Talk:Transrapid collision in Germany kills 23

First accident or first fatal accident?

Reading a few of the news releases around the net, I get the idea that this may have been the first accident overall and not just the first accident with fatalities. I'm a little doubtful that it's the very first accident due to the possibility of translation errors. Can anyone confirm this? Slambo 19:21, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

My german is a bit limited, but reading the story on Spiegel Online, it appears that this is the first accident involving a Transrapid line. It may be that this is the first time one of the passenger trains has been in an accident, however, and there may have been construction accidents or the like which are not being taken into consideration. (Oh, and the German language version of this article claims that 25 people are confirmed dead, with 10 injured. This is also claimed by the Spiegel Online article Ibstudent 20:15, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

"It was the first major accident involving a magnetic levitation, or maglev, train." (NYT, IHT[1]). "in the first fatal wreck involving the high-tech system.", "Kevin Coates, a technology consultant and former spokesman for Transrapid, said there's never been a maglev crash."(AP, ABC[2]). Doldrums 21:00, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

To my knowlege, this is the first fatal incident on a Transrapid system. However, there have been previous incidents which have been minor in comparison. Back in August 2006, there was a fire on the Shanghai Maglev. According to the [International Maglev Forum], this was caused by one of the trains batteries overheating and/or exploding. :-O

It should be emphesised that this latest incident in Lathen wasn't due to technical failure, but was insted due to human error. Just goes to prove that idiots can appear in the worst places... :-(

Hyperspeed 17:30, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

non-Americans...

Is there a reason why the "non-Americans" comment is in this article? This was a German Maglev train, so shouldn't the primary nationality in question be German's? (Wikipedia:Figgie123) 216.111.160.86 20:41, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Driverless train

I am changing the statement that the train is driverless, because although it is potentially driverless, there were three people driving the train at the time of the crash. The Shanghai system also employs drivers for "cosmetic reasons".

Well, when I came to this page it was still saying "driverless", so I changed it and added a short paragraph about the action taken by the driver (Can't remember where I sourced it from, but it's certainly plausable and handy to know.) although both of these may need a reworking to bring them in to WikiNews standards. :-)

Hyperspeed 17:30, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

You cannot add unsourced information to Wikinews articles. Particularly when it contradicts the existing sources. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 17:53, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Requires a link

Done. Bawolff ☺☻ 22:24, 28 September 2006 (UTC)