Schweinsburg-Culten railway accident
The railway accident in Schweinsburg-Culten on October 30, 1972 was one of the most serious accidents in railway traffic in the GDR . 28 people died.
Course of events
October 30, 1972 was a foggy day. On the single-track electrified railway line between Werdau and Leipzig ( railway line Leipzig – Hof ) the express train "Karola" from Leipzig to Karlovy Vary and the express train Aue - Berlin ran in the morning hours . The 1,000 travelers occupied express train 273 departed at 6:05 as scheduled by the station Aue from. During his stop at Werdau station , the “Karola” coming from the opposite direction usually passed the route. Since the "Karola" was already over ten minutes late that day due to the fog, the dispatchers of the Reichsbahnamt Zwickau ( Reichsbahndirektion Dresden ) cleared the route for the D 273. Both trains should now meet at Schweinsburg-Culten station . The Karola Express, which usually passes through, should stop in Schweinsburg-Culten. However, its train driver overlooked the stop signal in Schweinsburg-Culten and drove through the station at a speed of around 100 km / h. After about 700 m, the express train collided head-on with the oncoming D 273 shortly before 7:30 a.m.
By the impact were locomotive of the train D, and the drive head of the express train of the series 175 is pushed each other and a plurality of wagons derailed. 28 people died in the accident, including both train drivers, and over 70 were injured, some seriously.
Investigations
At around 3 p.m. on the same day, employees of the Ministry of State Security cordoned off the accident site and began investigations. These were completed on November 27, 1972. The investigation report was classified as "top secret". This shows that the train driver of the delayed Karola Express had obviously overlooked the stop signal in Schweinsburg-Culten believing in his right of way. In addition, his full ability to work was questioned when he started driving at 5:00 a.m. According to a stewardess , the train driver had drunk about 15 bottles of beer with her by 1:30 a.m.
memorial
On October 30, 2002, a memorial was unveiled at the site of the accident . It shows a wagon wheel in the gravel bed and above it two crossed rails .
literature
- Hans-Joachim Ritzau, Jürgen Höstel: The catastrophe scenes of the present = railway accidents in Germany, Vol. 2. Pürgen 1983. ISBN 3-921304-50-4 , pp. 180f.
- Gabi Thieme: Close to Death , Freie Presse, October 27, 2012, p. 3
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Ritzau, p. 181, assumes 25 dead.