Rüsselsheim railway accident

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The place where the Rüsselsheim railway accident occurred on February 2, 1990

The Rüsselsheim railway accident occurred on February 2, 1990 in the area of the Rüsselsheim train station on the Main Railway . A train of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main passed a signal indicating a “stop”. Since the subsequent slip route had already been resolved and the remaining protective section to the switch was insufficient, it was no longer possible to prevent it from getting into the route of another train despite the emergency braking that was initiated immediately . With 17 dead and 145, some seriously injured, this was the worst accident in the history of the Rhein-Main S-Bahn.

Starting position

The distance between the end of the southern platform of Rüsselsheim station and the exit signal in the direction of Frankfurt am Main was unusually long.

On the afternoon of February 2, 1990, the 24-year-old driver drove his class 420 S-Bahn on the S 14 of the Frankfurt Transport Association in the direction of Frankfurt am Main. He had to stop at Rüsselsheim station according to the schedule .

When driving past the intermediate signal of the station section "Opelwerk" the distant signal showed "Expect stop". The driver also confirmed via the train control that he had perceived the signal. The train attendant - at that time, train attendants were still used in large numbers in S-Bahn traffic - only had to monitor the closing of the doors and check the tickets while the train was in motion. In contrast to the conductors of other types of trains, it was not his job to check the position of the exit signal.

Another S-Bahn, fully occupied with 500 passengers, came from the opposite direction, also a DB class 420 vehicle. It was on its way to Wiesbaden. Due to a train that was parked on the continuous main track 1 at Rüsselsheim station, this train had to use the overtaking track (track 3).

the accident

After stopping on the continuous main track in the direction of Frankfurt (track 2) on the platform, the driver had forgotten the information transmitted to him by the distant signal ("expect stop"). The S-Bahn traffic takes place with the S-Bahn Rhein-Main with self-handling (the driver has train supervision ). Busy with the handling, the driver routinely carried out the process and drove off. Since the class 420 can accelerate strongly and the distance between the end of the southern platform of the Rüsselsheim station and the exit signal was unusually long, the train was already very fast when it passed the exit signal of the station, which continues to dictate "stop". Despite the emergency braking triggered immediately by passing the signal, the train no longer came to a stop in front of the eastern turnout area, because the slip path had already been cleared and the available protective route was not designed for the speed already reached. The train slipped over the switch that was being used by the S-Bahn going to Wiesbaden when it switched to the overtaking track. At 4:42 p.m. the trains collided head-on. The front segments of both railcars wedged into one another. Another segment stood almost vertically before crashing into an adjacent parking lot with six cars parked there.

consequences

At the location of the accident

Memorial stone near the Rüsselsheim train station in memory of the victims of the railway accident

17 dead, including the driver of the S-Bahn coming from Frankfurt, and 145 injured, some seriously. The property damage was estimated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn at around six million DM .

Around 800 rescue workers from all over the Rhine-Main area were deployed. First, US soldiers from the nearby Azbill barracks were on site. All hospitals in Rüsselsheim and the surrounding area were alerted and prepared for the potentially serious consequences of the accident. Taxi drivers drove the less seriously injured there. Many injured people were cared for in a nearby, weather-protected courtyard entrance and a neighboring hall that served as an emergency hospital . As a result, many seriously injured people were brought to hospitals in Rüsselsheim, Bad Soden am Taunus , Groß-Gerau , Hofheim am Taunus , Mainz , Wiesbaden , Darmstadt , Frankfurt am Main and Flörsheim am Main by helicopter and ambulance . The rescue of the injured and the recovery of the dead took the entire night. The next day, rescue units of the Deutsche Bundesbahn disposed of the destroyed S-Bahn cars.

Criminal proceedings

One year after the accident, the driver who had disregarded the “stop” signal was sentenced to a suspended sentence of ten months and a fine of DM 2,500 for negligent homicide , bodily harm and dangerous interference with rail traffic . According to the court's ruling, the driver had " not recognized the signal as closed because he was looking too cursory" . After the accident, he was retrained as a workshop foreman.

Technical consequences

As a result of the accident, the safety system for punctual train control (PZB for short) was improved by providing speed monitoring for the braking curves determined . The previously used Indusi I 60 type PZB was replaced by the PZB 90 type by 1995 for 400 million DM . Together with around 10,000 additional track magnets in the entire rail network, this ensured that a train in a situation like the one in Rüsselsheim can approach a signal in a station with a maximum of 25 km / h without the emergency brake being triggered becomes. If he drives over it, an emergency brake is also triggered. At this low speed, a protective route like in Rüsselsheim is sufficient in length so that the train does not run into the route of another train.

useful information

As early as 1972 there was a similar accident in Olching , in which a class 420 multiple unit ran into a freight train.

The 1987 railroad accident near Chase , USA, was based on a similar constellation of too late an emergency brake with insufficient slip path.

In the aftermath of the accident, the special task force was established at the DRK Flörsheim am Main (located on the other side of the Main). The DRK Flörsheim am Main was in action with material and personnel. After the accident, it turned out that the structures at the time offered potential for optimization: this is how the special task force (SEG) was founded. Today, however, there is often talk of a rapid response group.

literature

General newspaper Mainz
  • Gerhard Roeder: "With confidence in the highest of all judges" : Conversation with the driver responsible for the cause; dated February 2, 2000
  • André Domes: The impact could be heard for miles - 25 years ago, 17 people died in a collision between two S-Bahn trains in Rüsselsheim ; dated January 31, 2015; P. 3

Web links

Commons : Rüsselsheim railway accident on February 2, 1990  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hans Dieter Erlenbach: It is dead quiet for a few seconds. In: Darmstädter Echo . February 2, 2010, archived from the original on February 4, 2010 ; accessed on February 14, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Memories of the S-Bahn disaster: Images in my head to this day. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . February 2, 2010, accessed February 14, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c Rüsselheim, February 2, 1990. In: et420-online.de. Retrieved February 2, 2015 .
  4. ↑ a b c Rhein Main Presse : Allgemeine Zeitung - Landskrone; of January 30, 2010, p. 3
  5. ^ Creation of the SEG Flörsheim. In: drk-floersheim.de. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 36.9 ″  N , 8 ° 25 ′ 16.4 ″  E