Railway accident in Siegelsdorf

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In the railway accident in Siegelsdorf, the night express train D 47 from Munich to Dortmund derailed on Sunday morning on June 10, 1928 at around 2:21 a.m. in the western exit of the Siegelsdorf station on the Nuremberg – Würzburg railway line . 24 people died.

Starting position

Railway infrastructure

In the western area of the Siegelsdorf station was the switch  15, the rails of which had the older Bavarian FX rail profile , while the subsequent track had the more modern S 49 profile. Such a change in profile impairs the smoothness of vehicles driving over them. In the further course there were two changes in the radius of the track curve , between which the point 25 was located. The track position there had previously been changed, along with the embankmentbeen widened. In the newly backfilled part of the embankment, the track had sunk by 10 cm, which should now be corrected by reworking. The measurement of the track required for this, however, contained a calculation error that did not bring the track into the optimal position without being noticed at first. The track work was completed on Saturday lunchtime by creating an impermissible steep ramp between the track that had already been worked on and the track that had not yet been worked on. The signal that reduced the speed in the area of ​​the construction site was then removed in accordance with the regulations. The maximum speed there was therefore 80 km / h. Then 13 trains drove on the spot before the accident occurred. None of these train crew had noticed irregularities in the superstructure . So there were a whole series of "problem areas" in the track position - each of which seemed harmless in itself.

Train D 47

D 47, 250 m long and 510 tons in weight, was supported by a steam locomotive of 18.4-5 series pulled (Lok 18502). The accident was just one of a whole series in which the unpowered front axle of a locomotive from the tenth delivery series jumped off the track - there should have been six incidents - but the Siegelsdorf accident was the one with the most serious consequences. The leading axle reacted extremely sensitively to irregular superstructures. In all cases, locomotives from the same procurement period were derailed. In retrospect, various defects in the running gear of the specific locomotive were discovered: An axle bearing was loose and the suspension of the leading, non-powered axles reacted to an unevenly adjusted suspension with unsuitable vibrations.

The locomotive of the D 47 followed by two luggage cart , six cars , two sleeping car of Mitropa and finally two Bahnpostwagen . Despite the speed limit in the Siegelsdorf station, the train was traveling at a speed of almost 100 km / h.

the accident

All these individual components, the deficits in the superstructure, the sensitive reaction of the locomotive to it and the excessive speed, led to the first axle of the locomotive's leading bogie derailing in the area of ​​the switch 15. The locomotive drove a little longer with its derailed chassis until its left front wheel hit the heart of the following switch 25 and the frame of the locomotive was raised. The chassis then got stuck on a pile of earth at the next level crossing . The locomotive overturned 180 degrees and rolled sideways from the embankment. The first car stood across both tracks on the line . The second and third passenger cars fell over and to the right off the track. The fourth car - a 3rd class car  - hit the locomotive, buckled almost at a 90 degree angle, and so remained on the locomotive. Most of the passengers died here : They were scalded by steam escaping from the locomotive . The fifth car came to rest on this. The sixth and seventh wagons wedged together. The eighth car was derailed with a chassis , but stopped. The last four cars stayed on the track.

consequences

24 people died, including the engine driver . The stoker had managed to jump off the locomotive. 128 people were also injured.

The first helpers from the Bavarian Red Cross , who came from Burgfarrnbach , arrived at the accident site at around 3:20 a.m. The main fire station in Nuremberg was only informed of the accident by the Reichsbahn at 3:35 a.m. and reached the scene of the accident around 4:15 a.m. A few months earlier, the Nuremberg fire brigade had signed a contract with the Reichsbahn and the fire department for assistance in the event of railway accidents within a radius of 18 km. However, the technical and organizational measures to implement the contract had not yet been completed. The volunteer fire department of Raindorf was in use. After the rescue train arrived , 44 paramedics were at the scene of the accident.

The legal processing of the case by the Fürth regional court did not clarify the cause of the accident. The foreman of the gang who had carried out the last work on the track was charged with negligent homicide . It was unsuccessful: the track construction work had been carried out properly - with the exception of the calculation error that was not attributable to him, but to the surveyor. He was only sentenced to three months suspended prison sentence for endangering rail transport because the court was of the opinion that he should not have removed the signal that was reducing the speed in the area of ​​the construction site because then the accident would not have happened.

Despite the major damage to the locomotive, it was overhauled and only decommissioned and scrapped in Lindau (Lake Constance) in 1957 .

In September 1963 work began on replacing the affected Kagenhofer Weg level crossing with an underpass.

literature

  • Hubert Gast: Siegelsdorf in court. Berlin 1929. [Proven by: Ritzau: From Siegelsdorf to Aitrang. P. 27, note 21; could not be proven bibliographically - it is probably an incorrect quote from the following work.]
  • Hubert Gast: Siegelsdorf, the biggest railway accident in Germany, in court. Berlin 1930.
  • Hans Joachim Ritzau: Railway disasters in Germany. Splinters of German history. Volume 1: Landsberg-Pürgen 1979, p. 139 ff.
  • Hans Joachim Ritzau: From Siegelsdorf to Aitrang. The railway disaster as a symptom - a study of the history of traffic. Landsberg 1972.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ NN: Railway accident.
  2. ^ Ritzau: From Siegelsdorf to Aitrang. P. 11.
  3. ↑ a b c d Ritzau: From Siegelsdorf to Aitrang. P. 9.
  4. ^ Ritzau: From Siegelsdorf to Aitrang. P. 17.
  5. ↑ The representation follows Ritzau, Von Siegelsdorf. who criticized the inadequate processing of the accident, especially through the subsequent criminal proceedings .
  6. ↑ a b c NN: Railway accident .
  7. ^ Ritzau: From Siegelsdorf to Aitrang. P. 10.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Rempe: Tragedy with an unexplained cause.
  9. ↑ Ralf Syrigos, Horst Wendler: Gone are the most terrible times . In: Railway history . tape 13 , no. 70 (5/6) , 2015, pp. 4-16 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 30 ′ 25.1 ″  N , 10 ° 52 ′ 9 ″  E