Vilseck railway accident
The Vilseck railway accident occurred on June 22, 2001 at a level crossing outside Vilseck on the Neukirchen – Weiden railway line . A diesel railcar crashed into a US Army truck . Three people died, nine others were seriously injured, and eleven others were slightly injured. For the collision of a rail vehicle with a road vehicle, the property damage was unusually high at over DM 6 million .
Starting position
The railway line from Neukirchen bei Sulzbach-Rosenberg to Weiden in the Upper Palatinate is a single-track , non- electrified main line in Bavaria . The maximum permitted line speed at that time was 160 km / h for trains with tilting technology and 120 km / h for all other trains. The level crossings between Vilseck and Freihung are secured by light signals and half barriers , are automatically switched on and off by contacts along the route and monitored remotely from Freihung train station . Freihung train station is equipped with a push-button interlocking from Siemens , built in 1969, type DrS2.
At distance kilometers 23.89, the district road AS 5 crosses the railway line. The Grafenwöhr military training area is in the immediate vicinity . The railway line runs there in a slight curve so that a driver can only see the level crossing shortly before the crossing.
Since around the turn of the millennium, mainly class 612 railcars with tilting technology have been running on the passenger line . These vehicles are equipped with an electronic tachograph in the middle of the vehicle , which records all important data of a trip. The unit involved in the accident consisting of 612 563-7 and 612 063-8 was only accepted on March 14, 2001 at the manufacturer Bombardier in Kassel and delivered to the DB Regio Oberfranken (today DB Regio Nordostbayern ).
the accident
At around 8:24 a.m. on June 22, 2001, a US Army truck drove towards the level crossing. It was driven by a 29-year-old driver and had containers loaded with camp beds and blankets. At the level crossing, the traffic lights were already showing a red light and the half-barriers began to close. The truck drove around the first half barrier and was wedged between the two half barriers on the level crossing. To get free he would have had to drive off and destroy the barrier boom in front of him. Instead, the passenger got out and tried to push up the half-barrier on the other side. At that moment, a malfunction caused by pushing the barriers was registered in the level crossing's sequence memory ( EBÜT 80 system) and displayed in Freihung station. The dispatcher no longer had the opportunity to warn the driver via the train radio , as the RE 3560 regional express was only ten seconds away from the level crossing. The train was traveling at a speed of 156 km / h. At 8:00 a.m. 24 minutes and 29 seconds, the data storage cassette of the railcar registered a clear drop in the pressure in the brake line and thus documented the onset of emergency braking . The train was driven in braking mode R + H + MG ( rapid brake + hydrodynamic brake + magnetic rail brake ), which at a speed of 156 km / h results in a relatively high mean braking deceleration of around 1.4 m / s² for the railroad would have.
The collision took place 130 m further at 8 a.m. 24 minutes and 33 seconds at a braking-related reduced speed of 150 km / h. At the same time, the tachograph registered as the last usable record that driver's cab 2 was no longer active, i.e. destroyed.
Consequences of the accident
The truck was shredded and the rubble was dragged along with it for another 325 m. The train derailed with the front bogie , but otherwise remained on the track. The driver, the truck driver and a passenger were killed. The passenger of the truck, the train attendant and other travelers were seriously injured. Why the driver drove around the half barriers could not be clarified. It turned out to be particularly unfavorable that the Scharfenberg coupling of the railcar hit the truck's fuel tank exactly, causing at least 100 liters of diesel fuel to leak and sparking sparks as a result of the accident. Railcar 612 563-7 burned out and was retired on August 28, 2001. The unusually high damage to property is essentially explained by the fact that a brand-new railcar was destroyed after only 3 months of use. The level crossing systems as well as the rails and sleepers were severely damaged.
According to the NATO troop statute, the Federal Republic of Germany is liable for damage caused by stationed troops. The federal claims regulator was responsible for regulating the damage. Deutsche Bahn was compensated for the damage it suffered in this way.
Repeat 2015
The accident was repeated in an almost identical constellation on November 5, 2015 at around 10 p.m. on a level crossing near Freihung on the same railway line, just a few kilometers further: a military transporter hit a railroad crossing while crossing it and stayed where it was. The 3535 regional express from Nuremberg main station to Weiden (Oberpf) , also driven by a class 612 diesel multiple unit, hit it, wedged the transporter under itself and dragged it for another 400 meters before it came to a stop. The driver and one of the two occupants of the truck died, four passengers were seriously injured, and about 15 more were slightly injured. The leading railcar 612 560 and the truck burned out. The 40 passengers were able to leave the train beforehand.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Class 612 diesel multiple units - Deployment statistics Bw Hof ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Federal Ministry of Finance - Federal Loss Regulators
- ↑ schr: accumulation of level crossing accidents . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 12/2015, p. 629.
- ↑ Federal Railway Accident Investigation Office: Annual Report 2015 ( Memento of the original dated December 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 32.
Web links
- Investigation report of the Federal Railway Authority
- Mission report from the Vilseck volunteer fire brigade
Coordinates: 49 ° 38 ′ 24.2 " N , 11 ° 49 ′ 47.2" E