Railway accident in Walpertskirchen
In the early morning of November 8, 1951, in the railway accident in Walpertskirchen , a passenger train hit a local freight train head- on. 16 people died and 41 were injured.
Starting position
The former Walpertskirchen train station - today only a stop - is located on the single- track Munich – Simbach line . In 1951 there were two main tracks for train journeys , a through track (track 2) and a siding track (track 1), and a few side tracks that served local freight traffic and branched off from track 1. The station was usually manned by only one officer per shift, who performed all tasks, including that of the dispatcher . The officer on duty was at the end of his night shift, which was scheduled to end at 6:00 a.m. and which had officially started at 9:00 p.m. the previous day. However, he had started his work at 7:30 p.m. after only 4½ hours of sleep so that a colleague could leave earlier.
At 5:12 a.m. - 45 minutes late - the very long local goods train (Ng) 9721 with 108 axles arrived. He began to maneuver in order to park two freight cars destined for Walpertskirchen . That lasted until 5:25 am. Due to the track geometry, the freight train's shunting run ended in track 1. Due to the delay of the freight train, its scheduled crossing with the passenger train (P) 1102 coming from Mühldorf and going to Munich in Thann-Matzbach station would have stopped the latter. The dispatchers therefore agreed to carry out the train crossing in Walpertskirchen.
It wasn't unusual and happened every now and then. Then the freight train was on track 1, the passenger train drove on the outer track - seen from the station building - the continuous track. So that the travelers could reach the train - there was no pedestrian underpass here - the freight train was separated and pulled apart, leaving a gap for travelers to reach the passenger train. On November 8, 1951, however, this was not possible: the freight train was too long to be parked in this way. Therefore it was placed on track 2, where it did not have to be separated and the track length was therefore sufficient. If a train stayed on a station track for more than 10 minutes, the dispatcher would have had to block the interlocking levers with a wedge, a "marker" that prevents the switches from being adjusted and the parked train from being forgotten. But he failed to do so, although the freight train was supposed to wait there for about 20 minutes.
The dispatcher station Walpertskirchen informed the colleagues in Thann-Matzbach with that the passenger should take advantage of platform 1 and led him to the train driver a written of the passenger train caution command handed over, the entrance to platform 1 and the related speed limit at the entrance to the Station at 65 km / h, because track 1 turned off the continuous strand of track 2. The passenger train started moving after the dispatcher from Thann-Matzbach had offered it to his colleague in Walpertskirchen.
the accident
Before the official in Walpertskirchen could set the route , a woman appeared at the ticket office to put her bike in the luggage storage . The officer put the bike there and brought the woman the deposit slip. Then it occurred to him that the entrance had to be opened for the passenger train. As usual, without thinking about the special situation that morning, he put the switch on the continuous track, which was possible because no wedge blocked the lever that would have reminded him of the freight train standing there. He then went about routine activities: he opened the platform barrier for passengers, checked tickets and then went back to his office to wait for the train to arrive.
From a distance of about 700 meters, the train driver of the passenger train saw that the entry signal did not show a green and a yellow light for “slow travel” as expected, but only a green light. At first he suspected that the yellow light had failed. As specified in the drive command, he reduced the speed to 65 km / h and tried - it was still dark - to recognize the shape signal . But this also showed - in contradiction to the precautionary order that he was holding in his hands - unrestrictedly "free travel" (Hp 1). At the same moment he recognized the headlights of the freight train's locomotive. According to his information, he immediately initiated an emergency braking . During the judicial interrogation he became entangled in contradictions. According to witnesses , the car only braked seconds before the impact. The speed of impact and when the emergency braking had started remained controversial. The subsequent criminal proceedings did not provide any clarification either. However, the court saw no reason to blame the driver of the passenger train for complicity.
It had a devastating effect that the 14 cubic meters of water in the tender of the passenger train's locomotive sloshed forward on impact, the tender therefore tipped forward, the first passenger car , a Prussian compartment car , pushed itself under the tender and the body of the car " shaved ”. Most of the people died here.
consequences
16 people died and 41 were injured in the accident . It was the first major railway accident involving the Deutsche Bundesbahn .
In the rescue, the military helped firefighters of that time by the US Air Force operated airport Erding .
In order to express its condolences, the German Bundestag interrupted the current session at the instigation of its Vice-President Carlo Schmid .
Both the dispatcher and the engineer of the passenger train were in custody taken. The dispatcher was charged before the Munich II regional court and sentenced to 14 months in prison .
literature
- Karl Bürger: Munich – Mühldorf – Simbach. Glory, decline and renaissance of a royal Bavarian railway . OO, 2017. ISBN 978-3-00-056474-1 , pp. 115-119.
- Hans Joachim Ritzau: From Siegelsdorf to Aitrang. The railway disaster as a symptom - a study of the history of traffic . Landsberg 1972.
- Reinhard Wiesner: Thann-Matzbach, Wasentegernbach, Walpertskirchen: Railway accidents in the district of Erding . In: Eisenbahn im Lkr. Erding = Erdinger Land 9. Erding 1985, pp. 135-138.
Remarks
- ↑ In note 111 contains references to contemporary reports on the accident.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Track plan near Ritzau, p. 158.
- ↑ Ritzau, p. 83.
- ↑ Ritzau, p. 83.
- ↑ Ritzau, p. 90.
- ↑ Ritzau, p. 83.
- ↑ Ritzau, p. 84.
- ↑ Ritzau, p. 88.
- ↑ Ritzau, pp. 85f; Citizens p. 118f.
- ↑ Bürger, p. 119.
- ↑ Ritzau, p. 87.
- ↑ Bürger, p. 118.
- ↑ Bürger, p. 118.
- ↑ Bürger, p. 119.
Coordinates: 48 ° 15 '42.7 " N , 11 ° 58' 18.7" E