Tüscherz railway accident

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The Tüscherz railway accident was a head-on collision between two trains at Tüscherz station on the Biel / Bienne – Neuchâtel line on October 2, 1942. One of the locomotive drivers fell asleep and had run over a signal that showed "Stop". Eleven people were killed in the accident .

Starting position

Tüscherz train station around 1900. The picture shows the single-track line on the narrow shoreline between the mountain slope and Lake Biel.

The main track of the Biel / Bienne – Neuchâtel railway of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) was single-track in the area of ​​Tüscherz . Together with a country road, it shares a narrow strip of shore on Lake Biel . There are vineyards above . As was customary at the time, only the entry signals on the railway line were equipped with the Integra-Signum train protection system.

That morning, the first passenger train from Biel to Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel) was train no. 1508, which had left Biel / Bienne station at 5:44 a.m. He was from the electric locomotive pulled Ae 3/6 10680 and consisted of three four-axle passenger cars ( bogie wagons ), a baggage car and a freight car . A maximum of 30 passengers traveled, most of the passengers were expected at the stations on the way to Neuchâtel.

In the opposite direction, the heavy freight train No. 643 from Renens in the direction of Germany was traveling at around 60 km / h, although it was 13 minutes late. It had a total of 120 axles and was covered with the Ce 6/8 II 14279. The train driver was busy doing paperwork before and when the train entered the Tüscherz station. The conductor was privately creating a timetable for a friend . Neither of them paid attention to the signal position.

The crossing of the two trains should have taken place in Biel. Due to the delay of the freight train, however, it was properly relocated to Tüscherz station. The freight train should stop on the through track and the passenger train should use the overtaking track. The dispatcher set points and signals accordingly : he released the entrance to the station for the freight train , but set the exit signal for the freight train to “stop”. For the passenger train, the entry signal already showed "Stop". This would not have been released until the freight train had stopped in the station. All these main signals were announced by appropriate pre-signals .

the accident

Front end of Ce 6/8 II 14279 after the accident

The driver of the freight train was overtired. Contrary to the regulations, he sat down on the stool that was provided for breaks and operated the machine while seated. He fell asleep and did not notice the signal position nor the station master to stop his train of Tüscherz, who also indicated to him again. Even the train driver and the conductor did not notice this. The freight train passed through the Tüscherz station without braking.

The driver of the passenger train, on the other hand, had perceived the distant signal showing him "expect stop", had already braked his train to 8 km / h and was just before the entry signal for the station that showed him "stop" when the frontal collision with the freight train occurred. The two locomotives wedged together. Two cars were lifted, the first car hit the second car and tore off a side wall. There were only fatalities to complain about in this car below. Two freight cars crashed into the lake, three more derailed and were badly damaged. The other vehicles remained largely undamaged.

consequences

Middle part of the accident Ce 6/8 III in front of the main workshop in Bellinzona, where the crocodile locomotive was rebuilt

Eleven people died and 16 others were injured so badly that they had to be treated in the hospital in Biel.

The injured people were rescued very quickly, so that medical help on site was no longer required an hour after the accident. The last fatality was recovered after three hours. The recovery of the wedged locomotives turned out to be difficult in the area between the mountainside and the bank: the line remained closed until the morning of October 7, 1942. The badly damaged Ce 6/8 II 14279 was dismantled into several parts, from which it was rebuilt in the main workshop in Bellinzona .

The accident attracted a large number of onlookers, so that the police had to close the road towards Biel to traffic. As a result, some onlookers tried to approach the scene of the accident in rowing boats from the lake.

After the accident, the seats on all Ce 6/8 were removed immediately. It was not until 1946 that the driver's cabs were given seating again for breaks in operation. The movable folding seats were arranged so low that the locomotive drivers could no longer see out of the windows while sitting.

In mid-October 1943 the criminal trial against the engine driver, the train driver and the conductor of the freight train took place. The engineer became a prison sentence of one year on probation sentenced, the conductor to 20 days in jail on probation, the platoon leader acquitted .

In the service regulations of the railway it was expressly stated that train and station personnel must make eye contact when a train passes through. From 1943 the drive-through, exit pre-signals and exit signals of the SBB were equipped with Integra-Signum.

literature

  • Ascanio Schneider u. Armin Masé: Disasters on the rails. Railway accidents, their causes and consequences . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1968, pp. 35–38.
  • Schweizer Illustrierte No. 41 from October 7, 1942.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b E. Felber: Modern security of rail traffic. (PDF 12.6 MB) Schweizerische Bauzeitung, Volume 128 (1946), Issue 16, p. 204 , accessed on January 3, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Hans Schneeberger: The electric and diesel traction vehicles of the SBB . Volume I: years of construction 1904–1955. Minirex, Luzern 1995, ISBN 3-907014-22-7 , p. 92 .
  3. ↑ a b c Schneider / Masé.
  4. ^ A b Hans Schneeberger: The electric and diesel traction vehicles of the SBB . Volume I: years of construction 1904–1955. S. 73 .
  5. ↑ Serious railway accident on Lake Biel. (PDF; 297 kB) In: Liechtensteiner Volksblatt. October 3, 1942, p. 2 , accessed January 3, 2014 .
  6. ^ Resumption of train traffic at Tüscherz. (PDF; 282 kB) In: Liechtensteiner Volksblatt. October 8, 1942, p. 3 , accessed January 3, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Lämmli.

Coordinates: 47 ° 7 '7.2 "  N , 7 ° 12' 12.3"  E ; CH1903:  five hundred and eighty-two thousand one hundred and forty-nine  /  two hundred and eighteen thousand six hundred fifty-nine