Railway accident on the Belœil Bridge

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Accidental train

In the railway accident on the Belœil Bridge in Québec, the train driver overlooked a signal on June 29, 1864 that was supposed to secure the Belœil Bridge , a swing bridge over the Rivière Richelieu . At least 99 dead and over 100 injured were the result. This is the most serious rail accident in Canada to date .

Framework

The railway line of the Grand Trunk Railway from Montreal to Quebec crossed on the Belœil- bridge near the present-day Mont-Saint-Hilaire the Richelieu River, which here about three feet deep and then an important waterway in freight between New York and Montreal was. On the railway side there was a signal at a distance of about 1600 meters that was supposed to secure the bridge. In addition, there was a requirement that trains had to stop in front of a swing bridge and that the locomotive crew had to make sure that the bridge could be driven. The engine driver was new to the line.

the accident

The train was occupied by 350 to 475 passengers , including numerous immigrants from Germany and Poland . At around 1:20 a.m. on the day of the accident, he approached the swing bridge, which was open to shipping . The locomotive crew ignored the “red” signal securing the bridge and drove on without stopping. The bridge was open to shipping to allow five barges and a steamship to pass. The locomotive and eleven wagons fell one after the other into the river, first onto a barge, which they sank, and then onto each other, so that the wreckage of the vehicles piled up.

Conclusions

The engine driver and the train driver were blamed for the accident as they had not paid attention to the signal.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Collection: Disasters , in The Canadian Encyclopedia (English, optionally also French)
  2. ^ Library and Archives

Coordinates: 45 ° 32'53.1 "  N , 73 ° 12'35.9"  W.