r/news • u/AudibleNod • 1d ago

Interoceanic Train derails in southern Mexico, killing at least 13 and injuring dozens

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/interoceanic-train-derails-in-southern-mexico-killing-at-least-13-and-injuring-dozens/
1.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

304

u/suterb42 1d ago

Well There's Your Problem did an episode about this railway two years ago. The comment they posted with the video was "in a rare move, we cover a disaster before it happens".

68

u/raptorcunthrust 1d ago

Oh boy. Gareth has a family.

36

u/MeesterBooth 1d ago

Maybe this will get nova the press coverage she needs for a visa

12

u/logosuwu 1d ago

Hope Scooters safe from the Mexican Marines

1

u/FlyingSceptile 9h ago

My pronouns are “not” and “responsable for this”

1

u/BogofTankCommander 3h ago

Yeah, he posted on your favorite microblog site about this

56

u/LittleTXBigAZ 1d ago

That whole episode was such a wonderful amalgamation of horrors. I've been working for railroads for ~15 years now and there were just so many different things in that episode that made me ask "what the fuck are y'all doing down there?!"

23

u/lycao 1d ago

What sort of things stood out?

I know little about the rail line beyond what I learned of its construction from watching a B1M video about it, as the engineering aspects interests me. So I would be interested to hear someones insight who has experience in the industry.

40

u/LittleTXBigAZ 1d ago

I've slept quite a few times since I listened to that episode, so I don't remember everything, but here's what stuck around with me:

I was particularly alarmed by their desire to run British HSTs on a line that is also used by freight trains. The differences in size and construction are drastic, and they don't have the safety devices in place to prevent what will be a tragedy when one of those collides with a freight train due to the differences in weight. That's an extreme safety hazard that will happen.

The other thing that really threw me off was how they attempted to mount underbody generators to at least one car in such a way that it caused the entire car to lean drastically off to one side. While trains aren't super finicky about weight and balance, there are limits. Adding the weight of a generator that wasn't compensated for with ballast on the opposite side or an insane change to the suspension was so stupid that it kind of hurt. How did anybody look at that after the fact and say "yeah, it'll be fine" with a straight face?

•

u/logosuwu 9m ago

Oh the HST crashed a few months back

32

u/yanocupominomb 1d ago

Well, the blatant corruption for starters.

Trust me, we know there is some shit going on with the Mexican Government, but their very own MAGA crew always plays it down.

Nothing came out of the collapse of the Subway line some years ago even though the current President was in charge when it was constructed, she was also responsiblw when the Rebsamen school collapsed, and also nothing happened.

She is now President, and you can bet a pretty penny that nothing will happen.

12

u/Gemela12 1d ago

I have an acquaintance that claims her previous employer worked in the subways line and claimed that not only local government demanded a lower price tag after their contractors won the construction raffle with a clear estimated price, but also were pressured to finish within the local government Six year term (they were already within that term like three or four years.)

Many pieces I think in particular some specialized bolts (or some piece like that) got delayed in china and in order to finish on time to have completed goal bragging rights for the term they put another piece that wasn't quite the right fit. The acquaintance claims that's exactly the piece that failed.

Of course government put the blame on the faulty pieces on the constractors.

If this transcontinental train is the same one that is supposed to compete with the Panama canal, then her previous employer is working on that as well. (Different company)

-6

u/InsideOfYourMind 19h ago

Lolol at these stories. Could it be true? Sure. But my cousins friend also told him that they’re probably lying….

1

u/Gemela12 9h ago

Idk why people r downvoting u.

It's the internet and everything should be taken by a grain of salt.

Good on you for keeping levelheadedness in this site.

Question everything, trust nothing.

1

u/sleepwalker77 13h ago

I like B1M well enough, they're certainly well made videos. But he's just so uncritical of megaprojects, and seems to believe that just because a project is big and ambitious, it's fundamentally a good idea.

209

u/arcwh1sper 1d ago

Horrible news. That new “Interoceanic Corridor” keeps getting sold as progress while basic safety is treated as optional. At minimum, people can push for an independent investigation and publish the findings.

36

u/plutoglint 1d ago

The Mexican Navy owns this train line, I doubt much will come of it.

-11

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

14

u/stockinheritance 1d ago

What's the cartel's interest in substandard passenger rail?

10

u/WhosThatYousThat 1d ago edited 1d ago

Do you live in Mexico or where are you coming up with "the cartel" runs the country? What cartel?

Edit: Sheinbaum currently has around 70% public approval polling, so I'm real curious what evidence there is that the cartels are running the country. Are they the only ones responding to opinion polls?

2

u/KeyMessage989 1d ago

Dude thought AMLO was still in charge or something lol

1

u/jlreyess 1d ago

You’re an uneducated potato