Railway accident in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
The Garmisch-Partenkirchen railway accident was a head- on collision on December 12, 1995 caused by driving past a “stop” signal . One dead and 51 injured were the result. The glass train was so badly damaged in the accident that it has not been able to operate since then.
initial situation
The regional express RE 3612, pulled by the locomotive 1044 235 of the ÖBB , from Innsbruck main station was in the direction of Munich Main road and stopped in the station Garmisch-Partenkirchen , where he had planned to stay 10 minutes.
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In the opposite direction, the Transparent Train ran as a special train under train number 28827 on the single- track Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen line to Garmisch-Partenkirchen . Here he should cross the RE 3612 and then continue his journey over the Mittenwaldbahn in the direction of Innsbruck . The Glass Train was a historic vehicle that was characterized above all by the fact that the upper part of its structure consisted almost exclusively of panoramic windows to allow passengers an uninterrupted view. The technical price for this was that its impact protection was extremely poor.
the accident
The train driver of the regional express used the stop to get a coffee from the service team in the reception building. The coffee had just run out there and he had to wait until his coffee had run through the coffee machine. While he was waiting, a colleague informed him that the departure time of his train had come. The driver ran to his train, closed the car doors using the automatic system and gave the engine driver the order to leave . He could not see the exit signal , which was obscured by the train and the platform roof. Weather conditions at the time of the accident: Light snowfall at temperatures around zero degrees Celsius.
The engine driver heard the driver's whistle in the driver's cab, looked out the window and picked up the departure order. While he was still looking along the train, he started the locomotive. In doing so, he forgot to pay attention to the exit signal, which still commanded a “stop” in order to secure the oncoming Glass Train . When he wanted to sit down and looked ahead, he noticed the glass train just a few meters in front of him. He initiated an emergency stop , immediately afterwards the emergency brake started , as he had passed the signal that instructed him to “stop”. The slip wayHowever, it was not long enough to prevent a train approaching the “stop” signal from reaching the adjoining switch. The trains collided when the Regional Express was traveling at 47 km / h and the Glass Train was still 37 km / h.
consequences
One death and 27 injured in the glass train were the result, 14 more on the regional express. The drive bogie and one half of the car of the Glass Train were so badly damaged in the head-on collision that the railcar has not been roadworthy since then. In 1997 it was taken over by the Nuremberg Transport Museum and has been in the Bahnpark Augsburg since May 2005 . It is sponsored by the BSW - Gläserner Zug Foundation Group and the Gläserner Zug e. V. restored. The restoration of operational readiness is not planned for cost reasons.
The engineer of the regional express train was to ten months imprisonment on probation and a fine of 9,000 DM convicted, the train operator to pay a fine of 6,000 DM.
literature
- Erich Preuss : Railway accidents at Deutsche Bahn. Causes - Background - Consequences. Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-613-71229-6 , pp. 89-93.
Individual evidence
- ^ Railway romance : The Glass Train . Süddeutscher Rundfunk , 1997.
Coordinates: 47 ° 29 '33.9 " N , 11 ° 5' 44.7" E