Economy 99 meters high, 153 km/h fast
Column broken, train keeps racing – this case shows the residual risk with roller coasters
As of: 4:34 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
At up to 153 km/h, the cars race over the Fury 325, where a large crack has formed on a support
Quelle: AP/Erik Verduzco
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A pillar breaks on one of the world‘s longest steel roller coasters. A video shows how trains still drive over the pillar. Only a visitor to the amusement park noticed the dangerous damage. The industry reacts – and refers to its own security standards.
There is no roller coaster this high and fast in Germany. The highest point of one of the world‘s longest and fastest steel roller coasters measures 325 feet, i.e. 99 meters. But Fury 325, as the up to 153 km/h thrill ride is called in the US amusement park Carowinds, is now standing still. A support pillar appears to have broken completely during operation. Dozens of trains still raced over the pillar with the giant crack. Only one visitor to the park noticed the damage to the track at the weekend, the safety of which is said to be checked daily.
As with the Legoland roller coaster accident in Günzburg in 2022, with 31 injured in a rear-end collision, a lengthy search for the cause could now develop as the basis for claims for damages. The Legoland accident happened in August 2022, and the train then stood still for two months. After seven months, the Dekra testing organization issued an expert opinion on the causes, which initially remained under wraps. The results could be published in a few weeks, according to WELT’s request from the Memmingen public prosecutor’s office.
In the case of the support incident with the Fury 325 track, the foundation could have lowered under the pillar, according to an assumption among experts. So maybe not a design flaw?
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The US incident and the Legoland train accident are not directly comparable. However, they do highlight an amusement where park operators and the industry compete for spectacular driving experiences while touting high safety standards. Nevertheless, there are accidents or incidents that shouldn’t actually happen. The causes can be technical or human error.
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Fury 325 comes from the renowned Swiss manufacturer Bollinger & Mabillard and was designed according to a top US safety standard (ASTM), which is similar to the European standard (EN13814).
In 2021 only 0.05 serious injuries per million journeys in Europe
All industry associations refer to the high safety standards. Depending on the component of the roller coaster, there are different safety factors that go beyond the expected maximum load, according to TÜV Süd, for example.
The international amusement park umbrella organization IAAPA does not keep a list of accidents by country. In Europe, however, there were only 0.05 serious injuries per million rides in total in 2021. In 2019, the standards and norms were tightened again, it says on request.
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In the Mecca of amusement parks, the USA with around 400 parks and 385 million guests and 1.7 billion rides in 2021, the rate of 0.9 serious injuries per million rides was higher than in Europe. Of 130 serious injuries at US theme parks, 38 were on roller coasters.
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Overall, the amusement park rides are very safe, emphasize all industry representatives. The German amusement park association VDFU says on request: “The rides in Germany are among the best in quality and safest in the world!” The association represents 120 facilities in Germany with a good 50 million visitors a year. Apparently, there are no separate accident statistics on incidents involving rides.
When a woman died last year from a fall from a roller coaster in Klotten on the Moselle and the Legoland accident happened a few days later, this was described as a negative exception for the German amusement park industry.
“I can only assure you that the safety of all visitors in the German leisure and adventure facilities has the highest priority,” explains a VDFU spokesman on request. In the recent US incident with the Fury 325 roller coaster, everyone involved, directly or indirectly, emphasized that safety comes first – and yet one of the world‘s most spectacular rides has now come to a standstill.
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