Train wreck
Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1865.jpg
A train wreck occurs when a train crashes. It most often occurs as a result of an accident, as when a wheel jumps off a mislain track, or miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track. Train wrecks were occasionally staged for public entertainment; crowds watched as two vacant trains were deliberately sent speeding toward each other.
The term is sometimes used metaphorically to describe a disaster that you can see coming but cannot stop, such as Newt Gingrich's assertion that a government shutdown would be a "train wreck."
The term "train wreck" is also used metaphorically to describe something distasteful or disastrous, yet inevitable, or something distasteful yet compelling in some form ("You don't want to stare, but you just can't look away"). The website rotten.com is a website which features much "train wreck" material. Train wreck is also used to describe the format of stations such as Jack FM where music of slightly different genres are played as a format.
See also: List of rail accidents