Cleaner steals train, crashes it into house

[GurraJG]

This has got to be one of the more absurd things I've seen lately. A cleaner employed to clean trains on "Saltsjöbanan", a commuter train service in Stockholm, apparently manage to steal one of the trains in the middle of the night, and drove it at high speed along to the line, until at the end of the line, she failed to slow down, and careened straight into a house. Luckily, no one besides the cleaner was hurt, as it was in the middle of the night, and there were no passengers on the train, and luckily, no one got hurt in the house she crashed into. Not surprisingly, the cleaner has been arrested (though she's apparently still in the hospital).

News link

Pictures

[Geo Ghost]

I just read this as one of our cleaners walked up the platform

How did they manage to move the train? Or are there different safety measures compared to the UK?

[GurraJG]

Well, you do need a key to start the train, and as a cleaner, she was obviously not supposed to have access to one, so just how she managed to get a hold of one is a bit of a mystery. Also, this particular railway line doesn't have ACT installed, which is why she was able to go full speed past the final station and off the end of the rails into the house.

[Transportman]

The cleaner has been released, investigations revealed a potential malfunction made the train drive by itself (at least, that is what a Dutch news site claims).

[Ploes]

BBC News: Swedish cleaner not to blame for train crash

[Redirect Left]

BBC News: Swedish cleaner not to blame for train crash

That's an interesting development. Although how you accidentally turn on a train, who knows...

[SquireJames]

Although how you accidentally turn on a train, who knows...

Cleaner polishing the trains various buttons and knobs....

Bowchichawow

[Ameecher]

Although how you accidentally turn on a train, who knows...

Cleaner polishing the trains various buttons and knobs....

Bowchichawow

*smirk*

[GurraJG]

How does one keep the train running though? The dead man's handle is supposed to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen, is it not?

[Redirect Left]

Although how you accidentally turn on a train, who knows...

Cleaner polishing the trains various buttons and knobs....

Bowchichawow

Surely its harder to start a train than push a button though, and push a button and the train happily sets off unassisted?

[Ploes]

How does one keep the train running though? The dead man's handle is supposed to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen, is it not?

Maybe thats what she hung her heavy coat from....

[TossIB]

Dead man handles need to be released and not pressed continuously. Otherwise some "smart" driver would probably tape it down.
Pretty strange, that circumstance.