3 Trains Collide in Pakistan, Killing at Least 118
火車真的安全嗎？這可不見得。 龐大的車身使停下火車十分困難，撞擊時會造成撞擊處車身擠壓，附近的乘客死傷將會十分慘重。其實火車在都會區擴大的台灣已經不實用，在高速公路客運的競爭下，更是因為速度及座位都居劣勢而漸顯不支，現在會去坐火車的旅客大多是有北部前往南部或是東部，為的是寬敞的車廂空間或是沒有高速公路，這是火車僅存的優勢。
From NYTimes.com:
Three trains crashed in a deadly chain-reaction after a train driver misread a signal in southern Pakistan early Wednesday, killing at least 118 people and injuring hundreds more in the country's worst crash in more than a decade, police and railway officials said.
''The crash occurred because of misreading of a signal by the driver of Karachi Express and it rammed the Quetta Express, which was not moving,'' Awan told AP.
Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, the national crisis manager at the Interior Ministry, ruled out sabotage, saying the crash was ''a pure accident.''
The accident occurred at about 4 a.m. near Ghotki, some 370 miles northeast of Karachi, in remote Sindh province. The initial collision derailed at least three carriages onto another track where they were struck by the third train, causing further derailment, said Abdul Aziz, a senior controller at Pakistan Railways.
In all, some 13 cars derailed.
Chaudhry Nazir Ahmed, a railroad official in Ghotki, said about a thousand people were believed to be traveling on the three trains.
Some 30 bodies and over 100 injured people were taken to the Civil Hospital in the nearby town of Sukkur, said Iqbal Ahmed, a doctor there. He said at least 12 people were in critical condition, some with lost limbs or massive head injuries.Pakistan's railways are antiquated, and there have been many accidents in recent years -- including several at Ghotki -- blamed often on faulty equipment or human error.
A train carrying 800 passengers from Karachi to Lahore slammed into a parked freight train at Ghotki on June 8, 1991, killing more than 100 people. Authorities blamed staff negligence for that accident.
In December 1989, a train crash near Sangi, a town 35 miles from Ghotki, killed 400 people.
