Railway accident from Großheringen

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The railway accident at Großheringen was the flank of an express train in a passenger train in the entrance area of the Großheringen station on the Saale bridge on December 24, 1935. 34 people died in the accident .

Starting position

The passenger train P 825 Erfurt - Leipzig had a delay of 32 minutes when arriving at the Großheringen station on that day and drove there as planned on an overtaking track to clear the through track for the following 34 minutes late, FD 11 Frankfurt - Berlin , the overtake him here. When exiting, the P 825 had to cross the track in the opposite direction, the Halle - Erfurt track . During this trip, the P 825 was covered by the stop signal from Halle against trains coming from Berlin.

The D 44 was en route from Berlin to Basel via Frankfurt . On the day of the accident, the D 44 was five tons heavier than the weight for which the travel times were calculated. The train therefore drove with a leader from Berlin . Although the train from Weißenfels could have continued without a leader, i.e. only with the main locomotive, a class 01 steam locomotive , the driver of this machine requested additional leader because his locomotive only had little water and the pump was not working properly. Due to the unnecessary change of the leader locomotive in Weißenfels, the delay of the D 44 increased from six to 16 minutes.

The so-called 4 p.m. reserve in Weißenfels station was provided by locomotive 38 3130 . It was manned by an engine driver and an auxiliary heater. The auxiliary heater did not yet meet the requirements for express train service. Although other machines with personnel qualified for express train use were available with the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. reserve, the machine from the 4 p.m. reserve was ordered to the D 44 as a leader. The head of the Weissenfels railway depot , who was present on the platform, recognized the crew of the machine when the machine sat down in front of the train, but did not express any concerns.

the accident

The engine driver of the D 44 leader was repeatedly busy heating the locomotive during the journey: The auxiliary heater was unable to generate enough steam for the fully occupied express train at its high speed and the uphill stretch. The engine driver was so distracted by the distance observation and overlooked the fact that the Einfahrtvorsignal to Einfahrsignal station Großheringen expect danger indicated and commanded therefore to brake. After recognizing the entry signal indicating the stop, the driver of the lead locomotive initiated emergency braking from a speed of more than 90 km / h and gave emergency signals, but did not bring the train to a stop in front of the danger point. The express train hit the side of the passenger train that was just crossing the entry siding from Halle shortly after 7 p.m.

consequences

Immediate consequences

34 people died, 25 immediately, and 27 others were injured. Almost all of the people who died or were injured were on the passenger train. An exception was the driver of the leader locomotive, who was also slightly injured. All passengers on the express train were unharmed.

The locomotive 38 3130 of the express train and the 01 021 behind it were each badly damaged, but the rest of the express train was hardly damaged. Several cars of the passenger train were smashed, six were thrown down an embankment, a car body, which lifted off the chassis, pushed itself over the leader locomotive and came to lie across it. Parts of a passenger car were thrown into the hall. Telecommunication lines were also damaged to a large extent, and the lighting at Großheringen station failed.

The D 44 continued its journey with a replacement locomotive at around 10 p.m. on the Berlin-Munich track with the front three cars of the express train and two baggage cars of the P 825. One day after the accident, a requested engineer battalion from Riesa reached the scene of the accident and used pontoons they had brought with them to secure the danger spots in the Saale . The Erfurt – Halle track was open again on December 27 from 3:30 p.m., and the Halle-Erfurt track was open again from 7:30 p.m. on the same day.

Criminal proceedings

In the criminal proceedings against the locomotive drivers of the main locomotive and the leader locomotive after the accident , they were accused of negligent homicide , negligent bodily harm , dangerous interference with rail traffic and damage to a telegraph system used for public purposes.

In the criminal proceedings , the behavior of the dispatcher at the Großheringen train station was also discussed, who knew that the D 44 was approaching but nevertheless allowed the P 825 to exit. However, the court did not consider his behavior as causing the accident, because the time available to exit was sufficient had it not been for an unforeseeable delay in the departure of the P 825.

The court was no longer able to determine the exact point at which the locomotive drivers applied the brake, but it was able to determine that the entrance signal was working correctly. The driver of the lead engine stated that he looked back after driving past the distant signal and saw the distant signal as expected to be free . The engine driver of the main locomotive stated that he had not recognized the distant signal due to the steam from the leading locomotive. Both said they had braked as soon as they recognized the entrance signal in the stop position.

In its judgment, the court assumed that both were guilty of the alleged crimes and sentenced the train driver of the regular locomotive to a prison sentence of seven months, the driver of the leader locomotive to one year and three months, taking into account the pre-trial detention.

literature

  • Manfred Ernst, in: Hörstel / Ritzau (Ed.): Errors in the system. (= Shadow of Railway History. Volume 5). Verlag Zeit und Eisenbahn, Pürgen 2000, ISBN 978-3-921304-33-4 , p. 241 ff.
  • Erich, Preuss: Railway Accidents in Europe - Facts Reports Protocols . 4th edition, Transpress, Berlin 1991. ISBN 3-344-70716-7 , p. 96 ff.

Coordinates: 51 ° 6 ′ 26.5 ″  N , 11 ° 39 ′ 57.6 ″  E

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Preuss: Railway accidents , incorrectly calls the train driver "Willy Baude" because he obviously used the Allgemeine Thüringer Landeszeitung as a source, which has a misprint here. In fact, the train driver's name was Willy Bande .
  2. ↑ For this purpose, according to the decree of the main administration dated July 4, 1903 and February 17, 1923, he should have worked continuously for at least two years. In fact, he hadn't been a stoker for a year.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Preuss: Railway accidents , p. 96ff.