Bus / Luas crash

markpb

RTE are reporting a DB / Luas crash on O'Connell st. Looks like a 16 from the traffic cameras they're showing. There's a thread in AH too.

Edit: nasty photo

AndyP

Just on RTE a minute ago. Happened at the Abbey St junction. It is obviously going to caue chaos so try to avoid at all costs.

BrianD

More frm Twitter

http://twitpic.com/hxkzr

Terrontress

I suppose it has to be expected where you have mixed use roads although a bus hitting a luas would be preferable to today's luas hitting a bus!

ohnoigotsick

Terrontress wrote: »

I suppose it has to be expected where you have mixed use roads although a bus hitting a luas would be preferable to today's luas hitting a bus!

not for the driver

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0916/luas.html

There is an unconfirmed report that the Luas driver went through the window of his cabin and into the bus. The driver had to be cut out of the wreckage by members of Dublin Fire Brigade and has been taken to hospital.

hope all are ok

Terrontress

ohnoigotsick wrote: »

not for the driver

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0916/luas.html

There is an unconfirmed report that the Luas driver went through the window of his cabin and into the bus. The driver had to be cut out of the wreckage by members of Dublin Fire Brigade and has been taken to hospital.

hope all are ok

Well, it would be preferable for the driver that it is bus hits luas and not vice versa. The bus driver has a steering wheel to hold on to. The luas has no seat belt, no steering wheel. No crash protection at all.

lostexpectation

rte puts o'connell bridge traffic cam on live streaming at http://www.rte.ie/live/ can't see much though

Riskymove

Terrontress wrote: »

The luas has no seat belt,.

why ever not?

Carroller16

4 threads on this now

lostexpectation

seat belt for the driver?

Oliver1985

There is a thread over in Dublin city section for this now to! Can someone Merge them? Mods?

Terrontress

lostexpectation wrote: »

seat belt for the driver?

Any time I have observed a Luas driver they have not put on a seatbelt. That is not to say they do not exist in the cab but I have often wondered about the safety element of it. A sudden stop would, at the very least, send the driver straight into the dashboard.

BrianD

It's kind of weird that they don't have a seat belt or a lap belt.

Another forum has a post from a cyclist who says he is 99% sure the lights were green when he passed through with the bus behind.

Is it possible for a tram to break a stop signal? Do they have automatic circuits to prevent this?

there's a lot of photos online - hard to work out what's happened other that the tram seems to have come off the worst. The bus must have been half way across the tracks as the front isn't damaged.

Also stories that testing down on the docklands may have caused a signal malfunction.

I.S.T.

BrianD wrote: »

there's a lot of photos online - hard to work out what's happened other that the tram seems to have come off the worst. The bus must have been half way across the tracks as the front isn't damaged.

There is one photo taken from the side which shows the front of the Luas went right inside the passenger compartment of the bus. If there was anyone sitting in the seats where the tram hit I reckon they are in a bad way.

Oliver1985

That could be one of the three who are serious! Mad stuff that this is happening! Where it crashed is also the wheelchair bay on the bus!!

DWCommuter

A right balls up alright. Whatever the reason, don't expect anyone to be held accountable.

Hope everyone involved is okay.

monument

Photos here.

BrianD

Ireland.com have a lot of overhead photographs.

One Twitter "eye witness" is claiming that the bus ran a read light and ended up being side swiped by the tram.

Oliver1985

There is a few other people on other threads saying the same that the bus ran it!!

c7

Not to take away from the awful incident but I thought it would be best to post this in C&T in this thread rather than drag another one up...

How will this effect traffic tomorrow morning? There's a notice on Dublin Bus since 5.30 saying that cross-city services will be disrupted. I'm trying to get from UCD to the airport tomorrow and changing in O'Connell St. to get the 16 with friends. I would take the 746 but I've to be at the airport at 9. Anyone have any insights??

Victor

c7 wrote: »

Not to take away from the awful incident but I thought it would be best to post this in C&T in this thread rather than drag another one up...

How will this effect traffic tomorrow morning? There's a notice on Dublin Bus since 5.30 saying that cross-city services will be disrupted. I'm trying to get from UCD to the airport tomorrow and changing in O'Connell St. to get the 16 with friends. I would take the 746 but I've to be at the airport at 9. Anyone have any insights??

Everything should be back to normal, but allow extra time (a) because its the airport (b) just in case.

rameire

both vehicles will be moved within the next couple of hours

heavy lifting equiptment is in position.

Our man in Havana

BrianD wrote: »

Is it possible for a tram to break a stop signal? Do they have automatic circuits to prevent this?

Yes they can break a stop signal. Trams don't have CAWS or ATP.

shltter

BrianD wrote: »

Ireland.com have a lot of overhead photographs.

One Twitter "eye witness" is claiming that the bus ran a read light and ended up being side swiped by the tram.

I heard it different but this is only rumour as well that the bus was on a green and the driver behind him confirmed it. Either way the bus has a camera at the front facing forward so it should have captured the lights one way or the other.

Btw the bus was driven back to Santry Garda station about an hour ago with a Garda escort.

BrianD

shltter wrote: »

I heard it different but this is only rumour as well that the bus was on a green and the driver behind him confirmed it. Either way the bus has a camera at the front facing forward so it should have captured the lights one way or the other.

I know there's onboard cameras but where's the one at the front? I'm guessing that the bus was in lane 1 when the incident occured?

The red light running was a tweet from a journalist who may have witnessed the event. Not sure if they did but they have a good view of the aftermath.

Btw the bus was driven back to Santry Garda station about an hour ago with a Garda escort.

Built well then! Has the tram been removed?

Shamanic

nope, i just passed it a few minutes ago, still in the exact same place, off the line and in the air etc with no sign at all of it being moved. Just a lot of floodlights in place and a lot of people standing around scratching their heads looking at it. Tbh i saw no heavy lifting equipment.

c0mpliant

shltter wrote: »

Btw the bus was driven back to Santry Garda station about an hour ago with a Garda escort.

Jesus thats a well built vehicle, I saw it myself and it was in bits!

Kila

I drove past the area a short while ago. Road was still blocked off by garda cars and the luas was still there. I'll be finishing up in town around 12pm, and passing the area again, so I'll try to post and say if it's still there when I'm leaving town.

Messed Up Mind

Just thought I'd offer my insight into what happened. I work in a shop on O'Connell street across from where the accident happened.

What I heard happening was a Garda car going up the street distracting both Tram and bus drivers, the bus followed the garda car and the tram went into the side of the bus. I'll never forget the shrill scream that I heard after the loud bang on impact. I ran across the road to try and assist. There were just loads of people taking pictures with their camera phones. I was really disgusted.

At the time I imagined that there must have been a few people that died in the incident including the luas driver... It was really awful. I'm still very shaken over it.

westtip

DWCommuter wrote: »

A right balls up alright. Whatever the reason, don't expect anyone to be held accountable.

Hope everyone involved is okay.

Hey Derek just think how many level crossings there are on the N17/18 - makes you shudder about the u no WOT! Same sentiments about everyone involved BTW.

BrianD

Shamanic wrote: »

nope, i just passed it a few minutes ago, still in the exact same place, off the line and in the air etc with no sign at all of it being moved. Just a lot of floodlights in place and a lot of people standing around scratching their heads looking at it. Tbh i saw no heavy lifting equipment.

In derailments they use loads of wooden blocks and small hydraulic blocks to get the tram back onto the track. As part of the tram is so far off the track, I'd imagine it would have to be lifted which could mean removal of the the overhead cables. I'm guessing that once back on track it can be towed back to the Red Cow.

There's another posting elsewhere that refers to a lot of Garda vehicular activity before the incident.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

KC61

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Centre/Travel-News/Service-Disruptions/

Service Disruptions
Thursday 17th September - updated 06:30

Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers that due to an incident on O’Connell Street cross city bus services will be disrupted until further notice.

Northbound buses are currently bypassing O’Connell Street, their neartest stops after crossing O'Connell Bridge are Parnell Street and Parnell Square then back to normal routing.

Airlinks are departing from Busaras direct to the airport.

Southbound buses are following their normal routing.

http://www.luas.ie/page.php?name=Luas_Red_Line_Service_Change_Thursday_September_17_2009



Luas Red Line : Thursday September 17 2009

The Luas Red Line is operating this morning Thursday September 17 2009 between Tallaght and Smithfield Stops only.

All Luas tickets are valid on Dublin Bus.

We apologise to Luas passengers for any inconvenience.

Should you wish to speak with a member of Luas Customer Care please Freephone 1800 300 604.

Thank you,

Luas Customer Care.

KC61

Thursday 17th September - updated 07:40

Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers that O’Connell Street has been reopened and bus services are running as normal

bob bobbing

Is there anyone on boards.ie who was on either vehicle and if so what was it like were you hurt and WHO was to blamr

Greenman

Riskymove wrote: »

why ever not?

+1

egan007

It's like 9/11 all over again

Our man in Havana

Why?

parsi

DWCommuter wrote: »

A right balls up alright. Whatever the reason, don't expect anyone to be held accountable.

What a crass comment.

rednik

As you would expect the thread in AH has a lot worse comments and dumb speculation. As a driver of the luas I just hope my colleague is ok.

I.S.T.

rednik wrote: »

As you would expect the thread in AH has a lot worse comments and dumb speculation. As a driver of the luas I just hope my colleague is ok.

Yes, I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Quick question, are there seat belts for the driver and if so, are you required to wear them?

rednik

There are no seat belts and there are no front facing cameras on these trams.

dereko1969

parsi wrote: »

What a crass comment.

well said parsi, it's all about dwcommuter and his various axes to grind!

r3nu4l

rednik wrote: »

There are no seat belts and there are no front facing cameras on these trams.

Wut? Wow! :eek: So I imagine the unions will now be demanding seat belts...although I'm puzzled as to why they didn't previously?

angel01

rednik wrote: »

As you would expect the thread in AH has a lot worse comments and dumb speculation. As a driver of the luas I just hope my colleague is ok.

That is exactly what puts me off this site.

The Skulls

Has just been on the 2fm news at midday, CIE chairman was interviewed; the CCTV footage on the bus shows the bus had a FULL GREEN LIGHT to proceed, so Veolia have some questions to answer. Maybe next time people should wait for the facts to emerge before making accusations. And for the record i was on the Luas in question yesterday but got off at Jervis street. I'm just glad no one has died & wish a speedy recovery to all who are injured.

LordSutch

The Skulls wrote: »

the CCTV footage on the bus shows the bus had a FULL GREEN LIGHT to proceed, so Veolia have some questions to answer. And for the record i was on the Luas in question yesterday but got off at Jervis street. I'm just glad no one has died & wish a speedy recovery to all who are injured.

Ah ha, I was just about to ask this question myself!

So if the Bus had a full Green light, then the Tram must have broken his Red light? or ........................

Our man in Havana

Trams don't have red lights to obey. They have a white stop signal.

The Skulls

Trams don't have red lights to obey. They have a white stop signal.


That is correct; now we just have to wait & see what veolia & the gardai have to say, apparently the garda investigation is concluded already which could indicate that its very much cut & dried as to who did what.

shltter

The Skulls wrote: »

Has just been on the 2fm news at midday, CIE chairman was interviewed; the CCTV footage on the bus shows the bus had a FULL GREEN LIGHT to proceed, so Veolia have some questions to answer. Maybe next time people should wait for the facts to emerge before making accusations. And for the record i was on the Luas in question yesterday but got off at Jervis street. I'm just glad no one has died & wish a speedy recovery to all who are injured.

So all the Twitter witnesses appear to have been full of ****. I hope they are as quick to post an apology to the bus driver as they were to blame him.

That was the story I heard yesterday and thank god for forward facing cameras it's a pity the Luas doesn't have them because perhaps it was a signalling error but with no camera hard to prove much easier to just blame the driver.


Hope everyone makes a full recovery.

amacachi

shltter wrote: »

So all the Twitter witnesses appear to have been full of ****. I hope they are as quick to post an apology to the bus driver as they were to blame him.

Plenty were saying yesterday that the bus had a green light.