Railway accident at Torre del Bierzo
The Torre del Bierzo rail disaster was due to a brake failure, the last on 3 January 1944 end three trains of RENFE west of the railway station of Torre del Bierzo in the province of Leon , Spain , on the railway line from Madrid to A Coruña for collision brought. The officially cited death toll was 78. Today's estimates of the death toll are much higher. It could have been more than 500 passengers and railroad workers.
Starting position
The night express train from Madrid to A Coruña left its departure station on the evening of January 2, 1944 at 8:30 p.m. The train was powered by two steam locomotives of the series pulled 240 F and consisted of 12 cars , all of which were made of steel frame with wood structure and a gas lighting had. During a stopover in Astorga , the train was already two hours late and had problems with the brakes , which were checked again there. Later one of the locomotives had to be taken out of the train because of a hot runner . The train was now three hours late. The problems with the brakes persisted even when the train drove through a steep incline at Branuelas . Nevertheless, those responsible decided to let the train continue.
the accident
The train should have stopped in Albaren as planned. But even though all the hand brakes were on and the locomotive tried to increase the friction between the track and the rail with the sand spreader , the train could no longer be brought to a stop on the steep slope. The Albaren dispatcher immediately informed the Torre del Bierzo train station of the incident. There was just a switch engine was sent with three car distance downstream. Tunnel no.20 was behind the station .
Staff at the Torre del Bierzo train station were still trying to put sleepers on the tracks, but this had no effect on the express train, which passed through the station with the brakes on, but ineffective, and drove into tunnel no.20. There he met the shunting train from behind, the last two cars of which were still in the tunnel. The cars of the shunting train were smashed in the impact, as were the first six cars of the express train. The wooden wagons caught fire immediately, which was ignited by the gas in the lighting. In addition, the accident destroyed the signal lines running next to the track .
A freight train took the same route uphill and transported coal in 27 freight cars . Because of the destroyed by the accident signal lines, the binding for him showed signal supposedly "ride free". The locomotive driver of the freight train drove into tunnel no. 21 without suspecting anything of the crashed trains in front of him. The uninjured engine driver of the shunting train ran towards him and tried to warn him. The freight train was only able to reduce its speed , but could no longer prevent the collision with the two crashed trains. The engine driver of the shunting train and four railroad workers of the freight train died.
consequences
The fire of the rubble lasted two days and made help almost impossible. Most of the victims could also no longer be identified afterwards.
The strict press censorship under the dictator Francisco Franco's regime suppressed the true extent of the disaster. The officially stated number of deaths was 78. Since there were only estimates of how many people were on the trains during the accident and the documents relating to the accident could no longer be found after the end of the dictatorship , the exact number of deaths is not known more can be determined. Today's estimates name 200–250 deaths. But it could have been more than 500.
Worth knowing
- Tunnel No. 20 was closed in 1985 due to geological problems.
- A documentary film with the title “ Tunnel No. 20 ” won the Goya Film Award in 2002 for best short documentary film.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ El accidente de Torre del Bierzo.
Coordinates: 42 ° 35 '39 " N , 6 ° 20' 21.8" W.