Avalanche accident near Alp Grüm

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On the night of the avalanche on February 28, 1937, an accident occurred near the Bernina Railway below Alp Grüm , in which railway employees were caught in an avalanche while fleeing from a stuck train . Three railway workers were killed.

Starting position

Alp Grüm from the air with station building (red arrow), turning curve (on the right in the picture) and Palü spiral tunnel (blue), photo from the Palü glacier, source: https://www.berninabahn.ch/alp-gr%C3 % BCm / aerial photography /

Train 29 from Pontresina with two railcars and a snow plow in front crossed a counter train in Alp Grüm, which was delayed due to persistent heavy snowfall. On the onward journey from Alp Grüm down to Cavaglia , the snow plow on train 29 triggered a snow slide. Because the line developed in several loops, the train drove into the snow slide that it had triggered itself. The attempt to pull the stuck snow plow with the two railcars out of the snow led to a cable fire in one railcar. Without the support of an aid train, it was not possible to continue the journey. In the meantime, a steam snow blower and two other trains with 350 passengers had arrived in Alp Grüm from Pontresina . With the snow thrower and another railcar, it was possible to pull the vehicles of train 29 up to Alp Grüm, with the exception of the stuck snow plow.

the accident

As should be the recovery of the snowplow completed with the next use of the auxiliary train, sat suddenly and unexpectedly a northern storm in hurricane strength one, the temperature around 20 degrees dropped to minus 25 degrees Celsius within a few minutes. After half an hour, all station tracks were covered with more than a meter of snow.

The rescue train got stuck and the crew feared that the snow would slide off and drag the train along. Since it was now night, the railway workers decided to get off the train and walk the few hundred meters to the station. As they were leaving the protective gallery, they were surprised by an avalanche that buried four of them. One could cling to a tree and climb back up. After fighting the storm for more than an hour, three railway employees met 350 passengers and more than 30 personnel in Alp Grüm. Two railway employees had to be left in a niche.

rescue

Steam snow blower in use on the electrically operated Bernina Railway in the 1920s

The first attempts at help, which were made by the railway director and volunteers at risk of death, failed. The rescue of the missing could only be undertaken at 2 a.m. after the storm had subsided. Three people buried could only be rescued dead. The fourth survived seriously injured.

Another snow blower from Pontresina was used to clear the route . This sling had to cut through eight avalanches. On the evening of March 2, 1937, the route was again passable.

memory

A memorial plaque commemorates the avalanche accident in the Palü Sopra gallery at km 27.8. This place was still unprotected at the time. The gallery, which is 839 meters long today, consists of the Palü spiral tunnel, 254 meters long, and the Palü Sopra and Palü Sotto avalanche galleries adjoining both tunnel portals , which were built in stages in 1911 and 1949.

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