Railway accident in Eisenach
In the railway accident at Eisenach on June 23, 1976, the international express train D 354 derailed on its way from Berlin to Paris and collided with a shunting department . 26 people were injured, 10 of them seriously. The cause of the accident was a defective switch .
Starting position
The D 354 was a transit train from Berlin-Friedrichstrasse to Paris, which crossed the GDR area between Berlin (West) and the inner-German border without stopping. Controls by the GDR authorities were therefore limited to checking the identity documents. In order to prevent jumping up while driving, the train had to maintain a minimum speed on GDR territory. The train was supported by a diesel locomotive of the DR series 118 pulled six passenger cars followed, and went through the Eisenach Station at 17:25 towards Förtha .
At the time, there was a shunting department on the neighboring exit track in the direction of Wartha / Werra , consisting of express freight and rail mail cars for an express freight train that was scheduled to leave for Berlin at 6 p.m. It was pulled by the shunting locomotive 106 965-7 . The staff were the train driver and a rail post employee.
the accident
According to some sources, the D 354 passed through Eisenach station at the maximum permitted speed; According to other sources, the speed could no longer be determined because the locomotive was not equipped with a tachograph . When driving over a double crossing point (DKW) at the Westkopf (signal box district Ew), first the third and then all subsequent passenger cars derailed due to a defect at the turnout, while the locomotive and the first two passenger cars remained on the tracks. The derailed wagons collided with the shunting locomotive and the mail car, which crashed onto a main road, known as the racetrack, on the side of the embankment.
The crew of the shunting department and 24 passengers of the D 354 were injured in the accident.
Salvage
It turned out to be fortunate that at the time of the accident in the canteen on Clemensstrasse there was an election meeting of the company party organization, attended by around 50 people who provided immediate assistance. Many passers-by also offered to provide first aid. The injured, most of whom were cut, were taken to three surrounding hospitals; 16 of them were released the next day. The uninjured passengers were looked after in the MITROPA restaurant until they continued their journey .
The fire brigade covered the shunting locomotive with extinguishing foam to prevent an explosion until the fuel could be pumped out.
The use of a railway slewing crane (EDK 1000) was required to recover the accident vehicles . Rail traffic could be resumed the next day.
consequences
The accident led to the deployment of a commission by the Ministry for State Security to investigate the condition of the superstructure of the Halle – Eisenach – Gerstungen line. The report with the registration number ZAIG 2564 found numerous deficiencies on the 284 km long line, including around 900 to 1000 tolerance violations in each of the two main tracks.
The following is reported on the cause of the accident:
“The derailment of the D 354 is ultimately due to technical defects on a double crossing switch that was bent in the horizontal and vertical plane and not - as prescribed - welded to the track. Improperly performed maintenance work also contributed to this technical deficiency. "
The report remained secret and was only found again in 2013, 37 years after the accident, through research by Otto Mayer - at the time of the accident, head of service at Eisenach's main train station. Neither the public nor railway employees learned the determined cause of the accident.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Quick help and comprehensive care for the injured. In: The people . June 24, 1976. Retrieved December 1, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Norman Meissner: The Eisenach railway disaster of June 23, 1976: Two contemporary witnesses report. In: Thüringische Landeszeitung . June 28, 2014, accessed September 9, 2015 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Otto Mayer: June 23, 1976 - Accident in Eisenach. August 12, 2013, accessed December 1, 2019 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 44.3 " N , 10 ° 19 ′ 36.4" E