 Poster: A snowHead
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The train route to Zermatt is currently closed due to a mud landslide that went over the tracks, missing a train that had passed the site just 50 seconds previously
Passengers must currently transfer to buses with all their belongings. However the good news is that train services are due to resume tomorrow (Thursday).
Meanwhile, questions are again being raised about the safety of the line, which has collapsed several times recently. Amateur video footage shows that a train bound for Zermatt passed the site just 50 seconds before the debris flow became so severe that it also affected the bridge.
The question arises whether, in places where mudslides caused by thunderstorms can trigger such strong mud-water mix movements that they spill over the tracks and hit the train, the passage for these water-mud masses beneath over suchpasses or bridges should not be be enlarged.
Or whether the line will have to be closed preventively during thunderstorms in the future. It's hard to imagine what would have happened if the debris flow had hit the train, which would have happened just a few seconds later if the MG Bahn train had been a bit slower.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
| Or whether the line will have to be closed preventively during thunderstorms in the future. |
It would be closed all summer. The summer storms are incredibly fierce, fast and localised, and predicting them accurately is a very difficult, if not impossible, task. Mud slides and flash floods are also pretty common, often hitting roads or railways – e.g. in Kufstein last night or Gschnitz a few days ago. The response needs to come from planning and infrastructure changes, rather than trying to predict the storms and closing everything.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Scarlet, for clarity I was just posting the English language translation version of the original German language article, the idea of closing the line preventively was not my own and you point out some cogent reasons why it would be a difficult if not impossible task. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Alastair Pink, Oh yes, I understand that, hence why I did not attribute the quote to you. It's still a daft thing for them to say though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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There has been a large number of similar incidents recently most notably in the Lötschental. Much of the infrastructure across the alps is potentially vulnerable - there was the incident in France with the boulder near Moutiers or the floods in St Anton last summer. Not sure the summer storms are any more intense than they used to be but maybe they are. Sooner or later one of these incidents is going to result in a major accident.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
Sooner or later one of these incidents is going to result in a major accident.
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Seems right! Storms are quite likely to be becoming more severe and I guess people in Europe are going to have to learn to live with these risks like people in third world countries do. The collapse of whole mountainsides due to melting permafrost is another big risk. No guarantees!
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| munich_irish wrote: |
| Not sure the summer storms are any more intense than they used to be but maybe they are. |
Not just more intense, but more regular as well. There will be some data about it, maybe here https://www.geosphere.at/en (used to be ZAMG).
I was just having my dinner on the balcony when a lightning bolt came down a few fields across, probably about 1km away. Followed almost immediately by an almighty crack of thunder which almost saw me wearing my lunch! 
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Summer storms - In July1987 there was a severe amount of rainfall on the Stelvio which had huge consequences for the Valtellina and downstream to Lake Como to the extent that parts of the lakeside promenade in Bellagio were under water (and Como's a fairly big lake!).
There was so much damage to the roads between Bormio and Tirano (at the Italian end of the Bernina Pass) that all Livigno transfers for the following season were from Zurich, not Bergamo or Milan. My job at the time didn't include Bormio but I expect that their only access that winter was through Livigino.
Wikipedia has an article about "Val Pola landslide".
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