Just a few words on the addendum Cecil added here at the end of his essay.
Firstly, it became clear almost immediately that the crash would not have been as bad if an ATC system had been in place at the end of the line. Questions were immediately raised as to why that line didn’t have one, and no satisfactory answers seem to be forthcoming from the company that runs it.
Secondly, the cleaning lady on board the train was cleared of any wrongdoing in the crash only three days afterward. From the sound of the articles, it appears that they don’t even think she started it by accident - the people in charge knew the keys were on the train, but were at a loss (at least when the articles were written) to explain how it started up. The train in question (pictured here) is an older model that is not frequently used but probably got trotted out to make up for a shortage somewhere.
That type of train is regularly used on that particular line, which is not connected to the main railway system in Sweden. It just goes between central Stockholm and the suburb Saltsjöbaden in the Souteast (see map). If I’m not too mistaken they are old underground cars that have been rebuilt for this purpose.
I see similar ones now and again on the commuter rail line south to Nynäshamn, as well as on the underground lines (especially the Blue Line) but have never seen one on the Tvärbanan - figured it was a backup. Still, it’s a reconditioned one and should probably not really be in service, no?
They are only used in the underground system and rebuilt on the Saltsjöbaden line. Those you see in rush hour traffic on the railway lines are something completely different. Tvärbanan and a couple of other lines use trams, not trains.
Another update about this, because the cleaning lady involved in the accident was interviewed in her union’s magazine just yesterday. Most of it is of little interest - her injuries, her shaky memories of the accident, other personal aspects - but at the bottom of the interview is a short article about the causes. Two paragraphs stand out:
The authorities’ silence on the matter, coupled with the fact that they have issued a more or less complete apology to Sara, the cleaning lady aboard the ill-fated train, would indicate that they don’t even think she accidentally started the train (in her interview, she states that trains often moved around in the station while cleaning crews were aboard). Don’t know if it’s worthy of an emendation to the article or not, but I figure Cecil and the staff might want to know about it in any case.