Torremontalbo railway accident

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Rescue of injured people after the accident

In the Torremontalbo railway accident on June 27, 1903 near Torremontalbo , La Rioja , Spain , a mail train derailed while it was crossing a bridge. 44 people died.

Starting position

The route Miranda del Ebro Zaragoza crossed with the approximately 185 m long Montalvo bridge at the river Torremontalbo Nanjerilla . The bridge was an older steel structure that rested on stone pillars. The river had largely dried up in the summer heat. As was later determined, the bridge had structural and structural defects and the superstructure was also damaged, but this had not caused any train problems until then. The course of the route was slightly uphill after the bridge.

The train no.160 of the Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España had left Bilbao early in the morning and was supposed to go to Saragossa . It was run by two steam locomotives , "Abando" and "Madrid", followed by 10 passenger and 7 mail and baggage cars . In one of the wagons, 2 million pesetas belonging to the Banco de España were also transported. The preload locomotive had the train on his route visit in Miranda del Ebro received. She had previously carried a special train in the opposite direction and was supposed to return to her home station in Saragossa this way. The train was on its way 18 minutes late. The engine drivers therefore drove as quickly as possible.

the accident

When the first locomotive had almost reached the opposite bank around 3 p.m., its driver accelerated in order to be able to tackle the following slight incline without loss of speed. The coupling to the second locomotive broke. This derailed, tipped sideways and pulled all following wagons with it when it fell into the depths. The falling train tore parts of the bridge with it. The vehicles were smashed when they hit the river bed. The leader locomotive derailed with a few wheelsets, but came to a standstill 200 meters beyond the end of the bridge in the track . The noise of the crashing train was so great that the inhabitants of the nearby town of Cenicero immediately rushed over and provided first aid.

consequences

43 people died, as well as one police officer from exhaustion during the rescue work. Another 84 people were injured in the accident . King Alfonso XIII thanked the residents of Cenicero for the quick help they provided and gave the place city rights. The relief train had still not arrived at midnight, nine hours after the accident. The 2 million pesetas from the Banco de España disappeared after the accident.

Three years after the accident there were criminal proceedings against employees of the railway company, which in turn lasted several years. These were acquitted and the court found force majeure .

literature

  • Gobierno de La Roja (ed.): Tarjeta Postal: Torremontalbo. Accidente Ferroviario, June 1903 . Logroño (La Rioja), 1987.
  • Andrés Gracía de la Riva: Torremontalbo – Cenicero: De la tragedia al heroísmo . In: Análises, pp. 52–61. Available online as a PDF document (1.1 MB).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ According to some sources, the train came from France : Catástrofe en Torremontalbo .
  2. ↑ According to other information (see: Árbol: Descarrilamiento , NN: Catástrofe en Torremontalbo .) First the second car overturned and then the train - with the exception of the leading locomotive, which was saved by a broken coupling, into the depths.
  3. ↑ Different numbers from Peter WB Semmens: Catastrophes on rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 , p. 23: “90 to 100 dead, 69 injured”; Information without further evidence.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NN: Grandes errores .
  2. ↑ NN: Grandes errores .
  3. ↑ Árbol: Descarrilamiento .
  4. ↑ NN: Grandes errores .
  5. ↑ Árbol: Descarrilamiento .
  6. ↑ NN: Grandes errores .
  7. ↑ NN: Catastrofe de Torremontalbo . In: Cesar v. 26 February 2012.
  8. ^ NN: Cenicero Ciudad muy Humanitaria .
  9. ↑ Árbol: Descarrilamiento .
  10. ↑ Árbol: Descarrilamiento ; NN: Grandes errores .