El Cuervo railway accident

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The railway accident in El Cuervo was the head-on collision of a motor coach with a night express train on July 21, 1972 at the station El Cuervo at the time single-track railway line Alcazar de San Juan Cádiz . 86 people died.

Starting position

Class 2100 locomotive (today: 321) as it ran in front of the express train
Rail bus in the version for the RENFE (series 591), as it was on the way in double traction from Cádiz to Seville

A four-part Schienenbusgarnitur the RENFE - Series 591 was a local train from Cadiz to Seville with about 200 passengers on the road and held as planned in the station El Cuervo on a siding. The dispatcher intended to cross the train with the express train running in the opposite direction, which was traveling from Madrid to Cádiz. This was hauled by the 2118 diesel locomotive (today: class 321) and carried 14 cars in which around 500 people traveled. The first thing behind the locomotive was a rail mail car .

The dispatcher set points and signals accordingly, so that the express train could pass on the through siding, but the driver of the rail bus received a signal indicating "stop".

the accident

Nevertheless, the driver of the rail bus drove off and via the exit signal showing "Stop" . The reports differ here: Either the exit of the rail bus into the through track was not secured by a safety switch or it was defective. In any case, the entry point into the through track opened the vehicle. The rail bus left the station in the direction of the next station, Lebrija . The express train, whose next scheduled stop was to be Jerez de la Frontera , had already passed through it, so it could no longer be stopped or notified. The rail bus was traveling at around 80 km / h, the express train at 90 km / h. Due to a curve, the locomotive drivers of both trains noticed each other very late and initiated braking, but the collision that occurred at around 7:30 a.m. at route kilometer 86 was no longer avoidable. The express train was still 78 km / h fast. The three front units of the rail bus were destroyed. The locomotive and the first three cars on the express train derailed .

consequences

86 people died, 112 were injured. Most of the people died in the rail bus. Nobody survived in its front vehicle. The driver of the rail bus was also among the dead, so that it could no longer be determined why he had run over the signal indicating “stop”. 57 of the victims alone were marines from a 60-man group that was on shore leave from the San Fernando naval base near Cádiz. The only person killed on the express train was the conductor of the rail mail car, and according to other sources also the locomotive driver of the express train.

Doctors were asked over the radio to come to the scene of the accident and asked for blood donations . Help came from the Rota naval base , among others, from the US Navy . 15 helicopters were used. The dead were first in the courtyard of the Franciscan - monastery moved from Lebrija, where they lay up to identify under blankets.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b NN: 76 killed .
  2. ↑ a b c Carbonell.
  3. ↑ a b Jurada.
  4. ↑ NN: Another five dead .
  5. ↑ a b NN: 40 años .
  6. ↑ de la Plata deviates from 78 and 79.
  7. ^ Carbonell; Jurada; NN: 40 años calls deviating: 106; de la Plata: 103.
  8. ↑ de la Plata.
  9. ↑ According to NN: 40 años there were 26 of the fatalities.
  10. ^ Carbonell; NN: 40 años .
  11. ↑ NN: 76 killed ; Carbonell.
  12. ↑ de la Plata.

Coordinates: 36 ° 52 '40.9 "  N , 6 ° 6' 22.2"  W.