Railway accident in Villar de los Álamos
In the railway accident in Villar de los Álamos on December 18, 1965 , the Süd-Express and an express train collided in Villar de los Álamos , Salamanca province , Spain . More than 30 people died.
Starting position
The fog was thick that day . The Süd-Express was on its journey from Paris Gare d'Austerlitz to Lisbon Santa Apolónia with train number 18 and was about four hours late . The train had because he was extremely crowded in the pre-Christmas traffic, additional cars and was therefore take one of two steam locomotives drawn: one of the 242 series and another tank locomotive .
On the single-track line , the express train No. 1802 ran in the opposite direction from Fuentes de Oñoro to Medina del Campo . It was also pulled by a class 242 steam locomotive, which pulled five cars , the first two with a metal structure, the following three with a wooden structure.
Since there were no protective switches in the train station in Villar de los Álamos , there was a regulation that two trains were never allowed to enter the station at the same time. In such an operating situation, one of the trains had to stop before the entry signal at its end of the station. The dispatcher from Villar de los Álamos therefore had train no. 1802 stop in front of the entrance signal so that the Süd-Express could be the first to enter the station. Then the express train 1802 was supposed to arrive and the train crossing would take place.
the accident
While train No. 1802 was waiting in front of the station, the Süd-Express also drove into Villar de los Álamos station . However, he ignored the exit signal from the station that was on “Stop” and entered the following route without stopping through the station . There it collided head-on at 9:11 a.m. with the waiting train.
The official documentation about the accident is no longer preserved today. The Franco dictatorship suppressed such news. The official reports are said to have been destroyed after their evaluation.
consequences
More than 30 people died in the railway accident and more than 60 were injured.
Web links
- NN: Train wrecks kill 52 and injure 109 . In: Beaver County Times v. December 21, 1965, p. A3.
- NN: Villar de los Álamos, 1965 . Photos from the scene of the accident.