Millipedes Cause Pax Train Wreck?

[The Davy Crockett]

From the 'fact can be far stranger than fiction ever can be' news items:

There is a report out that says millipedes were likely a contributing factor when two passenger trains collided in western Austrailia on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013!

From this article at TIME.com:

...even something smaller like the innocuous-looking Black Portuguese millipede can have a titanic impact in sufficient numbers say, causing one passenger train to crash into another.
Thats what happened in Western Australia on Tuesday, though the official cause of the crash has yet to be determined. But after the rear-end crash occurred, Reuters says hundreds of the tiny creatures were found squashed in a slippery mess on the track.
Millipedes are one of the factors we are going to take into account, David Hynes, a spokesman with the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia, told Reuters. Its not clear how fast the moving train was traveling when it crashed into the stationary one, but six passengers were treated for neck stiffness.

My favorite part of the article :

The millipede theory involves other trains - how many, who knows - passing over millipede-infested section of the track [sic] and squashing them into a slimy-slick paste. Imagine... well, okay, dont, but yes, traction definitely sounds like a problem if the pulverized millipede theory proves accurate.

 

[June the Coach Rider]

This sounds like something PETA would get involved with, STOP the trains, protect the millipedes.

 

[the_traveler]

And all the millipedes had their iPods on and didn't hear the train, right?

 

[JayPea]

And here's Dave again being totally insensitive to the millipedes' friends and family. :angry: :lol:

 

[The Davy Crockett]

According to TheAtlanticCities Black Portuguese Millipedes

...have a tendency to hang out on train tracks, it seems, their shiny-black exoskeletons acting as perfect camouflage.

And BTW:

[they] ...are known not only for their distinctive black shell, but also for the terrible odor they emit.

But wait, there's more!

And this wouldn't be the first time that millipedes were the culprits in train problems. In 2002, Minibeast Wildlife notes, "There were so many Portuguese Millipedes on the train lines between Melbourne and Ballarat that 50 trains were prevented from running." And in 2009, thousands of the millipedes overtook more than a mile -- more than a mile! -- of track near Melbourne, causing train delays and cancellations.

Kind of makes you glad we have the 'nice, friendly' millipedes that we do!

 

[chakk]

Slip-sliding away. Slip-sliding away-ay. You know the nearer your destination the more you keep sliding away.

 

[gswager]

Just like leaves in the NE corridor during fall season.