Railway accident on the Pont de l'Alleud
The railway accident on the Pont de l'Alleud (fr: Catastrophe ferroviaire des Ponts-de-Cé ) on August 4, 1907 was caused by a bridge collapse in La Possonnière in the canton of Les Ponts-de-Cé , France . 27 people died.
Starting position
The single-track line from Angers to Poitiers crosses the Loire at La Possonnière. The route runs in a tight curve in front of the Loire Bridge before it joins the bridge straight. The superstructure there was not equipped with a rail extension. The bridge spanned two arms of the river and a canal. It was designed as a close-meshed lattice bridge with continuous girders that rested on six pillars and two abutments .
The train of the Chemins de fer de l'État ( State Railways ) was fully occupied. In addition to the leading locomotive , it consisted of its tender , seven passenger cars and one baggage car at each end of the train. He had left Angers at 11:25 . It was hot summer weather that day.
the accident
Immediately in front of the bridge, the high temperature caused the track to warp and the locomotive derailed . But first she drove on and crossed the canal and the smaller Loire arm. Then the derailed axis damaged the girder structure of the bridge so badly that a whole series of lower chords broke out of the girder structure. The superstructure, locomotive, tender, front baggage car and a third- class car that followed fell into the river. The coupling to the following car broke. Its coupling with the rear part of the train held against it and the car got stuck almost vertically in the scene of the accident.
consequences
27 people died and 45 were also injured. Among the dead were the engine driver and the train driver . The stoker was able to save himself by swimming. The rescue work started very late. It took nearly four hours for Angers pioneers to arrive and begin. In the meantime, the current of the Loire had torn off the roof of the crashed 3rd class car and washed away some of the bodies, all of which could ultimately be recovered.
literature
- Bernhard Püschel: Historical railway disasters. A chronicle of accidents from 1840 to 1926 . Freiburg 1977. ISBN 3-88255-838-5 (with photographs of the accident site).
- Peter WB Semmens: Disasters on the rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 (here the location: "Pont-de-Cé, France" [!]).
Web links
- Catastrophes ferroviaires et déraillements with several photos of the Catastrophe des Ponts-de-Cé
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 47 ° 21 ′ 42 " N , 0 ° 43 ′ 11" W.