Zollikofen railway accident

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Railway accident at Zollikofen on August 17th, 1891
Contemporary depiction of the Zollikofen railway accident
Contemporary depiction of the Zollikofen railway accident
               
JS railway line from Biel / Bienne
               
23.4 Lyss
               
19.9 Suberg
               
15.7 Scoop
               
10.1 Münchenbuchsee
               
Railroad crossing, confusing curve
               
7.5
98.8
Zollikofen railway line of the SCB from Olten
               
Railway line of the SCB to Bern

Map of the scene of the accident
red: section of the Jura-Simplon Railway (JS)
light red: section of the Swiss Central Railway (SCB)

In the railway accident at Zollikofen on August 17, 1891 at around 7.30 a.m., the express train Bern - Paris 240/2166 of the Jura-Simplon Railway (JS) collided with the JS special train 2246, which was waiting in front of the closed entry signal . The impact killed 14 passengers on the special train, 28 seriously and 94 slightly injured.

Starting position

The 700th anniversary of the founding of the city of Bern attracted a large number of visitors to the federal capital and brought the railways to their capacity limit. The train traffic on the Biel – Bern line suffered from operational disruptions the day before and during the night of August 16-17, 1891. The special train 2246 left Biel 9 minutes late. According to the driving rules, he had to make a service stop in Zollikofen , but no stop was planned at the other stations . Accordingly, the travel time was measured at 56 minutes, which corresponded to the travel time of the following express train 240/2166. Before the train departed in Biel , the JS chief operations inspector ordered that all intermediate stations where passengers wait to board must be stopped.

The express train 240 coming from Paris consisted of five passenger cars and was equipped with air brakes. In Biel it was combined with the special train 2166 from Pruntrut , which consisted of 11 hand-braked cars. The air brakes were decommissioned and the entire train was braked with the hand brakes.

Due to the stop at three stations, the special train 2246 was so delayed that the following express train 240/2166 with a scheduled interval of 22 minutes was stopped in Suberg and Schüpfen with a red flag until the following section was free.

the accident

In Zollikofen shortly before Bern, the Biel – Bern line of the then JS joins the Olten – Bern line of the Swiss Central Railway (SCB) at the time . The special train 2246 waited in front of the closed entry signal until its entry track became free. At this point the railway line is in a curve with a radius of 600 meters , with the view being obscured by a forest. The brakeman of the last car was instructed to cover the train with a red flag. However, he has not moved far enough from the train to see the straight line. He feared he would have to stay behind when his train was allowed to enter. The nurse opened for train passage in 2246 the barrier of the level crossing again to the numerous carts to be passed through.

The express train 240/2166 was not stopped in Münchenbuchsee , although the previous request for a free train route section had not been answered by the Zollikofen station and only 7 minutes had passed since the departure of train 2246 in Münchenbuchsee. In the curve in front of the railway crossing which saw leader of the preload locomotive that the barrier was not closed and gave a cue . The barrier attendant ran towards the train and made it stop with her hands moving up and down. The two engine drivers were still giving back steam , but the brakemen did not have enough time to fully apply the hand brakes, and a collision occurred . Shortly before this, the entrance signal for the special train 2246 was opened. However, the train could not start immediately due to an overload on the 10 per thousand gradient .

consequences

The last three wagons of the 2246 special train, a boxcar attached at the end and two passenger wagons , were destroyed. Of the passengers in these cars, 14 were killed and 28 seriously and 94 were slightly injured. There were about 30 people in the boxcar at the end of the train who were able to escape through the wide sliding doors immediately before the collision. In the penultimate car, a passenger car, 13 people were killed immediately.

On the 240/2166 express train, the leader locomotive was heavily damaged and a passenger car was slightly damaged. In this train, the personal injuries were limited to injuries to a locomotive driver and a train attendant .

Cause of accident

The immediate cause of the accident can be found in the fault of individual company bodies:

  • According to a service order from the JS, the air brakes on the express train cars coming from Paris were put out of operation. Even though there were enough brakes on the train, the hand brakes did not work too late to prevent the collision.
  • The stops at three intermediate stations on the instructions of the chief operations inspector increased the already existing delay of the special train 2246.
  • The travel time of the extra train has also increased due to overload. The permissible trailer load of the locomotive was 170 tons on the Biel – Lyss line and 145 tons on the Lyss – Bern section. However, the trailer load was 231 tons.
  • The station officer in Münchenbuchsee has allowed the express train to travel to an occupied section of the train sequence.
  • The final brake did not adequately cover the extra train standing in front of the Zollikofen entrance signal.

The accident can also be indirectly attributed to the strong increase in traffic caused by the festivities in Bern. In the press, the operational organization was criticized by the leading positions of the Jura-Simplon-Bahn.

The Postal and Railway Department has proposed several improvements to avoid such accidents in the future:

Information policy

After complaints about the lack of an official report on the railway accident in Münchenstein , the railway department issued an official notification after the accident in Zollikofen. The Jura-Simplon-Bahn also wrote a communiqué and hung it on a notice board in the journalists' room of the Federal Palace, on which only official notices are usually published.

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