Otłoczyn railway accident

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The Otłoczyn railway accident was a head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train of the Polish State Railways (PKP) on the morning of August 19, 1980 near the village of Otłoczyn in what is now the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland . 67 deaths were the result, 62 people were also injured. This was the worst rail accident in Poland after the war.

Starting position

The accident occurred in poor visibility early in the morning on the double-track railway line 18 Kutno – Piła . Two trains were involved, there were no train radio equipment on either locomotive .

On the night of August 18-19, 1980, two locomotive drivers arrived at the Otłoczyn station with the ST-44-607 diesel locomotive to transfer some empty open freight cars from Otłoczyn to nearby Wrocki . At around 2 a.m., the cars were coupled to the locomotive. There was no timetable for this trip . It was supposed to be carried out as freight train No. 11599 in a gap in the train and controlled by signals . At this point the instructed train driver had already been on duty for 25 hours, which violated the regulations. The freight train was now waiting in front of the stop signal.

The passenger train no. 5130 from Toruń Hauptbahnhof ( Thorn ) to station Lodz Kaliska left the departure station at 4 am 19, with about 40 minutes late. It consisted of the SP45-160 diesel locomotive , five regular passenger cars and two through cars that were attached to the end of the train. They came from the Baltic Sea resort of Kolobrzeg ( Kolberg ) and were packed with children who were driving home from the summer holidays.

the accident

At around 4:20 am, the freight train left the side track - against the signal that was continuing to stop - and took the main line. Why the train driver did this could never be clarified. He opened the switch on the main track and onto the track in the opposite direction. The central control center in Toruń did not know anything about this, but employees in the Otłoczyn and Brzoza Toruńska stations noticed the incident but were unable to do anything. The passenger train was traveling at almost 90 km / h, the freight train at around 30 km / h. Because of the poor visibility, the train drivers only noticed each other when they were only about 150 meters apart and braked. At about 4:30 a.m. the trains collided. The driver of the freight train did not try to get to safety. His body was later recovered in the driver's cab. The locomotive driver of the passenger train ran down a side aisle to the rear of his locomotive, survived and was the last living victim of the accident to be found.

consequences

Memorial to the Otłoczyn Railway Accident
Memorial service 1984

67 people died and 62 were injured in addition. A passenger car was completely smashed. Corpses and body parts were scattered all over the area. The then head of the Polish United Workers' Party , Edward Gierek , and Prime Minister Edward Babiuch let themselves be flown to the scene of the accident by helicopter .

Because of the tense political situation in Poland at the time ( August strikes ), rumors immediately circulated that sabotage , the hijacking of the freight train or the transport of weapons were suspected. None of these rumors have been confirmed.

The official investigation was completed on October 20, 1980. Since all the employees who were responsible for the traffic on the line had acted correctly, were not found to have had any alcohol or other drugs , and the killing engine driver of the freight train alone could be accused of misconduct, there was also no legal proceeding.

A book that journalist Zbigniew Juchniewicz wrote about the accident and of which 100,000 had already been printed was banned and destroyed by the censors .

swell

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 56 ′ 44.7 "  N , 18 ° 41 ′ 41.8"  E