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Comment by buildbot | Hacker News Reader

I suppose that counts/was caused by a fracture but almost a half meter of gap in the track is nuts. Like describing a limb that’s totally removed as a bone fracture.

Though conceivably the break was very small and a train impacting the slightly lifted rail just caused a good chunk of it to explode.

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> Though conceivably the break was very small and a train impacting the slightly lifted rail just caused a good chunk of it to explode.

The crown (top) of the rail seems to be missing after the gap. The crown-less section then continues ~3 meters before it disappears behind the investigator on the left. IDK what that might indicate.

ref pic: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/ecb4/live/53924...

The rail is laying on its side in that picture, so what is visible is the foot not the web.

edit: other angles of the same location here: https://youtu.be/DIQ4SrGSua0?t=1174

> The rail is laying on its side in that picture

Ah, I see it now. The marks from contact with the ties should have clued me in earlier.

Yes, the “fracture” (the problem was actually at a joint) was there for a while. The missing segment of rail was still there when the train arrived - the derailment affected only the last cars.

The "fracture" being referred to is a weld that somehow failed. The gap you are seeing is because an enormous, heavy train travelling at 200km/h hit that fracture and the rear half of the train derailed, tearing up sleepers and kicking all manner of debris around including ballast and, in this case, parts of newly-fractured (and therefore weakened) track.

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