Railway accident in Santa María de la Alameda
In the railway accident in Santa María de la Alameda on March 15, 1968, there was a collision between the railway stations of Santa María de la Alameda ( 40 ° 34 ′ 7.8 ″ N , 4 ° 16 ′ 9 ″ W ) and Robledo de Chavela ( 40 ° 31 ′ 15 ″ N , 4 ° 14 ′ 48 ″ W ), Spain , an out of control construction train with an oncoming express train on the open road . 26 people died.
Starting position
The Madrid – Avila railway line has two tracks and overcomes the Sierra de Guadarrama . In the area of the ramp that leads up from Madrid into the mountains, construction work took place that day, so that a section of the route near Santa María de la Alameda was only passable on a single track.
The drivable track was initially used by construction train 10550, which consisted of flat wagons from which rails were unloaded into the construction site. The train was pulled by a small locomotive.
The TER with train number 251 of the RENFE had left at 12:35 pm from Madrid Príncipe Pío station in Madrid . TER trains were a type of train operated by the Spanish railways that ran until 1994. These trains were driven with diesel multiple units of the series 597 , which were constructed in lightweight construction and consisted of two firmly coupled cars . Train 251 consisted of two such vehicles : the front one was supposed to go to La Coruña , the rear one to Vigo . On the part of the train to La Coruña, the 2nd class car drove ahead - around 80 passengers traveled here . The 1st class car followed and had around 20 passengers.
the accident
In order to clear the one available track on the line for the TER 251, the construction train drove downhill to allow the express train to cross at Santa María de la Alameda station . There, because its brakes failed, the construction train ran over a valley-side exit signal that was on "Stop" and into the track on which the TER was coming towards it. The dispatcher from Santa María de la Alameda called his colleague in the next train station, Robledo de Chavela. But the TER had already passed through there.
There was a head-on collision between the two stations. The first two TER vehicles were badly damaged, fuel leaked and they caught fire.
consequences
26 people died, 23 of them still at the scene of the accident. Among them were all four railway employees on the small locomotive. In addition, 80 people were injured.
Aid trains from Avila and Madrid were used. The lightly injured were brought to El Escorial in the still roadworthy rear unit of the TER , where the seriously injured were flown by helicopter .
literature
- Ascanio Schneider u. Armin Masé: Disasters on the rails. Railway accidents, their causes and consequences . Zurich 1968, pp. 246–248.
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