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23 in Germany die as high-tech train crashes
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 23, 2006
LATHEN, Germany - A high-tech train that floats on powerful magnetic fields smashed into a maintenance car on an elevated test track Friday, killing 23 people and injuring 10, police said - the first fatalities on a maglev train. Initial indications were that human error, not sophisticated maglev technology, was to blame for putting the maintenance vehicle on the track at the same time as the Transrapid train. The train was moving at 125 mph but can reach speeds of up to 270 mph. The speeding train's low nose scooped up the maintenance car, hurling it against the front and along the roof of the sleek train. Rescuers had to climb fire ladders and use cranes to reach the 13-foot-high track to clear debris and retrieve the dead and injured. At least one American was killed. Martial arts expert Ernest Lieb, 66, of Muskegon, Mich., was among the dead, his wife, Jennifer, told the Associated Press. She said he was in his native Germany to conduct a seminar on karate. The maintenance car, which had two workers aboard, was used to check the tracks and clear them of branches and other debris. Maglev trains - short for magnetic levitation - use powerful magnets that allow the train to skim along its guideway without touching it, reducing friction and increasing speeds. The closed 20-mile track, built in 1985 near the northwestern towns of Doerpen and Kathen, consists of two loops connected by a long straightaway. It is operated by Munich-based IABG mostly as an exhibition aimed at showing off Germany's maglev technology. Aboard the train that crashed were Transrapid employees, workers from a nursing care company and people from local utility RWE. Rudolf Schwarz, a spokesman for IABG, said the accident was the result of human error. "At this time, the accident was not caused by a technical failure. It is the result of human error," he said.
[Last modified September 23, 2006, 01:15:09]
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