Custóias railway accident

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In the railway accident in Custoias on July 26, 1964 , the sidecar of a diesel railcar derailed near the municipality of Custóias , Portugal , about 20 km north of the destination station in Porto . 104 people died.

Class 9300. Motor car 9309 had an accident in the accident (shown here without a sidecar)

Starting position

The train composition of the Comboios de Portugal , the Portuguese state railway, consisted of the diesel multiple unit 9309 and a sidecar with a total of 68 seats. That Sunday evening he was on the then meter-gauge Linha da Póvoa from Póvoa de Varzim , a popular seaside resort, to Porto. The train was overcrowded: a maximum of 100 passengers could have traveled, but there were more than 300, mostly day trippers and soldiers .

the accident

At Custóias, about nine kilometers from Porto, the sidecar derailed at full speed at around 10 p.m. when the coupling between the two vehicles on the train broke. This happened in an incision in the route , which was enclosed on both sides by concrete walls. The derailed vehicle continued to slide and was thrown back and forth between the concrete walls, tearing out a side wall. At the end of the concrete wall it tipped off the track , landed on the roof and crushed numerous fallen travelers .

consequences

This was the worst railway accident in Portuguese history to date . Depending on the source, between 89 and 104 people died, another 105 (according to other sources 121) were injured, and 74 were admitted to hospitals in the region. The passengers in the front vehicle were uninjured.

Immediately after the accident, a commission of inquiry made up of three engineers from the Portuguese State Railways was set up, supported by three officials from the State Transport Administration ( Direcção-Geral de Transportes Terrestres ). The commission of inquiry submitted the report to the transport administration, which revised it and submitted it to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The investigation report concluded that the massive overstaffing together with excessive speed led to the coupling between the two vehicle parts breaking and the sidecar derailing. The driver denied that the vehicle had driven more than 50 km / h, with several eyewitnesses claiming the opposite.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Portugal ; reports of 89 deaths.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portugal . In: Spoorwegungeluk .
  2. ↑ a b c d 81 Mortos Num Desastre em Portugal . In: Diário de Notícias . tape 45 , no. 14320 . Lisbon July 27, 1964, p. 1 (Portuguese).
  3. ↑ Spoorwegungeluk .
  4. ↑ Portugal .
  5. ^ A tragédia da linha da Póvoa de Varzim . In: Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro . tape 77 , no. 1839 , August 1, 1964, p. 208 (Portuguese).
  6. ^ O Desastre da Linha da Póvoa . In: Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro . tape 77 , no. 1842 , September 16, 1964, p. 256 (Portuguese).
  7. ↑ Não chegou a atingir a centena o número de mortos . In: Diário de Notícias . No. 14324 , July 31, 1964, pp. 6 (Portuguese).

Coordinates: 41 ° 12 ′ 1.1 ″  N , 8 ° 39 ′ 20 ″  W.