Hansted railway accident

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Contemporary drawing with incorrect display of the wheel alignment, published in the newspaper »Nutiden« on January 7, 1877

The Hansted railway accident happened on December 26, 1876, east of the Danish town of Hansted at Gut Hanstedholm on the Fredericia – Aarhus railway between Horsens and Tvingstrup. Nine people, including seven employees of the Jysk-Fyenske Jernbans , were killed. Up to that point it was the worst railway accident in Danish history.

root cause

Around Christmas 1876 there was winter weather with heavy snowfall. On December 25th, an emergency plan was drawn up in Aarhus to clear the most important routes.

A work train with around 100 snekastere ( literally in German  for "snow blowers" or "snow throwers" , designation for railway employees equipped with shovels ) was already in the morning with a leading snow plow , two tender locomotives and two 3rd class wagons because of strong Snowfall and drifts from Århus in the direction of Fredericia. It was driven by the two freight locomotives E 35 and E 44 . In addition, there were personnel on each locomotive who were only supposed to observe the route. The task of the snow plow in the passenger car was to shovel the snow plow free if it got stuck.

Factory photo of the JFJ E 36 (without tender, 1868)

At Hovedgård station, dispatcher Carlsen tried to convey the message to the train that large snowdrifts had formed at Serridslev because of the steep slopes, which should only be driven through with extreme caution. In Tvingstrup, the train drove carefully through the station and increased its speed at the end of the station.

When the train passed Hanstedholm at this speed, it stopped after a heavy blow and the accompanying snow clearers in the passenger cars were thrown upside down. Many of them were so frightened that they ran away across the fields in shock. As some advanced to the locomotives, they saw that one locomotive was almost above the other. Seven men on the two locomotives were killed immediately or died shortly after the accident from their serious injuries. Only dispatcher Rasmussen, who had been on the rear locomotive, survived seriously injured.

Two workers were killed in the car and at least 20 more or less seriously injured. Nine people died in the accident.

Immediately after the accident, alarms were raised from the nearby Hanstedholm farm and from Horsens train station. The dead and dying were brought to the farm by local residents. It took three days for the last victim to be released.

The accident was never fully resolved.

Assumptions about the course of the accident

The director of Jysk-Fyenske Jernbaner, Niels Henrik Holst, wrote in his report to the Ministry of the Interior : “It was already noticed at a distance of 3,500 cubits from the scene of the accident that the locomotives were disconnected. 1,500 cubits in front of the spot they were spaced 50 and 100 cubits apart ” .

What the director meant by that remained unclear. He may be referring to the statement of a station attendant who saw the train with the two locomotives passing near the scene of the accident, although there was supposed to have been a distance of half a locomotive length between the first and the second locomotive. Perhaps Holst only accepted this due to the severity of the accident. Everything indicates that the coupling between the two locomotives broke during the snow removal without the locomotive crews noticing. When the front locomotive got stuck in a snowdrift, the rear one must have hit it at full speed. However, it would be possible that the clutch was deliberately loosened so that the rear locomotive could help the front after it got stuck.

However, dispatcher Carlsen, who was later at the scene of the accident, stated that he had not noticed that the locomotives were separated. He saw the train approaching Hovedgård station at full speed. Therefore, he gave a stop signal to the train, which was repeated in the gatekeeper house No. 50 near Kannerup, 900 m before the accident site.

The signals were probably noticed too late, because shortly afterwards the front locomotive with the snow plow got stuck in the snowdrifts. The second locomotive with the passenger cars pulled up with so much power that the rear locomotive climbed over the tender of the front locomotive. This was largely crushed. The following passenger car ran into the tender of the rear locomotive and was half destroyed.

According to local lore, the passengers on the train were intoxicated. However, the report by the state railway does not contain any information that the locomotive and snow-clearing personnel were under the influence of alcohol. It is possible that some workers had "strengthened" themselves a little in the cold winter weather.

Director Niels Holst, who led the construction of the Jysk-Fyenske Jernbaner and was very familiar with the route conditions, concluded in his report that the disaster was due to a combination of three possible circumstances:

  • a carelessness that the train was traveling at considerable speed under the present circumstances,
  • an accident because the coupling between the two locomotives broke or came loose while driving,
  • a lack of vigilance as the locomotives were not properly looked out, noting that the snow clouds created by the snow plow enveloped the train and the watchers.

Effects

Because of the accident, several preventive measures were taken immediately. The most important was that from this point on, before the snow clearing began, the train had to stop and detach the wagons carried.

Remember the victims

After the accident, a memorial stone was erected north of the railway line, which can be seen from the train. There is also a memorial stone around the grove of honor of the Danish State Railways in Fredericia for the seven railway employees .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JFJ E 27-36, 43-44.Ulykken i Hansted. In: jernbanen.dk. Retrieved November 14, 2016 (Danish).
  2. ↑ Kirsten Pedersen and Mogens Kirkegaard: Jernbaneulykken ved Hansted. (PDF) hansted-egebjerg.dk, accessed on November 14, 2016 (Danish, original in Nutiden of January 7, 1877).
  3. ^ Photo of the memorial stone in Fredericia. Retrieved November 14, 2016 .

Coordinates: 55 ° 53 ′ 55.1 ″  N , 9 ° 51 ′ 55.5 ″  E