Railway accident in Bennau

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The Bennau railway accident was the head-on collision of two passenger trains near Bennau on July 26, 1947 after a mistake by the dispatcher at the Biberbrücke station (today: Biberbrugg ) of the Swiss Southeastern Railway (SOB). Ten people died.

Starting position

At that time, the SOB network essentially consisted of the two railway lines Rapperswil - Beaver Bridge - Arth-Goldau and Wädenswil - Beaver Bridge - Einsiedeln . The Biberbrücke – Einsiedeln section is single-track . The central station, also for the crossings between the two lines, was the Biberbrücke station. In addition, connections to the trains of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) had to be guaranteed in Wädenswil, Pfäffikon and Arth-Goldau . The SOB network and the timetable had been completely electrified since 1939has since been heavily compressed. In order to be able to guarantee this committed operating program, in the event of delays there was the option of having subsequent trains run so that connections were also guaranteed for those changing trains. At the same time, the SOB network did not yet have a route block . But it was planned, the systems had already been ordered.

The dispatcher at the Biberbrücke station had 17 years of operating experience without any noteworthy failures. On July 26, 1947, there was an operational situation in which an optional train was to be driven: Train 28 from Arth-Goldau-Rapperswil was so delayed that a train crossing had to be relocated. In addition, the dispatcher in Biberbrücke did not want to keep train 183 going to Einsiedeln waiting for the delayed train from Arth-Goldau, but rather use the set of a train coming from Wädenswil as follow-up train 81b for a follow-up train to train 183, which would carry the transferring passengers of train 28 should go to Einsiedeln. Another circumstance caused distraction: the dispatcher had expected an announced freight wagon with general cargo on train 33, which had arrived from Rapperswil , and had already made all preparations to have it shunted at the freight shed . He had not been informed that the car had been temporarily unhooked at the previous station, Schindellegi - Feusisberg , because the amount of general cargo to be unloaded there was far too large to be unloaded during the scheduled stop of the train . So he was concerned with the problem of where the announced freight wagon could have gone.

Train 84 ran from Einsiedeln to Wädenswil, for which the scheduled crossing with train 183 at Biberbrücke station was planned. Train 84 consisted of a leading railcar and an attached passenger car . Train 183 was formed from a railcar as the leading vehicle , two passenger cars and a baggage car . The railcars BCFZe 4/4 3 and the CFZe 4/4 12 of both trains used as leading vehicles had large front compartments in which passengers could look "over the shoulder" of the driver . These were very popular with passengers and were well staffed on that day.

the accident

The dispatcher, aware that he would not have to wait for travelers from Arth-Goldau because of the planned arrival, gave the train 183 to Einsiedeln the departure order two minutes ahead of schedule and at that moment forgot train 84 because of the numerous deviations from the timetable from the opposite direction was still to be seen. This was duly in Einsiedeln dispatched Service. This also included the ringing of the train, an acoustic signal that was used in the Biberbrücke station to indicate that a train had been sent from Einsiedeln to Biberbrücke. Neither the dispatcher nor the staff on train 183 noticed this.

When the two trains were already moving towards each other, the dispatcher noticed his mistake. He ran to the main switch for the traction power supply to switch off the traction current on the line, only to see that a short circuit was displayed: the trains had collided. At the moment of the collision they had a speed of 60 km / h and 65 km / h.

In the collision, about one kilometer above the Biberbrücke station in a curve on Bennauersteg , the front parts of the two railcars were pushed into each other and pressed together, and the two passenger cars on train 183 were also significantly damaged.

consequences

Ten people died, including both train drivers and another railroad worker, and at least 63 people were also injured. The high number of deaths also resulted from the fact that the front compartments of the railcars were well occupied on that day.

The SBB immediately made an aid train available. Most of the injured were taken to the Einsiedeln hospital, which was reaching its capacity limits, while the Wädenswil hospital offered free capacities that were hardly taken into account.

literature

  • Ascanio Schneider, Armin Masé: Disasters on rails. Railway accidents, their causes and consequences . Zurich 1968, pp. 154–163.
  • Otto Zuber (SOB director): A rare contemporary document about a terrible event 45 years ago - the Biberbrugg railway accident (July 26, 1947). In: The old Einsiedeln. Supplement to “Einsiedler Anzeiger” No. 147, July 3, 1992; No. 148, August 25, 1992; No. 149, November 24, 1992.

Remarks

  1. ^ So: Schneider / Masé; SBB Historic speaks of 73 injuries.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Serious railway accident near Einsiedeln. ( Memento from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Liechtensteiner Vaterland. July 30, 1947, p. 3. (PDF; 282 kB)
  2. ^ Peter Willen: Locomotives of Switzerland, standard gauge traction vehicles. P. 165.

Coordinates: 47 ° 9 '0.3 "  N , 8 ° 43' 54"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and ninety-eight thousand and sixty-five  /  222929