interior apportion Joachim Herrmann agreed.

The PZB complement was rolled out to a whole German rail network following a lethal pile-up nearby Magdeburg in Jan 2011 that killed 10 people.

A Deutsche Bahn orator pronounced on Tuesday afternoon that a complement had final been checked a week before a pile-up and no problems were found.

We won’t know until investigators have analysed a black boxes from both trains accurately what caused a pile-up – though courtesy is now focused on these devices.

How a PZB complement works

Under normal conditions, a inclination are used to stop trains travelling during adult to 160mh/h from finale adult streamer towards any other on a same line.

The complement uses magnets set adult on a lane bed to promulgate with a device on house a train.

Magnets are placed during a pre-signal and again 1,000 metres serve on during a categorical signal. If a categorical vigilance is display a red light, this is also shown on a pre-signal, that will afterwards set off an alarm in a driver’s cabin.

Train drivers contingency press a symbol within 4 seconds of a PZB alarm sounding to endorse that they have seen a pre-signal – or else a sight is automatically braked by a PZB system.

The same thing happens if a motorist rolls by a red categorical signal.

Automatic braking also kicks in if a motorist doesn’t stay next a limit speed on pointy turns.

And there’s an even stricter complement on lines where trains transport faster than 160km/h.

Speed isn’t checked usually during signals, though constantly monitored regulating a complement famous as LZB. Just like PZB, this complement can automatically strike a brakes underneath conditions that competence bluster safety.