Driverless locomotive on hair-raising 200 kilometre trip thr

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041015/323/f4ocx.html

ROME (AFP) - A driverless diesel locomotive thundered nearly 200 kilometres (120 miles) through southern Italy at 80 kilometres (50 miles) an hour before line staff managed to derail it in a disused station.

The driver had set the engine in motion, leaned out to see if the line ahead was clear, then slipped and fell from his cabin.

Another railway worker tried to jump aboard and stop it but failed.

The rail company alerted police to the emergency as the engine hurtled north from the town of Cosenza, gathering speed automatically up to 80 kilometres an hour.

Stations along the line were evacuated and emergency services stoody by. A first attempt to block its passage failed when it smashed its way through heavy obstacles piled on the track.

The locomotive was finally switched on to a track leading up to a remote disused station at the top of a long incline, where it smashed through buffers, brought down an electrical pylon and derailed before finally coming to a halt.