Journal Alioth's Journal: Pendolino on its side 3

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6392197.stm

There's much talk about last night's train crash in Cumbria, where a Virgin Trains "Pendolino" derailed and went down an embankment, much of it overturning. The train crashed at 95 mph.

However, the wonder of the crashworthiness of the Pendolino train isn't as noteworthy as the media is making out - this kind of ability to have a severe, high speed crash and have very few injuries and fatalities goes back to the British Rail Mark 3 rolling stock design of the late 1970s - which was a *huge* leap forward in rolling stock safety. HSTs (the usual train for Mk.3 stock - what the Mk.3 was designed for in fact) have crashed at full speed with very few serious injuries or fatalities.

Indeed, I'd be shocked if the new Pendolino stock wasn't as least as good as the 1970s design Mk.3.