Neddemin railway accident

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The Neddemin railway accident occurred on the evening of December 4, 1945 at Neddemin station on the Berlin Northern Railway . In a head-on collision caused by the precarious operating conditions immediately after World War II and a dispatcher error, 38 passengers and railway workers were killed.

Starting position

The second track on the line had been dismantled as a reparation payment , but the signaling on the line had not yet been adapted to the new operating status. The train protection was carried out by telephone route clearance between the operating points , which set the signals accordingly.

The P 213 coming from Neustrelitz was waiting on the platform and should continue to Stralsund . The next train station would have been Neddemin. Commander's train Lzg 7266 drove in the opposite direction. It consisted only of a locomotive and a carriage. Russian officers who were hunting were in it.

Because of the general shortage of staff, the dispatcher in the signal box at the Neubrandenburg station had been assigned a switchboard operator who was not qualified as a train handler . At the time of the incident, around 7 p.m., the dispatcher had already been on duty for 11 hours. A number of people were in his workroom, demanding information or papers. The dispatcher had a long telephone conversation.

the accident

The operator noticed that the departure time of the passenger train was approaching and asked her boss if the train could leave now. How the dispatcher reacted remains unclear: the files do not show that he answered the question in the affirmative. The operator had interpreted his reaction in this way, at least she called the responsible switch attendant , who then set the exit signal to "clear travel". At about the same time, the dispatcher from Neddemin offered his colleague in Neubrandenburg the commander's train Lzg 7266, who also accepted it.

The operator in Neubrandenburg only noticed the error when the operator informed him that the P 213 had left. But by then it was too late: there were no signals between Neubrandenburg and Neddemin and no other form of train control was available at the time. The two trains collided head- on at around 7:05 p.m. at route kilometers 138.8 in a curve and with poor visibility. Both locomotive personnel had no chance of recognizing the oncoming train in time. Both trains were traveling at around 50 km / h at the time of the accident. A locomotive sent out from Neubrandenburg to investigate brought the news of the accident around 19:50 . Rescue measures were then initiated. The rescue train arrived at the accident site at around 8:55 pm . Red Army soldiers also took part in the rescue work.

consequences

The number of victims is unclear. According to one source, 38 people died and 68 others were injured. The registry office in Neddemin recorded 31 deaths on December 4, 1945. Among the dead were the two locomotive drivers and the two stokers .

Dispatchers, telephone operator and points guards were Russian police arrested . Because two Russian soldiers were injured, the criminal trial took place before the court martial in Greifswald . On January 19, 1946, it sentenced the dispatcher and the operator to 10 years of forced labor each , and the switchman to 7 years' imprisonment. The operator was acquitted in an appeal hearing in 1946. The switchman died on February 4 or 5, 1947 in custody in the Sachsenhausen special camp . The dispatcher also died in custody, of dystrophy - he starved to death.

literature

  • Joachim Braun: Starved. On the Neddemin railway accident in 1945 . In: Eisenbahngeschichte 97 (December 2019 / January 2020), pp. 64–66.
  • Erich Preuss: Railway accidents at Deutsche Bahn. Causes - Background - Consequences. Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-613-71229-6 , p. 156f.

Remarks

  1. ^ According to Braun: Verhungert , p. 64, the inadequate condition of the railway infrastructure was due to "destruction during the fighting in April 1945".
  2. ↑ This number does not include people who subsequently died as a result of the accident.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Preuss: railway accidents ; Braun: Starved , p. 64.
  2. ^ Preuss: railway accidents ; Braun: Starved , p. 64.
  3. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 65.
  4. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 64.
  5. ^ Preuss: Railway accidents .
  6. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 64.
  7. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 65.
  8. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 64.
  9. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 65.
  10. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 65.
  11. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 65.
  12. ^ Preuss: Railway accidents .
  13. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 65.
  14. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 65.
  15. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 65.
  16. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 66.
  17. ^ Joachim Braun: Death in Sachsenhausen camp . In: Eisenbahngeschichte 98 (February / March 2020), p. 85.
  18. ↑ Braun: Starved , p. 66.

Coordinates: 53 ° 39 ′ 6.6 "  N , 13 ° 16 ′ 51.3"  E