Steglitz railway accident

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The Steglitz railway accident occurred on September 2, 1883 at the Steglitz train station in Berlin , when a crowd of people crossed a platform on which an express train from Berlin to Magdeburg was passing through at the same time . At least 39 people died.

Starting position

September 2, 1883 was a Sunday and in the evening hundreds of Berliners who had taken a day trip to the rural community of Steglitz , which was still outside the gates of old Berlin , wanted to take the train back to Berlin.

Station complex

Plan of the Steglitz train station in 1883, showing the accident site

The new reception building of the Steglitz station was opened on the double-track Berlin-Potsdam railway in 1874. The four platform edges were served by two outer platforms and a central platform . The two Southern Railways had the drive-through tracks and designated with the numbers 1 and 2, the northern tracks were planned only the trains that ended in Steglitz or started. They were called platforms 3 and 4, although this was the side on which the station building stood. Then all the tracks were the same height at street level - the current dam was built later. A platform barrier to reach the main platform was not yet in place. Not unusual at that time was that passengers tracks had to cross to reach passenger trains. There was no underpass or overpass. For protection, a stable barrier made of oak was erected on the north side of the central platform, which was intended to prevent unauthorized crossing of through tracks 1 and 2 in order to reach the southern outer platform. To clear this passage , three or four sliding trees were available, which were operated by the station management and several workers in coordination with the train traffic and the number of passengers .

business

At the time of the accident, only local trains stopped in Steglitz , long-distance trains ran through the station. The through trains to Berlin usually left on the southern outer platform. The capacity of the station was no longer sufficient for the steadily increasing traffic, especially with Berlin. That was known. Actually, an operationally safe renovation of the station should have taken place in the spring of 1883, but the Prussian state parliament had classified this as a "waste" and refused the budget. After the accident with 39 dead, the money was approved.

Around 800 people were waiting on the platform in front of platform 4 for the passenger train to Berlin, which was supposed to leave at 9:52 p.m. The passengers were impatient because due to the heavy return traffic the trains were so full that not all of them had come along in the previous trains. The passenger train to Berlin was five minutes late and entered the through track, platform 1. In the opposite direction, there was an express train from Berlin (from 9:50 p.m.) to Magdeburg , whose journey took it on the through track in the opposite direction to the central platform through platform 2.

the accident

Due to the delay of the passenger train, the dispatcher decided to let the express train pass first, only then to clear the pedestrian crossing and first to bring the passenger train to a stop so that the passengers through the easternmost barrier in front of the locomotive, after the express train had passed, onto the platform could have reached. An announcement about this operational sequence did not take place on the platform.

Before the express train passed through the station, the passenger train pulled into platform 1 and stopped. The passengers now feared that they would miss the train because the crossing - which they could not understand - was not opened. Some passengers then climbed over the barrier fence, others followed, pushed the railroad workers aside and opened the barrier without authorization. The crowd, worried about missing their train, pushed over platform 2 leading to Magdeburg in order to predominantly "storm" the passenger train already on the platform-free side. A railroad worker tried to stop the express train with a hand lamp, but it did not succeed. He couldn't brake in time and drove into the crowd. The people who were in the track bed had no chance to evade the crowd.

consequences

Gravestone for the perished members of the shooting club "Friendship"

The accident claimed 39 deaths, including five children, eight seriously injured and numerous slightly injured. The Berlin rifle club "Friendship" alone lost twelve members or their relatives in the accident, who were buried in a common grave in the New Luisenstadt Cemetery on Hermannstrasse in Neukölln .

The accident generally accelerated the construction of the platform tunnel on Prussian main lines . Where this was not possible, the local operating regulations were tightened.

The Steglitz station itself was raised and provided with a platform tunnel under the tracks, from which the platform on the second track could be reached by stairs. This eliminated the source of danger that was decisive for the accident of 1883.

literature

  • Hans Joachim Ritzau: Railway disasters in Germany, fragments of German history . Vol. 1: Landsberg-Pürgen 1979, pp. 96-98.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Hans Joachim Ritzau: Eisenbahn-Katastrophen , p. 97.
  2. ^ Otto Sarrazin: The railway accident in Steglitz , p. 321.
  3. ^ A b Hans Joachim Ritzau: Eisenbahn-Katastrophen , p. 96.
  4. ↑ Hans Joachim Ritzau: Eisenbahn-Katastrophen , p. 98.
  5. ^ Otto Sarrazin: The railway accident in Steglitz , p. 322.

Coordinates: 52 ° 27 ′ 20 ″  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 21.3 ″  E