Vigerslev railway accident
The Vigerslev rail accident was a rear-end collision and occurred on November 1, 1919, a Saturday, in Vigerslev , Denmark . 40 people died. It is the worst railway accident in the history of Denmark .
Starting position
Geographical location
Vigerslev is now part of the western district of Valby in Copenhagen . The train station , which at that time was called "Vigerslev" and which gave its name to the accident , is now called " Hvidovre " and is a stop on the Copenhagen S-Bahn network . The accident site itself, which was west of the train station, was located in the area of what is now the “Rødovre” S-Bahn station. At that time, that was arable and garden land outside of the built-up settlement area.
Trains
The train no. 168 from Kalundborg to Copenhagen Central Station was on its way that evening with a delay of about 15 minutes due to the heavy load on the route . The train carried 11 cars. At the end of the train, the heavily occupied 3rd class passenger carriages , all with a wooden body, ran.
Train no. 168 was followed by a special train that transported fire fighting equipment to Køge , where it was urgently needed to fight a major fire. This special train was followed by an additional express train , No. 8064, from Korsør , also to Copenhagen Central Station. This was built by the express train locomotive P 904 in 1907/08 at Hanomag in Hanover and pulled at speeds of up to 120 km / h. The express train's locomotive was followed by a two-axle mail car , a four-axle baggage car and a number of four-axle passenger cars .
the accident
The train no. 168 stopped - contrary to the timetable - at around 8:50 p.m., shortly after passing through Vigerslev station . It turned out that an eight-year-old boy had opened the outer door of a compartment car while driving , fell out and a fellow passenger had pulled the emergency brake . The train now had to back up to find the boy. The dispatcher decided, however, that the train with the fire fighting equipment had priority, signaled to it that it was clear, left the broken-down train No. 168 at the station and told its engine driver that he would have entered the station as soon as the train with the fire equipment had entered , reset and look for the fallen boy. After the train with the fire-fighting equipment had entered the station, train no.168 put back onto the track in the direction of Brøndbyøster station via the entrance signal from the station . At that moment the dispatcher only thought of the train with the fire fighting equipment and blocked back to Brøndbyøster station, but noticed the mistake very quickly. He immediately tried to reach Brøndbyøster station, but initially did not succeed because the dispatcher there observed the passage of the express train. After the dispatcher in Vigerslev had phoned the one in Brøndbyøster and recognized the danger, he grabbed a red signal lamp, ran to the driver of train number 168 and ordered him to drive off immediately. The engine driver of train No. 168 did the same, but steam locomotives accelerate relatively slowly. Train no. 168 had stopped about 130 meters from the entry signal for Vigerslev station in the direction of Brøndbyøster. The crashed boy was found next to the track. He was alive but had broken both legs. The dispatcher from Vigerslev ran on towards Brøndbyøster to stop the express train with the red warning light. But the express train was already approaching.
Although the entry signal showing "Halt" was recognizable for the engine driver of express train No. 8064, as well as the red tail light of train No. 168 and the dispatcher with a red glowing signal lamp was walking towards the express train, the engine driver did not brake like the passengers later testified on the train. At full speed, the express train No. 8064 drove onto the slowly moving train No. 168 at 21:01. The last five wagons on the train were completely smashed, and 30 passengers died here. Some of the remains of the wagons fell down an 8-meter-high embankment. The express locomotive and the three front cars of the train came to a standstill on the remaining rubble, badly damaged. Eight passengers died in the express train carriages. The engine driver and stoker of the express train locomotive were so badly scalded by the water escaping from the boiler that they died at the scene of the accident.
consequences
A total of 40 people died, 58 were also injured, 27 of them seriously. In terms of the number of victims, it was the worst railway accident in Denmark. The property damage amounted to 1.2 million Danish kroner . Since the accident happened outside the station, the scene of the accident was not illuminated, which made the rescue work very difficult. For a long time, the only lighting available for this was the headlights of the locomotive of the fire brigade equipment train, which was driven to the scene of the accident for this purpose. The dispatcher was sentenced to two months in prison in 1920 . The express train locomotive P 904 could be repaired, was renamed PR 904 in 1943, suffered a total loss in a head-on collision with another locomotive in 1951 and was subsequently retired. A set of driving wheels from the locomotive is now on display in the outdoor area of Forstadsmuseet in Brøndbyøster.
literature
- Eigil Christensen: Vigerslev-ulykken . In: Jernbanehistorisk Årbog 1994
- Jens C. Christensen: Beretning afgivet af Erstatningskommissions vedrørende Jernbaneulykken ved Vigerslev November 1st, 1919 . 1921
- Rasmus Dahlberg: Danske katastrofer: atomic bombs in Valby and other dramatiske hændelser . 2014
- J. Fog: Jernbane-Katastrofen ved Vigerslev November 1st, 1919 . Ms. Bagges Kgl. Hofbogtrykkeri., 1920. [Medical consequences of accidental injuries]
- Steen Ousager: På sporet 1847–1997 . DSB Jernbanemuseet 1997
Web links
- toglyde.dk: Danske togulykker
- Vigerslev-ulykken
- Photo of the accident site
- Holger Damgaard: Vigerslev accident in 1919 . Europeana. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ VIGERSLEVULYKKEN. Forstadsmuseet, Hvidovre, accessed February 18, 2016 (about 9:30 p.m., according to another source).
- ↑ Frederik Bøgeskov: LOCOMOTIVE HJULENE VED BRØNDBYVESTER MØLLE. forstadsmuseet.dk, accessed February 18, 2016 (Danish).
Coordinates: 55 ° 39 ′ 52 " N , 12 ° 28 ′ 12.6" E