It was not a train conductor that brought it with him, it was build into the train by the train manufacturer. See this page: 155.at/der-heizluefter/
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mox@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks agoUsing commercial off the shelf technology without proper testing and certification is absolutely cutting corners. See: Kaprun disaster.
I just read the wikipedia article; thanks for mentioning it.
I’m not sure it’s a good example of your point, though. Notably:
the cause was the failure, overheating and ignition of a fan heater in the conductor’s compartments which was not designed for use in a moving vehicle.
The onboard electric power, hydraulic braking systems, and fan heaters intended for domestic use increased the likelihood of fire.
The fan heater is the only off-the-shelf technology listed here, and there’s no suggestion that it was part of the train’s design. It seems likely that a train conductor brought it on board to keep the compartment warm through the workday. Still a bad idea, but not an example of the designers cutting corners.
llii@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
mox@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
it was build into the train by the train manufacturer.
What makes you think the train manufacturer did it? Is that on record someplace? Because the installation and materials don’t look at all like the surrounding work. Looks more like a handyman hack job.
a_wild_mimic_appears@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
It was not the train manufacturer, but a body shop (Swoboda Karosserie- und Stahlbau GesmbH, now Carvatech), which was recruited by the Gletscherbahn Kaprun (GBK) for renovations. It might have not had so large repercussions if anyone of the actors during those renovations had done his job correctly tho:
- the model chosen was for household use and chosen because the recommended fan heater was unavailable
- other departments of Swoboda (and because of that, everyone else) were not informed about this change, even leading to sending out the documentation of the recommended fan heater to GBK
- the fan heater was mounted in a way that allowed liquids to leak inside of it
- it was mounted directly in front of the hydraulics, which contained flammable liquids
- those hydraulics were redone during the renovations by Mannesmann-Rexroth AG (now Bosch Rexroth AG), and were done using plastic pipes and were not appropriately encased.
- They started melting because of the malfunctioning heater, spraying flammable oil at 190 bar into the fire
- the dropping oil pressure caused the train to automatically break
- but the hydraulics were also needed to open the goddamn doors.
On top of all that, because the cable cars were made of aluminium, they were deemed inflammable. This did not take into account that any installed equipment or passengers and their luggage might NOT be fireproof.
This lead to: no fire exits, no emergency signage, no training for employees how to react in case of fire.
it was a single malfunctioning heater, but the Kaprun disaster had many fathers.
I found a nice paper regarding the different actors written by a student of the University of Virginia here, well sourced.
mox@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
Very informative. Thank you!
llii@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
I need to cite the German Wikipedia article, which I’ve read. It’s a good read and very long.
Abschließend wurde festgehalten: „Als Ergebnis der Ermittlungen der Staatsanwaltschaft Heilbronn lässt sich feststellen, dass sich das Unglück am 11. November 2000 hätte vermeiden lassen können, wenn seitens der Fa. Swobodafahrzeuggeeignete Heizlüfter eingebaut worden wären, die es auf dem Markt gab.“
deranger@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
It’s an example of uncertified consumer grade COTS equipment used in a commercial environment to disastrous results, outside of its original designed purpose.
It was not brought on board by the conductor or someone else, it was permanently installed in place of commercial grade heaters they couldn’t source.
Scrollone@feddit.it 5 weeks ago
Wow. That’s creepy in a fascinating way. Cutting corners cost lives, and this is a perfect example.