Plentzia railway accident
In the Plentzia railway accident , a collision between two trains on August 9, 1970 near Plentzia ( Spanish also: Plencia ), province of Bizkaia , in Spain , 33 people died.
Starting position
The meter-gauge railway line Bilbao – Plentzia was single-track between the neighboring stations Plentzia and Urduliz . Today it is part of the Bilbao Metro network . The train protection consisted solely of train reports from the dispatchers between the stations and a display as to whether the route was occupied. The dispatcher from Urduliz was on a 16-hour shift for the fourth day in a row. He was not only responsible for train protection, but also for dispatching trains, setting the switches , operating the barriers and selling tickets .
Because of the high number of passengers in the evening, mainly bathers from Plentzia beach who wanted to return to Bilbao , an empty train was supposed to run from Urduliz to Plentzia and be used there as a reinforcement train . In the opposite direction, there was a train to Bilbao, full of travelers returning from the beach. Both were locomotive-hauled wagon trains.
the accident
The dispatcher from Urduliz inadvertently gave the order to leave the empty train, and the train started moving. At this point the train had already left Plentzia. Both trains drove on the winding route , embedded in thick vegetation , which only allowed the locomotive drivers to see the route from a short distance, at around 45 km / h. When the dispatcher from Urduliz noticed his mistake, he tried to turn off the power supply, but did not succeed. The trains collided roughly in the middle between the two stations at around 7:30 p.m. "Inexplicable human error " was officially given as the cause of the accident , and the excessive demands on the dispatcher after the extensive shift work were ignored.
consequences
In the accident 33 people died and more than 160 were injured, 29 of them seriously.
literature
- NN: Le Jefe de la Estacion de Urduliz engresa en prison . In: ABC v. August 12, 1970, p. 25.
Web links
- Margins Derecha: Barrika recuerda su día más triste . In: elcorreo.com v. August 15, 2010.
- Ilargi Izar de la Fuente: “El fallo humano” en la vía de Urduliz . In: El País v. July 25, 2013.
- NN: Accidente de Úrduliz . In: urbanity.es