Abenheim railway accident

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In the Abenheim railway accident on July 24, 1954, an omnibus was hit by a train at an open level crossing on the Worms – Gundheim railway line between Herrnsheim and Abenheim . 26 people died.

Scene of the accident with a destroyed bus in front of the locomotive

Starting position

The road from Worms-Herrnsheim to Worms-Abenheim crossed the branch line about 800 m west of the Gundheim terminus with a technically unsecured level crossing.

The bus was on its way to the Eiswoog with two other buses as part of a company outing of the Hochheim furniture company Schramm & Möller . However, the buses did not drive in a convoy, but rather individually at a large distance, so that the occupants of the other two buses did not even notice the accident. In the bus sat next to the driver 28 people. The bus approached the technically unsecured level crossing.

At the same time the P 3912 drove from Gundheim to Worms towards this level crossing. Pulled by the steam locomotive 74 850 of the Deutsche Bundesbahn , which was stationed in the Worms depot . The locomotive drove forward with the tender , ie "backwards", which was completely normal in regular operation on branch lines.

the accident

About 60 m before the crossing, passengers called the bus driver that the train was coming. Instead of braking, he accelerated. According to witnesses , he overtook road users waiting before the crossing, including a motor vehicle , a motorcycle and several bicycles . The speedometer of the bus showed 69 km / h after the accident. The police found that there were no skid marks.

The speed of the train was not great: steam locomotives started relatively slowly and the intended travel speed of the train averaged around 30 km / h. The engine driver saw the bus and initiated emergency braking , which was not enough to prevent the collision.

The locomotive caught the bus behind the front wheel and pushed it 43 m in front of it before coming to a stop. Then the bus was largely smashed.

consequences

Memorial cross. State before the cut in summer 2019

26 people died, 18 of them still at the scene of the accident, five were also injured, including the train driver and the stoker who suffered a shock . The passengers on the train were all unharmed.

Thousands of people took part in the funeral service, including the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Peter Altmeier , and Federal President Theodor Heuss sent a condolence telegram . A separate burial ground was set up for the victims at the Hochheimer Höhe main cemetery in Worms-Hochheim .

In 1954 the Heimatverein founded Abenheim e. V. a wooden cross at the scene of the accident, which was replaced in 1960 by a stone cross with a crucifix and which was replaced by a larger one in 1986. When the original location the construction of the transfer of the county road was above the feeder road in the way, it was to its current location near the accident site added . The memorial was cut free of lush vegetation in summer 2019 - probably in view of the 65th anniversary of the accident. The inscription, which is difficult to read today, reads:

“In memory of the omnibus accident on July 24, 1954, in which 26 people were killed. Heimatverein 1953 Abenheim e. V. 1954/1986 "

Worth knowing

The railway accident is the central event of a graphic novel that was developed by Nina Beier as part of a bachelor thesis and is to be detailed in her master’s thesis .

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

  • Jakob Gander: Railway Worms - Gundheim . In: We Herrnsheimer . January 1994, pp. 13-15.
  • Heimatverein 1953 Abenheim eV (Ed.): Chronicle of Worms-Abenheim . tape 1 . Worms-Abenheim 2003, chap. "Omnibus / Railway Accident 1954", p. 268-274 .
  • Hans-Joachim Ritzau, Jürgen Höstel: The disaster scenes of the present = railway accidents in Germany Vol. 2. Pürgen 1983. ISBN 3-921304-50-4 , p. 32.
  • Claudia Wößner: A completely destroyed bus - and 26 dead . In: Wormser Zeitung of July 24, 2019, p. 8.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Today: Kreisstraße 434.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Woessner: A completely destroyed bus .
  2. ^ Woessner: A completely destroyed bus .
  3. ^ Woessner: A completely destroyed bus .
  4. ^ Deutsche Bundesbahn: Official course book for western Germany. Summer timetable 1950 , table 274f.
  5. ^ Woessner: A completely destroyed bus .
  6. ^ Woessner: A completely destroyed bus .
  7. ↑ Irene Spille: Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 10 (City of Worms). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft , Worms 1992, ISBN 978-3-88462-084-7 , p. 230.
  8. ^ Abenheim / OT von Worms. suehnekreuz.de, accessed on February 28, 2014 . ; Woessner: A completely destroyed bus .
  9. ^ Woessner: A completely destroyed bus .
  10. ↑ Ulrike Schäfer: The misfortune that shook Worms . In: Wormser Zeitung of July 24, 2020, p. 11.

Coordinates: 49 ° 40 ′ 23 "  N , 8 ° 17 ′ 56.1"  E