ENGINEERING LESSONS : EPISODE 18 WHALE CATCHES DUTCH METRO TRAIN BEFORE CRASHING IN WATER
WHALE CATCHES DUTCH METRO TRAIN AFTER DEADLY CRASH
Date of the Incident: 2 November 2020
Place : De Akkers station in Spijkenisse, Netherlands
Metro train in Spijkenisse, near the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands crashed through a barrier at the end of the tracks. Instead of plummeting into the water below, the train was caught by a sculpture of a whale's tail. Several meters above the ground, the train was left perched upon one of two tail fins.
The sculpture was built around 20 years ago in a park underneath the raised metro by artist Maarten Struijs, its name a deliberate play on the fact that it is a “tail track” at the end of the line.
Experts said it was unclear why the train had not been stopped by automatic buffers at the end of the track. Apparently something went wrong technically, possibly combined with human error.
Surprisingly the sculpture built of plastic have saved the train from falling down, even after 20 years the sculpture made of plastic was found undeteriorated.
The rescue operation is definitely a challenging one as the area can’t accommodate large cranes as water was surrounded underneath and lot of wind makes it difficult to resolve the issue.
