Genthin railway accident
In the Genthin railway accident on December 22, 1939, the D 180 from Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof to Neunkirchen (Saar) hit the D 10 from Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof to Cologne Central Station in the area of Genthin station . At least 186 people died and 106 were injured. It is the worst accident involving passenger trains in Germany to date .
Starting position
The Berlin – Magdeburg railway was equipped with the Indusi train protection system.
The D 10 express train to Cologne, which was completely overcrowded in the pre-Christmas traffic ( 35 people are said to have died in the baggage car alone ), left Berlin punctually at 11:15 p.m. , but quickly accumulated delays on the way because getting on and off was slow delayed by overcrowding in connection with the Christmas traffic and front vacationers and the darkening of the stations. In Potsdam the train was already five minutes late , in Brandenburg 12 minutes late. Because he was following a slower military train, it increased to 27 minutes.
The following D 180 was pulled by the steam locomotive 01 158 . Its Indusi fuse was removed for repairs, but the locomotive was still used because there was a shortage of locomotives due to the war. The D 180 from Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof to Neunkirchen (Saar) Hauptbahnhof had left Berlin at 11:45 p.m., stopped again in Potsdam and was then supposed to go through to Magdeburg Hauptbahnhof . The distance between the two trains became increasingly narrow. Immediately before Genthin, the trains only ran at block intervals .
the accident
The D 10 and the D 180 that followed it left Potsdamer Bahnhof in Berlin at an interval of 30 minutes. Due to the delay of the D 10, the distance was reduced so much that from Wusterwitz there was only a free block section between the trains. From the last Belicke block in front of Genthin train station (km 86.685), the D 10 also drove at reduced speed because it had run into the M 176 in front of it.
When the D 180 approached the Belicke block , the section between it and the entrance to Genthin station was still occupied by the D 10. Due to reasons that could not be determined afterwards, the D 180 passed the “Halt” commanding and covering the D 10 block signal and entered the block section that was still occupied. During the interrogation, the locomotive driver explained that he had recognized the two decisive signals, distant signal and main signal , in the position "Drive free". This claim could be refuted, among other things, by the examination of the facilities and the statement of the block attendant Belicke. Since the Indusi of the locomotive was expanded, there was no emergency braking . Speculations led to poor visibility - there was fog at night - or personal failure of the train driver as possible causes. The stoker was not able to observe the route in the Belicke area due to the furnace. The locomotive driver had already been noticed in 1917, 1922 and 1931 by passing signals indicating a stop. The theory, introduced decades later, that carbon monoxide poisoning of the train driver could have been the reason for his mistake (the smoke from the locomotive could have got into the driver's cab due to the weather) has been refuted.
The warden of the block post Belicke had after driving past the STOP field-side block signal the interlocking informed the station Genthin on Signalüberfahrung. According to the source, the attendant of the signal box Genthin Ost (Go) (km 91.080) prepared the emergency stop order for the D 180 after the message from Belicke had been received there. To do this, he took an angle lamp from the wall bracket, which made it glow red. This glowing hand lamp was, however, still perceived by the D 10, which was just passing the signal box, whereupon it initiated an emergency brake and came to a halt at 0:51 a.m. when the train closed at about 92.2 km.
As the D 180 approached Genthin station, it met the entrance warning signal Va, which was still signaling for the D 10 “Expect no speed limit”, about 600 m before the Bude 89 - Karower Strasse barrier post at the eastern entrance (km 90.240) and then in km 90.580 the entry signal A pointing to the journey and the exit signal Vg pointing to "expect driving without speed limit". In addition, why the gatekeeper Bude 89 - Karower Strasse did not succeed in the 2 minutes between the trains before the D 180 There is no known source statement about attaching bang capsules to the rails as an emergency signal . His attempt to stop the passing D 180 by signaling failed. Furthermore, after the D 10 had come to a halt, guard Go failed to immediately set the entry signal A to halt.
As a result, the D 180 entered Genthin station at around 0:53 a.m. and hit the D 10 there.
consequences
Due to the impact, the four rear cars of the D 10 were partially pushed into one another. The locomotive and six cars of the approaching train derailed . According to the Deutsche Reichsbahn figures , 186 dead and 106 injured were to be mourned. According to other sources - as noted on the memorial in front of the train station - there was talk of 278 dead and 453 injured. In addition to the tank car explosion at BASF (1948), this was the most momentous railway accident in Germany.
The rescue work was difficult and lasted a whole week. Because of the darkening , only the emergency lighting was switched on; the setting up of spotlights at night required a special permit. Many men were drafted because of the war. Temperatures dropped to −15 ° C during the night , so that many injured people froze to death.
The engine driver of the D 180 and its stoker survived the accident. The engineer was in a criminal case to a term of imprisonment sentenced of three years and six months.
The locomotive of the D 180 was repaired due to a lack of locomotives in the Second World War after the accident and put back into service in 1941. After a renovation in 1964 it was given the number 01 531. Today it is preserved under the number 01 1531 as an exhibit in the Arnstadt depot .
Railway accident at Markdorf on the same day
The railway accident near Markdorf also occurred on December 22nd, 1939 , in which a freight and passenger train collided on the Stahringen – Friedrichshafen railway line between Markdorf and Kluftern, killing over 100 people. The railway historian Albert Kuntzemüller described the date as the "blackest day in German railway history".
literature
- Gert Loschütz : Viewing a disaster . Radio play. WDR / NDR / SWR 2001, 81 minutes. Director: Norbert Schaeffer . Composition: Gerd Bessler.
- Erich Preuss : The wrong train stopped. The clash in Genthin. The greatest disaster on Germany's railways . In: Martin Weltner: Railway disasters. Serious train accidents and their causes. Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7654-7096-7 .
- Ronald Meyer-Arlt: The forgotten catastrophe. In: Lübecker Nachrichten of December 20, 2014, p. 3. ( Note : The article also appeared in other, possibly all of the daily newspapers belonging to the Madsack publishing company , e.g. in the Märkische Allgemeine on December 20, 2014, there in the MAZ -Journal on p. 2, and in the Dresdner Neuesten Nachrichten of December 22, 2014 on p. 4.)
- Erich Preuß: Railway accidents in Europe ; transpress Verlagsgesellschaft mbH Berlin, 1st edition 1990, ISBN 3-344-70716-7 .
- HJ Ritzau: Catastrophes of the German Railways Part II - Chronicle 1845-1992 , Volume 3 from the series Shadows of Railway History ; Ritzau KG - Verlag Zeit und Eisenbahn, Pürgen, ISBN 3-921304-86-5 (from page 97).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Erich Preuß: The wrong train stopped. The clash in Genthin. The greatest disaster on Germany's railways. In: Martin Weltner: Railway disasters. Serious train accidents and their causes. Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7654-7096-7 , pp. 32-35
- ^ A b Annette Schneider-Solis: The worst train accident in Germany. . In: Die Welt , December 21, 2009.
- ↑ a b Erich Preuß: Railway accidents in Europe , transpress Verlagsgesellschaft mbH Berlin, 1st edition 1990, ISBN 3-344-70716-7 .
- ↑ http://www.fw-chronik.de/PDF-Rundbrief/FC-2015-02.pdf , fire department chronicle 11th year March 31st, 2015 of the volunteer fire department Genthin
- ^ The Arnstadt Railway Museum: Steam locomotive 01 1531. Accessed on February 22, 2014 .
- ^ Albert Kuntzemüller : The Baden railways. G. Braun, Karlsruhe 1953, p. 163 ff.
Coordinates: 52 ° 24 '11.7 " N , 12 ° 9' 23.6" E