Interlaken railway accident

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When railway accident in Interlaken on 11 August 1952 crashed in the standard gauge of some station Interlaken Ost , a passenger of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway (BLS) and a freight car group. Despite the relatively low speed, four travelers were killed and at least ten seriously injured because the old wooden wagons could not withstand the impact.

the accident

The 2035 passenger train coming from Bönigen was routed to track 3 as scheduled on the evening of August 11, 1952. It was planned to convert the locomotive for the return trip to Bönigen. After the arrival of a delayed express train from Bern , it occupied the western part of the same track. Because there was no space for the locomotive of the passenger train, the entire train composition was maneuvered onto a shunting track on which a freight train consisting of 21 cars was already located.

The pushed back passenger train was traveling at about 25 km / h when it hit the first wagon of the freight train. The last and the penultimate car of the passenger train were pushed into one another. The two wagons with wooden boxes were largely destroyed and three people inside were killed on the spot. A seriously injured traveler died shortly after being admitted to the hospital.

A short circuit caused by the accident impaired all train traffic in Interlaken Ost station for several hours.

Cause of accident

The accident is due to a misunderstanding by the shunting workers. While an employee waved to his colleague that he would have to wait with the freight train, the latter misunderstood the arm movement and set the freight train in motion. When the shunter on the first freight car noticed the approaching passenger train, he put the handbrake on , jumped off the car and called to the engine driver to brake.

However, because his warning could not be heard, he jumped onto another car and tried to slow the train by pulling the handbrake. However, a collision could no longer be avoided.

The high number of victims is due to the wooden car bodies, which despite the relatively low speed offered little resistance and thus insufficiently protected the occupants. The use of these old cars had become necessary because of the increase in traffic on the international connections.

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