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Quote »An elevated magnetic train has crashed on a test track in north-western Germany, killing at least one person.The train, which floats on a monorail via a magnetic levitation system called Maglev, was going at 200km/h (120 mph) when it crashed, a local official said.Some carriages were left balancing on a section of track about five metres (16.5ft) in the air after the accident near the town of Lathen.The driverless train hit a maintenance vehicle on the track, officials said.It hit a maintenance vehicle at 120 mph??? Once again proving that all the technology in the world just can't overcome 'STUPID'.Link to full story --> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5370564.stmLink to another account --> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14953396/

lol, Ron White was right....that's deffinately a big "whoops"

Makes me wonder if they had safety measures to prevent something like this from happening and if the maintenance crew ignored or forgot them. I cant imagine the company not forseeing such an incident from happening and making safety measures so such a thing like this wont happen.

i saw the train manufactured by the same company (Thyssen?) in shanghai a couple of years ago...i REALLY wanted to ride it but it was down for 'maintenance'. funny thing is, many of my colleagues have since gone to shanghai and it has been down for 'maintenance' EVERY time! Out of 6 of us, only 1 has actually ridden it (video to prove it) and the speedometer inside the cars read 437km/h!!i saw it fly past my taxi on the highway ('maintenance run'?) and it was going so fast that my brain didn't want to accept what i was seeing...hard to explain but that's the only way i can describe it.

It's the same if someone left a maintenance vehicle on a traditional track, depending on the situation, it's doubtful that a normal train would've been able to avoid incident as well.I hope this doesn't damage the Maglev reputation.

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »The Simpson's episode of the "Monorail" comes to mind. That was a great episode haha.

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »It's the same if someone left a maintenance vehicle on a traditional track, depending on the situation, it's doubtful that a normal train would've been able to avoid incident as well.I hope this doesn't damage the Maglev reputation.People still travel with AmTrak even after countless derailments. This is still new technology and bugs need to be worked out of the system. Too bad that people had to lose their lives in order for better safety precautions to be implimented.

Don't blame technology 100%... who was the dumbass who parked the maintenance truck on the tracks? I'll bet if his lunch was in the front seat of that truck - he didn't get to eat it. :DSeriously though - that's horrible news people lost their lives because the train didn't identify a threat fast enough to slow down. I honestly couldn't imagine 200km/h vs stationary vehicle... phew

i remember this one time when the guys on the radio were talking about maglev trains and how it would change kid's lives...how?have you ever put a penny on the tracks to get them squished by a passing train?well with a maglev track, your penny would take off at 300mph!!Better yet, find a metal garbage can lid and hop on like one of those round plastic toboggans and you can shoot off on one crazy ride! (I know the technical impossabilities behind this...but it's fun to suspend belief and think about it! )

I got to ride the Bullet train on my last day in Japan. That was really cool. It also had a digital sign reading the speed. Something like 210mph, yet it was as smooth as flying in a plane on a calm day.