Warngau railway accident

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The Warngau railway accident was a head-on collision between the 3594 and 3591 express trains on June 8, 1975, which ran between Lenggries and Munich . 41 dead passengers and railway employees, including both train drivers, and 122 injured were the result.

Starting position

The accident occurred on the single- track Holzkirchen – Lenggries railway near Warngau . There was no block on this route . Neighboring dispatchers were therefore technically able to enable trains running in the opposite direction to exit onto the free route at the same time. This was not operationally permissible, and to prevent this from happening, the dispatchers had to use train reports to ensure that only one train could ever run on the route. At that time, Warngau was still a train station where trains could cross.

The accident was favored by other circumstances: the 1975 summer timetable did not clearly stipulate at which station the trains had to cross , but provided for a fictitious intersection on the open stretch between Warngau and Schaftlach , a so-called air intersection . This allowed the dispatchers there to flexibly choose the location of the intersection according to current conditions. This timetable situation only occurred on Sundays in the timetable that was then in force. The E 3594 only ran on Sundays, whereas the E 3591 ran daily. On the first weekend on which the timetable was in effect, one train was so late that the crossing took place at a different location, and the accident occurred on the second timetable weekend.

the accident

During the crucial conversation between the two dispatchers who had carried out the train notification, a wording that was precisely prescribed according to the train notification procedure should have been used. But that did not happen. The two dispatchers talked past each other: everyone wanted to offer their train, everyone was of the opinion that the person you were talking to would have accepted the train he was offering. To make matters worse, both trains had very similar train numbers. The conversation was recorded by a voice memory. The trains collided at km 44.312 at 18:31 on the open track. 41 people died; 122 people were also injured. The cause of the accident was therefore human error . The dead were laid out for identification in the All Saints Church in Warngau.

consequences

In retrospect, there was harsh criticism that the technical security options that existed were not built in. Der Spiegel stated " conditions like the horse-drawn tram ". The provision of air junctions in the timetable was then prohibited by the railway.

Also tried the prosecutor , not just the immediate acting, but also officials of the railway administration criminally prosecute - in Germany a rarity. Investigations took place for months, eight expert reports were obtained and finally the officer who had worked out the air crossing in the timetable was also charged. He and the two dispatchers were sentenced to probation .

Of the two affected diesel locomotives , 218 238 was repaired and 218 243 was scrapped.

swell

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ So: Der Spiegel v. June 16, 1975; Flo, turntable online, calls 17:52.
  2. ↑ Andreas Steppan: Images of horror still have an impact today . In: merkur-online v. June 8, 2012.
  3. ↑ spiegel.de June 16, 1975: Conditions like the horse-drawn tram
  4. ↑ HB in: Die Zeit .

Coordinates: 47 ° 49 ′ 5 ″  N , 11 ° 42 ′ 7.5 ″  E