The premier tourist train the Glacier Express derailed on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn between the small Swiss towns of Lax and Fiesch in the Canton of Valais. One person is dead and 42 are reported injured some seriously. Three cars derailed, with two on their sides. This is on a 2.5 percent sidehill climb between two rack sections.
Went to Google and asked to get the link translated:
Hopefully, this will make it easier for the non-bilingual among us to understand. I thought it was interesting that the train derailed the last three cars of the train (looks like a curve before a bridge) See video in article.
The Glacier Express seems to advertise its speed as glacial-like ( something on the order of 30 mph(?).
The Glacier Express is indeed marketed as the slowest express in the world. It runs at an average speed of 30 kmph / 20 mph
A Swiss website showed fotos of the wreck. The engine and the first cars are standing on their wheels.
One of the derailed cars had to be secured by ropes in order not to roll downhill. Casualties: one person killed, 10 or 12 persons severly hurt and transported to various hospitals. Obviously, things were serios enough to fly patients to university hospitals which are the best-equipped ones.
The derailed cars are four-axle-two-truck passenger-cars, among them at least one panoramic car. Causes of the accident still unclear.
Here is the story from a Swiss source in English.
I didn’t see mentioned if this happened on a ascending or descending trip.
FTA. (Linked above): "…According to initial findings, the Glacier Express jumped after a light curve with slight slope at relatively low speed from the rail. Insgesamt waren 210 Passagiere an Bord. A total of 210 passengers were on board. Die ganze Zugkomposition umfasste sechs Wagen und die Lok. The whole train composition comprised of six cars and the locomotive. Drei Wagen blieben unbeschädigt, wie der Online-Dienst des «Walliser Boten» berichtet. Three cars were damaged, as the online service of the “Valais messengers’ reports…”
[This excerpt is from the Google Translation of the link posted in My Thread above.]
Ascending grade. The climb is only 2.5% in that area. The derailment happened east of Lax. The train had come off of the rack section about 3 kilometers back. The climb on the Grengiols rack into the 270 degree spiral tunnel on a 9 % gradient while on a bridge over a 50 meter drop is spectacular, but not a spot to have a derailment.
Fortunately, only three person beeing seriously hurt, but conformation that one person has been killed.
If the cars would have avenced some additional 20-30 meters before derailing, they would have fallen off the viaduct, with much more casualities probable.
A the location of the accident, speed limit changed from 35 km/h (22mph) to 55 km/h, but I don’t know whether the the train had to accelerate or to slow down. The federal authorities will investigate whether the train ran too fast.
Since the engine leaded the train and stood on it’s wheels, as the three first cars, we can rule out the hypothesis the train rain into a mudslide. A spokesmann of the railway said there was no indication to a heat-related relocation of the rails. He furthermore denied engineers regulary ran too fast on this segment of the line to make up delays.
The train is confirmed as train 906, one of the Glacier Express trains and it was running a few minutes late. The last three cars derailed, the Wrp dining car, followed by Api 4032, and the trailing car Ap 4022 where the fatality was. There has been various speculation as to the cause, but no solid information yet. All three cars were rerailed using a Kirow Hyrail crane borrowed from the MOW contractor SERSA. The crane is interesting as it can operate on both standard and metre gauge track. The three rerailed cars were removed from the derailment site on their own wheels by MGB’s rack equipped diesel MOW locomotive. Inspite of recent hot weather experienced in Switzerland, a Sun kink has been ruled out. The line is now open and services have been restored.
This afternoon, the expert which conducted the official investigation revealed his conclusion.
The train emerged from a tight curve with a 35 km/h speed-limit and entered a section good for 55 km/h. The engineer accelerated too early. The train reached 55 km per hour already 80 meters before the signal allowing the higher speed. Therefore, centrifugal force forded the last car to jump off the rail. This car derailed the second and third-last car in the train. The train had six cars and a locomotive. The locomotive and the first three cars remained on their wheels. The train was 10 minutes late.
A rejection on the rail track, which was found after the accident, played no role in the accident because the derailment took place before this point, the expert from the federal transportation authority said. The offical report excludes a problem on the cars or hot weather as cause of the accident.
I was in the second coach that flipped over. It was horrific.
I sincerely hope you haven’t been hurt in this terrible accident
Thanks God! I’m alright. I have minor injuries and would be able to work back in a month or two.
The way I calculate it…35 KPH = approx 21 MPH and 55 KPH = 35 MPH. If the cause of the accident is being attributed to being at the higher speed approximately 250 feet too soon and thus exceeding the overturning speed of the the rear car then the 35 KPH allowed speed is much too high for the equipment being used.
Reading numerous runaway American railroad accident reports seems to indicate the the curve speeds are set at roughly half or less of the overturning speed for the equipment on the cu
[quote user=“BaltACD”]
martin.knoepfel:
This afternoon, the expert which conducted the official investigation revealed his conclusion.
The train emerged from a tight curve with a 35 km/h speed-limit and entered a section good for 55 km/h. The engineer accelerated too early. The train reached 55 km per hour already 80 meters before the signal allowing the higher speed. Therefore, centrifugal force forded the last car to jump off the rail. This car derailed the second and third-last car in the train. The train had six cars and a locomotive. The locomotive and the first three cars remained on their wheels. The train was 10 minutes late.
A rejection on the rail track, which was found after the accident, played no role in the accident because the derailment took place before this point, the expert from the federal transportation authority said. The offical report excludes a problem on the cars or hot weather as cause of the accident. A rejection on the track, which was found after the accident, played no role in the accident because the derailment took place before this point.
1,61 km = 1 mile. 1 km = 1000 meter
The way I calculate it…35 KPH = approx 21 MPH and 55 KPH = 35 MPH. If the cause of the accident is being attributed to being at the higher speed approximately 250 feet too soon and thus exceeding the overturning speed of the the rear car then the 35 KPH allowed speed is much too high for the equipment being used.
Reading numerous runaway American railroad accident reports see
To me - this appears to be Swiss Rail abdicating their responsibility in the incident and dropping it all on the Engineer. The statement quoted stated that the engineer began acceleration to the higher track speed before his ENTIRE train had passed the point of restriction (observation of the pictures that accompanied the original post would seem to suggest a train length of less than 1200 feet) which opens the question of how fast could the train actually accelerate.
As I stated in a earlier post, Swiss Rail has the track speed limits in this area (and potentially on their entire system) way too close to the actual physical limits of the curvature. If a engineer can operate his train at the low speed limit to the point of the implementation of the higher speed limit and then accelerate the train in LESS than one train length to exceed the overturning speed of the equipment the speed limits have been set incorrectly. The engineer has been made the convenient scapegoat for the systematic failing of Swiss rail as it applies to this location (and potentially many other areas of their system).
[quote user=“samfp1943”]
Today’s TRAINS Newswire carries this story’s apparent conclusion under the headline:
“Engineer convicted in fatal Swiss crash”### FTA: "…ZURICH, Switzerland — The engineer that was operating the Glacier Express when it crashed last summer has been convicted of negligence and homicide,… Investigators say the crash occurred at a point where the line’s speed limit jumps from 22 mph to 34 mph. They say the engineer accelerated before his entire train had exited the slower-speed zone, and that led to the derailment.
The engineer will have to pay a conditional fine of 15,000 Swiss Francs ($16,200)…"
EDIT: Emphasis added(samfp1943)
BaltACD you should be aware that this accident did not occur on the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) but rather on a primarily Canton (State) and privately owned railway, the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. The locomotive is rated at 2600 hp, and train weight is on the order of 300 tonnes. The Swiss very much believe in personal responsibility, if they trust you to operate the train safely, you are first in line to bear the burden of your failure. I am not familiar with MGB’s training regime, but on Swiss Federal Railways schooling to become an Locomotive Engineer (Lokfuhrer) is a two year course. The first year is a very thorough grounding in air brakes, electrical traction, and diesel engines, to the point that with the proper tools he could affect many common repairs, the idea of calling up the “Diesel Doctor” over the radio would seem funny to them.