Pelm railway accident

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The railway accident Pelm (also known as " railway accident Gerolstein ") of the rare case of a railway accident , in which a train with itself a rear-end collision caused. This happened on May 18, 1897 at km 97.4 of the Eifel line between the stations Hillesheim (today: Oberbettingen- Hilesheim) and Gerolstein . Ten people died in the accident, 40 were also injured.

Starting position

The special train of 32 two- and three-axle compartment cars with a total of 86 axles came from Barmen , which it had left at 3 p.m. The train transported reservists to the garrison in Metz in the then German Lorraine . The plan was to stop for refreshments on May 19, 1897 at 1:56 in Trier , and arrival in Metz later that same day. The reservists were to reinforce regiments 98, 130, 135 and 143 for a military maneuver with which the defense of the western border of the German Reich against France was practiced. The train 1124 was occupied team ranks and five officers . The latter were housed in a 1st class compartment in a carriage that ran in the 7th position of the train set. The train crew consisted of ten people.

To overcome the watershed at Schmidtheim , a second locomotive also pushed the heavy train. The fog was thick .

The front locomotive had a continuous and automatic air brake , but not all cars were equipped accordingly. Therefore, only the first cars on the train were connected to the appropriate braking system. The other cars were equipped with the usual hand brakes, which were operated by brakes . Trains without a continuous and automatic brake were equipped with a communication cord, which, in the event of an emergency , could be pulled to inform the engine driver to initiate an emergency brake . Here - since the front cars had air brakes - this does not seem to have reached the locomotive, so it was not functional.

The operating regulations stipulated that in the event of a train separation, the rear part of the train was to be brought to a standstill, but the front part was not allowed to stop under any circumstances.

the accident

The train had passed Hillesheim station . Everything was still in order here: the train was still not separated. A gradient of 1: 140 begins behind the station . There was a train separation between the 13th and 14th car without the staff of the front part of the train noticing: A coupling had unhooked, presumably the pushing locomotive had braked more than the front one. The driver of the push-pull locomotive noticed the incident, but his distress signals were not noticed by the front locomotive crew. When the officers in the front part of the train became aware of the incident, they arranged for the driver of the front part of the train to stop - contrary to the regulations. The front part of the train came to a halt in the village of Pelm. The soldiers were ordered to get out, so that some of them were no longer in the car when the accident occurred.

The rear, separated part of the train had also moved further with the pushing locomotive - also contrary to the regulations - but more slowly than the front part of the train. However, since the front part of the train stopped after the emergency braking and visibility was inadequate due to the fog, the separated wagons hit the stationary part of the train with considerable force at around 11:30 p.m.

consequences

Three cars were smashed, four heavily and one slightly damaged. Nine soldiers and one brakeman died, 40 people were also injured - some seriously. The rescue work turned out to be difficult. In order to provide light for the rescue work at night, a smashed wagon was set on fire. Tools were missing to rescue the trapped injured. The fire brigade and auxiliaries from Gerolstein, Jünkerath and Hillesheim arrived at the scene of the accident, including doctors. Civilians from Pelm supported the soldiers in the rescue work and brought towels and bedding, which were used as bandages. A rescue train with doctors and paramedics from Trier only arrived in the morning. He returned to Trier late in the morning, where he arrived at 11:30 a.m. - twelve hours after the accident. The injured were brought to the local hospital in moving trucks and ambulance vehicles.

Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich von Baden visited the injured in the hospital on May 19, 1897 on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm II . The Kaiser, who was in Wiesbaden for the May Festival , canceled a planned gentlemen's evening as a tribute to the victims of the accident.

One consequence of the accident - after a long planning phase - was the construction of a hospital in Gerolstein in 1911 for the regional supply of the population and the numerous railway employees who immigrated with the construction of the Eifelbahnen.

The service regulations for military transports were changed and the continuous and automatic brake was also introduced for freight trains and military transports.

A five-meter-high memorial was erected on the initiative of the Bergisches Land warrior associations - where many of the victims came from - under the direction of the Pelmer Warrior Association and inaugurated on May 30, 1898. It is designed in the historicist style and crowned by a neo-Gothic tabernacle in the form of a ciborium . The monument is maintained today by the local community of Pelm and was renovated in 2010 with support from the population and the State Office for Monument Preservation .

See also

Similar accidents where the severed part of a train caused a rear-end collision:

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eisenbahn-Directions district Mainz (ed.): Official Gazette of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate in Mainz of March 23, 1907, No. 15. Announcement No. 159, p. 169.

Coordinates: 50 ° 14 ′ 19.7 "  N , 6 ° 41 ′ 28.8"  E