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......... Since it's obvious to me that the industry (regulators, engine and airframers )did not know of this combination beforehand it just happend to be a RR installation that first illustrated the weakeness in all our collected ignorance.
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I knew someone intimately involved in the Kings Cross fire. There, both before during and after the official enquiry there were masses of misinformed criticism. Most people nowadays will say it was simplistically the combination of wooden treads and build-up of rubbish in the under-escalator area (plus poor emergency procedures).
Actually the main reason was the flash-over effect caused by the layout of the tunnels - something never expected and indeed "new" in terms of underground railway operation. The experts know what happened, the general public just have a simplistic view.
(The final costs of all the remedial works has been vast - and is only now being completed - I have a vague feeling the same might be a case here).
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