List of accidents on rack railways

The list of accidents on rack railways chronologically shows accidents and incidents endangering operations on rack sections. Accidents involving mixed adhesion and cog railways on sections of the route without a rack are not listed here.

Despite the considerable risk potential due to the great gradients and the dangers of the high mountains, there have so far only been a few serious accidents on rack railways . However, due to the low speeds and the associated short braking distances, the risk of collisions is low. In Switzerland, the country with the greatest density of cog railway, 135 years ago the only known accident with a fatality occurred.

19th century

•  Hungary - Salgótarján : At the beginning of February 1883,all teeth of the drive gear of the locomotive of a train traveling uphillbroke on the works of the Rimamurány ironworks in Salgótarján , whereupon the empty coal train rolled back down the valley until the locomotive and wagons derailed . Of the 26 people on the train, six were killed and eleven seriously injured.
•  Austria - Kahlenbergbahn : On July 10, 1883,a freight wagon loaded with sleepersescaped on the Kahlenbergbahn due to a malfunctioning gear brake. The car torea large hole in a wall behind the end of the trackat the Nussdorf valley station. The railroad workers riding on the wagon were able to get to safety by jumping.

Debris from the accident on December 20, 1885 at the Arth-Rigi-Bahn

•  Switzerland - Arth-Rigi-Bahn : On October 20, 1885 a train of the Arth-Rigi-Bahn crashedover the embankmentafter a broken axle. The train driver lost his life and nine people were injured.
  → Section accident of the H 1/2 4 and conversion in article ARB H 1/2
•  United Kingdom - Snowdon Mountain Railway : On April 4, 1896, the opening day of the railway, a Snowdon Mountain Railway locomotive derailedand crashed down the mountainside. One passenger was killed.
  → History sectionin the Snowdon Mountain Railway article

20th century

Until 1949

Scene of the accident in Oberzissen with dumped cargo

•  German Empire - Brohltalbahn : On October 31, 1907,a freight train travelingdown thevalleyderailed on the Brohltalbahn with passenger transport and fell down a railway embankment. Five people died and others were injured, six of them seriously.
  → Main article : Oberzissen railway accident
•  German Empire - Kinsau : In May 1908,two freight wagonsescaped from the Kinsau cog railway after a train separation and were smashed at the end of the short distance. After that, the cars were only allowed to be lined up on the mountain side of the locomotive.
  → Section operation and shutdown in the article Kinsau cog railway
•  Switzerland - Montreux : On November 11, 1912, the railcar of the Trait – Planches cogwheel railway derailed, slid down the line and hit the valley station. The accident went smoothly, but operations were stopped immediately and the track demolished in 1918.
•  Austria - Renon Railway : On May 16, 1917, a train on the Renon Railway between Maria Himmelfahrt and St. Magdalena derailed due to a brake failure. The accident resulted in several injuries, the engine driver died in the hospital. The locomotive is said to have been defective for over a year.

In 1922 a train on the Wendelsteinbahn had an accident.

Locomotive 10004 was destroyed in the accident at the Usui Pass .

•  Japan - Usui Pass : On March 7, 1918,an unrolled freight trainderailed at Usui Pass , which had come to a standstill due to a defective drive motor. Four railway workers were killed and two injured.
  → Main article : Kumanotaira railway accident

Debris from the accident at the Chemin de fer du Montenvers

•  German Empire - Wendelsteinbahn : On August 22, 1922, a Wendelsteinbahn locomotive derailedin the gallery in the Raindlerkessel. The following cars crashed into the overturned motor vehicle. One passenger died and around 30 people were injured.
•  France - Chemin de fer du Montenvers : On August 25, 1927, the locomotive and the first passenger car of a downhill train of the Chemin de fer du Montenvers crashedfrom a bridge due to a brake failure. There were 22 fatalities.
•  German Empire - Petersbergbahn : On May 19 or 20, 1929 (Whitsun),a cogwheel locomotivederailed on the Petersbergbahn on the descent. Gearbox damage was suspected to be the cause, but was never officially verified.
•  United States - Mount Washington : On July 20, 1929, the restored steam locomotive "Old Peppersass" jumped out of the rails, moved unchecked down the valley and derailed. One passenger was killed.
  → Vehicles sectionin the Mount Washington Cog Railway article
•  Switzerland - Stansstad-Engelberg-Bahn : Around 1943 a locomotive of the Stansstad-Engelberg-Bahn traveling downhill with an adhesion railcar lostthe mesh of its cog in the rack. While the driver of the railcar was able to bring his vehicle to a standstill with the handbrake, the locomotive only came into gear rack engagement after about 500 meters and could be stopped by the driver. No information was given about the incident. Apart from many knocked out teeth in the solid Riggenbach rack, it had no further consequences.

From 1950

•  Federal Republic of Germany - Drachenfels Railway : On September 14, 1958, a train on the Drachenfels cogwheel railway derailed due to excessive speed. 18 passengers died and many suffered injuries.
  → Article Railway accident from the Drachenfels
•  France - Luchon – Superbagnères : On February 28, 1954, the brake gears of the locomotive of a train traveling downhill were lifted out of the rack due to an incorrectly set switch. The train takes off without braking. Derailed due to excessive speed. Six passengers died, the two train drivers and a girl who was seriously injured in a sledge accident and who could not receive medical care in time due to the bus accident.
•  Italy - Rittnerbahn : On December 3, 1964 on the derailed St. Magdalena a downhill moving train of Rittnerbahn . The cogwheel locomotive and the railcar in front crashed. The accident, which can be traced back to poor maintenance of the superstructure and vehicles, left four dead and 30 injured. The authorities then accelerated the construction of the Bozen – Soprabolzano cable car.
•  Federal Republic of Germany - Wendelsteinbahn : On February 28, 1975 an avalanche tore a snow blower of the Wendelsteinbahn into the depths. Five railway workers were killed and others were seriously injured.
•  United States - Mount Washington : On September 17, 1967, the locomotive of a downhill train on the Mount Washington Cog Railway derailedand overturned. The fully occupied presentation car drove on without braking until it derailed. Eight people, including three children, were killed.
•  Switzerland - Wengernalpbahn : On November 11, 1996 tipped below the Kleine Scheidegg a hairdryer storm with wind speeds up to 150 km / h one double railcar Wengernalpbahn order. Several people were injured, some seriously. The trip served to evacuatepeople trappedon the Jungfraujoch .

21st century

On September 8, 2011 the Rochers-de-Naye railway locomotive was destroyed

Rochers-de-Naye railway service car that had an accident in Paccot on August 24, 2010

•  Switzerland - Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn : In the early afternoon of November 30, 2009, the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn decided to stop operating the Oberalp route from 3 p.m. due to the risk of avalanches . Shortly before 2 p.m., a fresh snow avalanche at the Oberalp Pass torethe three passenger cars and the loaded car transporter of a train down the slope. Two of the nine passengers were slightly injured.
•  Switzerland - Rochers-de-Naye-Bahn : On August 24, 2010, the Hm 2/2 4 service car of the Chemin de fer Montreux-Glion-Rochers de Naye (MGN)derailedand hit a catenary mast. Two of the four inmates suffered serious injuries. The cause was a technical error in the infrastructure. Although the route to track 2 had been discontinued, the rack rail car drove on track 1.

MGB rail tractor Tm 4972 derailed in the Schöllenen Gorge with a demolished driver's cab. The dotted lines show the silhouette of the shunting tractor.

•  Switzerland - Rochers-de-Naye-Bahn : On September 8, 2011, the HGe 2/2 3 of the Rochers-de-Naye-Bahn (MGN),traveling uphill on a ballast train, derailed. She then rolled backwards about 70 meters and crashed into a tunnel wall, completely destroying it. Due to track construction work, the track was not yet ballasted and therefore not stable enough and had an impermissible cant . In addition, a lamella of the two-lamellar Abt rack was missing in the area between the old and newly laid rails. The out of order safety control and the non-functioning speed recording, however, were not jointly responsible for the accident.
•  Switzerland - Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn : On September 1, 2016,ashunting composition of the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn (MGB),consistingof the unmanned rail tractor and four empty passenger cars,escaped in Andermatt stationand got into the rack-and-pinion line of the Schöllenenbahn , where the five vehicles derailed. Fortunately, an oncoming passenger train was delayed as it waswaiting for an SBB connecting trainin Göschenen .
•  France - Chemin de fer du Montenvers: On August 11, 2019, railcar 46 of the Chemin de fer du Montenvers cog railway derailedwith around 150 passengers in the Les Planards encounter section. The cause was probably the opening of a closed switch. The last bogie of the following wagon also derailed with one axle. The railcar got stuck in the gravel bed at an angle of about 30 °.

See also

• List of disasters
• Navigation bar lists of railway accidents

References and comments

1. ^ Accident on a rack railway. In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung. February 17, 1883 (epilog.de - time travel to culture + technology)
2. ↑ Accident on the rack railway. In:  Wiener Zeitung , No. 155/1883, July 10, 1883, p. 9, left column center. (Online at ANNO ). .
3. ↑ Christophe: Il ya 100 ans: suppression du tramway Trait-Planches. In: Histoire ferroviaire suisse, November 11, 2012 (French)
4. ^ Thomas Frey and Hans-Ulrich Schiedt: Trait Planches. In: bahndaten.ch, data on the Swiss railways 1847–1920. Via Storia, Center for Transport History at the University of Bern, accessed on September 1, 2017.
5. ↑ To the accident on the Renon Railway. In: Tiroler Zeitung , Bozen, May 17, 1917
6. ↑ Serious accident on the Wendelsteinbahn. In: Rosenheimer Anzeiger, August 22, 1922 (Bayerische Landesbibliothek Online)
7. ^ Hans Joachim Ritzau: Railway disasters in Germany. Splinters of German history . Vol. 1. Landsberg-Pürgen 1979, p. 38, reports only on 30 people injured.
8. ↑ Serious accident on the Chamonix – Mer de Glace cable car. In: Neue Freie Presse , evening paper of August 26, 1927, p. 1 (online at ANNO ),
9. ↑ La catastrophe du Montenvers. In: Journal de Genève , third edition of August 27, 1927, p. 2 (French)
10. ^ Peter Berger, Hans Waldburger, Christoph Berger: Railways to Engelberg. 100 years of rail transport from Lake Lucerne to the monastery village. Minirex, Lucerne 1998, ISBN 3-907 014-10-3
11. ↑ L'accident du 28 février 1954. In: Superbagnères la pionnière. Retrieved November 17, 2019 (French). 
12. ↑ Rittnerbahn. In: Homepage of the Tiroler MuseumsBahnen, accessed on September 15, 2017
13. ^ Siegfried Bufe: Wendelsteinbahn . Bufe-Fachbuchverlag, Egglham 2000. ISBN 3-922138-74-8 , p. 29; Cornelia Knust: A memorial for the privy councilor, In: Manager magazine. Hamburg, June 5, 2015.
14. ↑ Suki Casanave: Mount Washington Cog Railway. In: New England Today. April 20, 2015
15. ↑ WAB train blown over . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 12 . Minirex, 1996, ISSN  1022-7113 , pp. 510 .
16. ^ Mathias Rellstab: Avalanche sweeps Zug off the rails at the Oberalp Pass . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 1 . Minirex, 2010, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 13-15 .
17. ^ ^{A b} Mathias Rellstab: Accident as a trigger for rolling stock order . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 1/2014 . Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 536-537 .
18. ↑ Report final du Service d'enquête suisse sur les SESA le déraillement d'un train de chantier jeudi 8 September 2011 aux Rochers - de - Naye (final report of the safety investigation center SUST on the derailment of a ballast train on Thursday, September 8, 2011 at Rochers- de-Naye). Bern, January 23, 2012 (French)
19. ^ Fabian Scheeder, Walter von Andrian: Almost catastrophe in the Schöllenen . In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 10 . Minirex, 2016, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 490-491 .
20. ↑ France: Train du Montenvers cog railway derailed . In: Lok Report from August 13, 2019.