Railway accident in Braunsdorf
In the railway accident in Braunsdorf (also known as the Harrasfelsenunlück or accident at Haustein) on December 14, 1913, a train that was traveling on the Roßwein – Niederwiesa railway from Frankenberg (Saxony) to Braunsdorf drove in debris that had just followed a landslide had partially buried the south portal of the Harra tunnel . 10 people were killed as a result of the accident.
Starting position
The Roßwein – Niederwiesa line, then owned by the Royal Saxon State Railways , runs between Frankenberg and Braunsdorf at km 32.62 through the 86-meter-long Harra tunnel. The responsible route attendant lived in a house which, a little away from the tunnel, was roughly in the middle of the section of the route to be used. That evening, a winter thunderstorm with heavy snowfall discharged. So he walked through the tunnel around 8:45 p.m. and found everything in order.
At around 9:15 p.m., train No. 1413 had passed the tunnel without any problems. Immediately before the accident , approx. 100 m³ of rock separated from the Harras rock, blocking the southern exit of the tunnel without completely burying it. Probably because of the thunderstorm, this was not noticed by either the railway attendant or his family. The cause of the landslide was that the rock of the Harras rock was strongly fissured, the sediments in the fissures had been loosened by seepage for a long time and finally failed as a hold for the rock due to the precipitation during the thunderstorm: It started sliding.
On the track the wrong here shortly after 22:15 the last train of the evening passenger train no. 1414 of Frankenberg Chemnitz . It was pulled by two locomotives : Leading was Lok 1727 a locomotive of the Series IV T (later 71 322). It was followed by IIIb No. 351. The front passenger cars of the train were only sparsely occupied with passengers . In total there should have been about 15 cars - the information on this varies depending on the source.
the accident
When the entry signal for the train was pulled at Braunsdorf station , it worked without any problems, but the corresponding distant signal "jammed" . The responsible dispatcher from Braunsdorf assumed that the mechanics on the much longer way to the distant signal, which was on the side of the tunnel facing away from Braunsdorf, had frozen due to the frost. With two men it was possible to pull the appropriate lever. The dispatcher then claims to have seen the lights of the train in front of the tunnel.
The locomotive drivers of both machines noticed that the distant signal did not show “Wait for the journey”. Depending on the source, there is talk of a signal that is only half set or that shows an “expect stop” signal . Both engine drivers braked. However, one of the train drivers also recognized the entry signal for Braunsdorf on the other side of the tunnel, which indicated "Drive free". Shortly afterwards, the driver of the engine in front noticed that the tunnel exit light had disappeared. Despite already reduced speed and immediately initiated emergency braking of both locomotives, the train hit the rock masses at the tunnel exit at about 50–55 km / h. As a result of the strong tremors associated with it, more rock fell.
The leading locomotive was pushed up to the top of the tunnel by the following mass of the train when it hit the rubble and reached the tunnel exit with its front. The locomotives, which were much more stable than the following passenger cars with wooden car bodies , were not even badly damaged, only their buffers and lanterns broke off and there was sheet metal damage. The second locomotive and the first passenger cars were also raised. Some of the cars pushed into one another in such a way that the total length of the train was reduced from 150 to 100 meters. Seven cars were completely smashed and others damaged. Only the last three remained undamaged on the track .
consequences
Immediate consequences
The accident resulted in 10 deaths, of which at least four were directly involved in the accident, and 6 were probably later killed by their injuries. In addition, 53 people were injured (according to other sources: 60).
The rescue work in the tunnel turned out to be difficult. Broken gas light pipes initially only allowed recovery in the dark and the tunnel was largely filled with rubble. Help came first from the Braunsdorf and Frankenberg fire brigade , a medical column of volunteers of the Red Cross , from medical personnel from the Frankenberg 4th Company of Train Battalion No. 19 and from local doctors. These were later supported by other doctors called. The dispatcher from Braunsdorf requested the rescue train at 10:44 p.m. The message reached Chemnitz main station at 10:50 p.m. and the relief train left Chemnitz station at 11:31 p.m. This was followed by two more trains from Hainichen and Leipzig . That night, the President of the State Railways, Prof. Dr. Richard Ulbricht , from Dresden . By 4 a.m. all of the survivors were rescued. In the meantime, rock slipped again so that the tunnel could only be entered from the Frankenberg side. On December 16, the last wreckage of the passenger cars and the rear locomotive were recovered from the tunnel. On December 17, the exit on the Braunsdorf side was reopened and on December 20, the front locomotive was recovered from the scene of the accident. On the same day Ernst von Seydewitz , as Saxon finance minister also responsible for the state railway, visited the scene of the accident with a special train . At noon on December 23, train no. 1407 from Chemnitz resumed rail operations via the accident site. Until then, the passenger traffic with omnibuses was routed as rail replacement traffic on the road around the accident site.
The accident is still one of the ten most serious railway accidents in Saxony . The property damage to the vehicles amounted to approx. 27,000 marks , the state railway initially paid around 46,000 marks to the injured and survivors.
Legal processing
One of those injured in the accident, a mechanical engineering student and later foreman, was not satisfied with a severance payment and sued for damages against the Royal Saxon State Railways through all instances . He not only demanded higher compensation, but also an annual pension of 2,880 marks and compensation for pain and suffering . The Dresden Regional Court in 1914 and the Royal Higher Regional Court of Dresden in the second instance in 1917 dismissed the lawsuit and justified this with the fact that the accident was triggered by an inevitable event, i.e. force majeure , which meant that the railway was not at fault and was therefore not liable.
The Supreme Court , however found that the state railway because of the railway operations inherent operational risk could be liable, even if the train was not attributable to culpable action and referred the case to the Court of Appeal returned. In March 1918, this affirmed the principle that the railway was liable for some of the claims made due to operational risk and referred the case back to the regional court because of the amount of the compensation . The State Railways appealed against this decision, which the Reichsgericht rejected in September 1918. With regard to the claims for compensation for pain and suffering and permanent disability , which had not yet been decided by the Higher Regional Court , there was a further process before the Higher Regional Court. Because the plaintiff could not prove a permanent disability, the claim was dismissed on this point. For a claim for pain and suffering, he would have had to prove that the state railway was at fault . But he did not succeed. By judgment of December 4, 1919, the action was dismissed. In 1920 the parties settled: In return for a severance payment of 35,000 marks and the assumption of the legal costs by the state, the plaintiff waived the right to assert claims.
literature
- Manfred Ernst: Shadow of the Railway History . Vol. 6: Railway accidents in Saxony: from the beginning to 1945 . 2002.
- Andreas Knipping: The railroad in imperial times . Freiburg 2012, p. 108.
- Andreas Petrak: The Niederwiesa – Roßwein railway . Kenning, Nordhorn 2006. ISBN 3-927587-84-2 , pp. 144-149.
- Hans-Joachim Ritzau: Shadow of the Railway History . Vol. 2 .: Disasters of the German railways . Part 2 .: Complete chronicle 1845–1992, rotten and work accidents, railway stops, collisions at railway crossings, SBZ and GDR . 3rd edition 1993. ISBN 3-921304-86-5
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Built as 951/1877 by Hartmann and originally numbered 500 and the name " Memphis ".
- ↑ The front IIIb was not decommissioned until 1933, the following IV T ran until 1922.
Individual evidence
- ↑ A photo of the leading locomotive that is stuck in the rock, but can be seen in the mouth of the tunnel, Zeit Knipping, p. 108.
Coordinates: 50 ° 53 '18.2 " N , 13 ° 1' 26.8" E