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Ride/Park Accidents

Skyscraper said:
Didn't a similar thing happen at Botton's Pleasure Beach on the same sort of ride a few years back?
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It did indeed:


I seem to remember the 1990s seeing the end of many '1001 nights' style rides, where the gondola was supported by a single arm, because metal fatigue led to a higher risk of catastrophic failure.

Sambiasso said:
Police were working on Monday to establish whether the death on the ride "was the result of the fault of a third party", according to the Bild.
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I assume this refers to the manufacturer or an engineer as opposed to a third party on the ride?? An odd turn of phrase! Tragic for the family and high impact for the park.
 
Here's an okay translation from Google.

31 injured after roller coaster accident at Legoland Günzburg

There was an accident on a roller coaster in the Legoland amusement park in Günzburg. 31 people were injured. The cause of the accident has so far remained unclear.

In an accident on a roller coaster at Legoland in Günzburg, Swabia, 31 people were injured, one of them seriously. The number has since been put at 34. A police spokesman said a roller coaster train from the "Feuerdrache" ride had braked sharply, and another train had hit it. The injured suffered, among other things, bruises and abrasions, it was initially said. You are now in the hospital or on the way there.

Current developments on the roller coaster accident in Legoland Günzburg in the news ticker

Rescue helicopter in action

The police have not yet been able to provide any information on the exact course of the accident. The Neu-Ulm criminal police were commissioned to carry out further investigations. According to a spokeswoman for Legoland, the accident happened in the station area of the "Feuerdrache" roller coaster. All available Legoland rescue workers were deployed. There were also more ambulances and three rescue helicopters. According to the information from our on-site reporter, Legoland was gradually cleared in peace and quiet.
The manufacturer of the train is based in the district of Deggendorf

The "Feuerdrache" roller coaster first leads through a covered, darkened area of the park. In the course of the ride, you then go in the fresh air over a stretch with slopes and a few curves. According to park information, the roller coaster travels at speeds of up to eight meters per second, which corresponds to around 29 kilometers per hour.

The train manufacturer is the Lower Bavarian company Zierer in the Deggendorf district. When asked by BR, it was no longer possible to comment on the accident, Zierer said. The spokeswoman won't be back in the house until tomorrow.
Legoland Günzburg with more than 60 attractions

Legoland was opened in 2002 on Autobahn 8 (Stuttgart-Munich). Günzburg prevailed against around 300 other possible locations around the world - including Tokyo.

There are now ten themed areas with more than 60 attractions in the park. Legoland also has its own holiday village for short breaks.
BR correspondent Karl Spannenberger in front of Legoland

Edit: Coaster involved is a Zierer Force 5

Feuerdrache - Legoland Deutschland (Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany)

Looking for statistics on the fastest, tallest or longest roller coasters? Find it all and much more with the interactive Roller Coaster Database.
rcdb.com
 
Wishing all those caught up in this a speedy recovery.

I do fear it’s only a matter of time before the British press realise it’s the same operator as Alton Towers.

Edit: reading that back it sounds as if I have only wished the riders well because of the link between this park and Alton Towers. Not the case of course, they are separate observations on my part.
 
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I find the description that "the accident happened after one rollercoaster train braked heavily and another train collided into it" to be highly spurious.

On coasters like this the braking is done on the track, not by anything on the trains. Why are two trains in the same block?

Was this in normal (auto) operation or did it happen while trying to recover from a breakdown (manual/maintenance functions)?

It's not good having another collision on Merlin's watch.
 
I have heard of incidents before (e.g. SteVe) where it was possible to cut short the advance of a train into the station. The block before the station became vacant even though the rear carriage is slightly overhanging into it, allowing a train to advance into the back of the stationary train. However this would normally only cause a slow speed impact, not enough to hospitalise people.
 
Very sad, and my thoughts are with everyone injured and their families.

It has to be said, I’m surprised that the British media haven’t made the connection between this park being run by the same operator as Alton Towers and it being another coaster collision.

This would be a completely fair connection to make. We don’t know much about what actually happened but for another major incident to happen on a Merlin coaster with vehicles colliding really doesn’t reflect well on Merlin’s safety standards, especially after all those interviews where Nick Varney insisted that an incident like Smiler’s could never happen again.
 
Very surprised that the two trains affected by the station break failure didn't explode in a ball of fire killing everybody on board. The RCT series has been lying to me. I suppose the park reptutation has been tanked though so at least that part is accurate.
 
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