Accident at Gröna Lund

[toofpikk]

Spending an off-season shadowing engineers at a theme park, I've seen ride reviews from park insurance companies have over 20 pages of contact sheets where areas of stress has been identified and photographed. A lot of welding, part replacement, micro-fracture analysis etc. takes place. Not sure how it would be for Scandinavian countries but in the UK these inspections take place once a year, where every nut and bolt of an operational train is inspected piece by piece, acid washed, and essentially put under an ultra sound and microscope to check for hairline fractures or any structural insecurity. We're seeing it with El Toro live right now; for a ride to be allowed to operate for the GP, the insurer needs to be satisfied it can do so safely, and will inspect every single part of a ride at least annually before providing a certificate to allow for an attraction to run. Failed parts are then checked to see how critical they are to the operation, or replaced. With schwarzkopf coasters, much like arrows, there is the extra complication of not having a direct supplier to go to for spare parts, so they'll be bespoke made by local manufacturing firms, done in house, or outsourced to supporting ride manufacturers.

We all know failures like this are a shock and an anomaly. I hope the park can find a satisfying conclusion as to what has happened, and provide the much needed closure to those affected. Thoughts should of course be with those directly impacted by what's happened; staff, guest, or relatives.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Photos and video are popping up on Twitter. This one is kinda.... crazy. (Safe)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1673005864762966016

Ok I really have no idea wtf happened watching this. I'm literally theoryless and back to wondering if that guy climbed out rather than fell and witnesses are mistaken.

 

[SilverArrow]

Spending an off-season shadowing engineers at a theme park, I've seen ride reviews from park insurance companies have over 20 pages of contact sheets where areas of stress has been identified and photographed. A lot of welding, part replacement, micro-fracture analysis etc. takes place. Not sure how it would be for Scandinavian countries but in the UK these inspections take place once a year, where every nut and bolt of an operational train is inspected piece by piece, acid washed, and essentially put under an ultra sound and microscope to check for hairline fractures or any structural insecurity. We're seeing it with El Toro live right now; for a ride to be allowed to operate for the GP, the insurer needs to be satisfied it can do so safely, and will inspect every single part of a ride at least annually before providing a certificate to allow for an attraction to run. Failed parts are then checked to see how critical they are to the operation, or replaced. With schwarzkopf coasters, much like arrows, there is the extra complication of not having a direct supplier to go to for spare parts, so they'll be bespoke made by local manufacturing firms, done in house, or outsourced to supporting ride manufacturers.

We all know failures like this are a shock and an anomaly. I hope the park can find a satisfying conclusion as to what has happened, and provide the much needed closure to those affected. Thoughts should of course be with those directly impacted by what's happened; staff, guest, or relatives.

Gerstlauer make parts for Schwarzkopf coasters. I would not be surprised if Zierer and Maurer do too, given that they also have or had ties to Schwarzkopf.

 

[chainedbanana]

Ok I really have no idea wtf happened watching this. I'm literally theoryless and back to wondering if that guy climbed out rather than fell and witnesses are mistaken.

I would theorise he was 'falling out' I.e. hanging out - and he thought it safer to drop down onto a beam - maybe he was scared the car was going to fall!

 

[SaiyanHajime]

I would theorise he was 'falling out' I.e. hanging out - and he thought it safer to drop down onto a beam - maybe he was scared the car was going to fall!

Yeah someone responded to me on twitter who witnessed it - it sounds like after it originally happened, it was moving slowly and he was hanging and grabbed the beam, heaving himself out.

It makes me wonder if the fatality was a copy cat who fell.

 

[owenjohn]

Interesting to read on RCDB that the ride was modified in 1997 to have a taller and steeper drop.

Many questions to ask and answer here - but these incidents should bring into question the ongoing use of some older ride-type designs and materials. An older coaster may continue to run absolutely fine… until it tragically doesn’t :/

Longer and steeper drop, definitely not taller!

It appears that the wheel assembly fell off the lead car, but the train is still more or less on the track, so I assume that the seriously injured (and sadly the victim as well) fell out of the train.

View attachment 25372

Looking @ this image there seems to be damage to the third car as well.

 

[bratcurry]

Looking @ this image there seems to be damage to the third car as well.

Good catch. Didn't see that before. The way that car's deformed, the stop must've been rather impactful though.

From what I've heard, there's no automatic restraints check and operators more often than not didn't check the restraints on JetLine, so it would be easy to slip out.

 

[SimonProD]

What a bad thing to happen - only reading this now after the weekend.

Visited last year and can confirm that restraints are only checked visually on Jetline - the same as on Nessie at Hansa-Park. I always put the restraints as tight as possible - even on a kiddie-coaster - but witnessed many times that poeple if possible keep them "loose" as the deem it "too tight" otherwise. I remember - cannot give a source - that there was discussion when the Loopingracer was introduced if lapbars would be enough and that a failure was provoked at the Schwarzkopf plant with poeple on the train so the train would stop upside down. The result: Poeple would not fall IF the restraints are tightly fit.

Generally I agree that on all older coaster after at max 30 years the train or all major parts of the old train must be replaced.

Also the restraints must be manually checked and PUSHED DOWN as far as possible. Or - like on the Gerstlauer Skyfly - hydraulics inside the restraint system should do it. And if poeple complain they are free to leave the ride.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Guy sitting on the support pulled himself out of a slow moving train, rather than do the obviously highly unlikley super-human feat of catching himself after being thrown.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1673247875906560000

 

[Stagwther]

the wheels of the first carriage came loose and fell to the ground at high speed. the explosions that occurred sounded like gun shots, therefore people standing below started screaming and running. Apparently it came to a complete stop when the pair of wheels fell off. so the woman who has now died flew out of the car from the heavy braking

 

[cookie]

Gröna Lund will remain closed for at least the rest of the week. The Zerier coasters at Kolmården and Furuvik have also gone down as a precaution.

As for Liseberg, Lisebergbanan will remain operational. Their CEO Andreas Andersen brought up that their Zerier coaster got its trains renewed recently, and seemingly made the inclination that Jetline’s train should’ve been similarly renewed.

Lisebergs svar: Vi kör inte med 35 år gamla tåg

Gröna Lund håller stängt efter dödsolyckan i Jetline på söndagen, där fyra personer fortsatt vårdas på sjukhus. Nu stänger både Kolmården och Furuviksparken berg- och dalbanor som kommer från samma tillverkare. Men Liseberg gör ett annat val i nuläget – eftersom man nyligen köpt in nya tåg...

www.expressen.se

 

[SimonProD]

so the woman who has now died flew out of the car from the heavy braking

Intersting to see what the official report will say. Was the restraint closed properly? Did the restraint fail?

I would assume maybe internal injuries as the body jacknifes over the restraint holding the body back at the waistline or face injuries as the face hits the handrail - but the rider should even on a catastrophic breaking never be ejected from the ride vehicle.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

The train didn't come to an immediate stop... Firstly because that's highly unlikley given the majority of the train is in tact - just think about how missing a single wheel assembly would play out in real time? I bet as it came loose the train slowed, it probably only fell off entirely when the train had basically stopped.

...and secondly because eye witnesses say otherwise. It had made a bunch of noise, it slowed. The exact details of the falls is muddy, but even the official media describe it as a tumble. I'm certain they all fell slow and the fatality is probably an unlucky head injury. Whether that's because the cars tipped or were moving slowly in a part of the ride usually under positive GS or they panicked and put themselves in further danger by attempting to escape, who knows. It doesn't even seem from the video those individuals were in the car which actually derailed.

We don't know jack **** for sure, other than 3 people ended up outside of the train.

To jump to the assumption they were violently ejected from a relatively slow speed ride is silly billy hour. This isn't an Intamin hyper.

I don't think there needs to be a restraint failure involved here - but restraint failures on ratchet based lapbar systems do fail due to vibrations more often than any of us would like to admit. There's no rides with rachet lapbars on rides that could reasonably eject you if they failed, under NORMAL circumstances. Including this one.

 

[rob666]

You are certain they all fell slow.
How are you certain?
What actual evidence do you have?
To jump to any assumption at this stage is "silly billy hour".
We know zero facts about this incident so far, apart from media reports and a few horrible video shots.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

You are certain they all fell slow.
How are you certain?
What actual evidence do you have?
To jump to any assumption at this stage is "silly billy hour".
We know zero facts about this incident so far, apart from media reports and a few horrible video shots.

I have quite a lot of evidence in that post.

 

[dcxs]

Here is the best picture I have found of the accident. The third carriage from the front looks the most damaged, possibly causing some kind of crushing injury to the rider.
I for sure thought that Jetline had new trains, or at least was recently fully refurbished? It ran great 2 yrs ago last time I rode it.

 

[Jonsson]

Rescue service have now confirmed that there were only 10 persons on the train, another four on the ground were treated for shock. In a press statement earlier today it was confirmed that four adults were still treated at hospital, two with minor injuries and two with severe, but not life threatening injuries. All children have been able to leave the hospital.

In an interview with the person sittning in the front car he states that the train started to shake and wobble violently shortly before the wheel assembly fell off, he states that it started on the straight piece of track after the twisted drop. He reacted by holding on to his lap bar and when the assembly came loose the train slowed down so violently that he broke his thumb. He also filmed a bit after the accident which you can see earlier in the thread. Note that the lap bar next to him is still down and with the new facts that the train was not full makes me believe that the lap bars did not unlock at least on the front car. Those who fell off must have done so from a different car of the train.

Currently there are three parallel investigations going on, one by Gröna Lund themselves, one by the Police to determine if it's a criminal act of negligence and one by the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority.

 

[Dar]

I was wondering if maybe when the wheel assembly came off it caught one of the restraint release buttons on the side of one of the cars?

 

[CanobieFan]

I was wondering if maybe when the wheel assembly came off it caught one of the restraint release buttons on the side of one of the cars?

I had actually suggested that to a friend via text. The restraint release is on the side of the train and could have been hit as the wheels fell away. Also, riders can release the lapbar themselves .....if wanted, on most of the old trains.

 

[bratcurry]

I was wondering if maybe when the wheel assembly came off it caught one of the restraint release buttons on the side of one of the cars?

You're under the misconception, that the restraints were fully closed when the accident happened. But the restraints don't have to be closed to dispatch a train. As mentioned above, they were not checked visually or manually by the operators and people more often than not attempted to leave them wide open.