A couple of days ago, there was terrible subway accident in Boston. The pictures were all over the news and it was clear that one train rear-ended another and the pictures suggested a very strong impact that severly damaged both trains. There were numerous injuries and one death. The whole thing was just a horrible tragedy.
I have taken the same train numerous times over the years and in fact I took it every day when I was in elementary school. The odd thing that I cannot figure out is how the accident occurred. These trains all have drivers whose job it is to control the speed of the train. It is much like driving a car except there is no steering involved. What I cannot figure out is how one train could collide so aggressively with another. I would think that the driver would have seen the stopped train ahead and applied the brakes. For some reason either this didn’t happen or it happened too late.
I am left scratching my head, could this be driver error, a mechanical error or something completely different? I am not sure, but believe that it is important to find out to minimize the risk of these kinds of accidents in the future.