Hordorf railway accident

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Magdeburg – Thale railway line

The Hordorf railway accident occurred on January 29, 2011 near the Hordorf stop on the Magdeburg – Thale railway line . A passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train . Ten people were killed in the collision and 23 others were injured, some of them life-threatening.

Accident

Sketch of the situation from the scene of the accident

On the evening of January 29, 2011, the HarzElbeExpress (HEX) , train number 80876, operated by Veolia Verkehr was on its way from Magdeburg to Halberstadt according to the schedule . On the single-track section shortly before the Hordorf transfer point , in thick fog at route kilometers 42.702 at around 10:28 p.m. , he collided head-on with the 69192 freight train, which was about two hours late, after it had inadmissibly passed a stop signal .

The Peine-Salzgitter transport company freight train coming from Rübeland consisted of 32 wagons loaded with lime and was hauled by two Vossloh G 1700-2 BB diesel locomotives 1703 and 1704 . The speed of the train with a total mass of 2700 tons was 69 km / h. The HEX railcar, occupied by around 50 passengers, had its speed through an emergency brake initiated by the driver 135 m before the collision from 98 to 66 km / h reduced, the freight train from 69 to 68 km / h. During the severe, 580 m long freight train, apart from the demolished first motor vehicle , was only slightly damaged and only came to a stop about 500 meters behind the accident site, the two-part local rail car VT became 810 of the type LINT 41 with an empty weight of 63.5 tons tipped to the left side as a result of the impact. The front part of the railcar was almost completely destroyed.

The section Oschersleben – Halberstadt, which was closed due to the accident, was reopened to traffic in the evening hours of February 1, 2011.

Victims and rescue operations

Ten people were killed, including the driver of the passenger train and the train attendant . The driver of the freight train suffered minor injuries. In a first report by the Federal Ministry of Transport, 18 people with severe and 25 with minor injuries were assumed. In the final investigation report, 23 of the 32 people on the passenger train were named with some serious injuries. Because of the heavy fog, helicopters could not be used to transport the injured. Around 100 emergency services from all over the region were involved in the rescue measures.

Commemoration

On Saturday, February 5, 2011, a service was held in Halberstadt Cathedral to commemorate the victims of the accident. Around 1000 people took part, including Saxony-Anhalt's then Prime Minister Wolfgang Böhmer , the CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG Rüdiger Grube and Federal Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer .

A memorial stone co-designed by the relatives was unveiled on January 27, 2012 at the site of the accident. The rescue medal of the state of Saxony-Anhalt was awarded to the killed train driver of the passenger train. In addition, a report (The Hordorf train accident - disaster on a single-track route) was shown on German private television with interviews with eyewitnesses and helpers as well as accident pictures.

Court hearing

On October 8, 2012, the trial against the driver of the freight train began at the Magdeburg Regional Court. At the start of the trial, the defense attorney read out a written statement in which the defendant apologized to the injured and bereaved and stated that he had not heard the stop signals.

Investigations against the 41-year-old train driver had previously been carried out by the Federal Police , the State Criminal Police Office of Saxony-Anhalt and the Federal Railway Accident Investigation Center and the Magdeburg public prosecutor's office. On January 2, 2012, the Magdeburg public prosecutor brought charges of tenfold negligent homicide, negligent bodily harm in 22 cases and negligent endangerment of rail traffic.

In a first report by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development on February 1, 2011, it was stated that the freight train in front of Hordorf should wait for the passenger train to move from the single-track to the double-track section at the stopping block signal B. The freight train passed the distant signal indicating “Wait to stop” without reducing speed and stopping at the main signal. The freight train drove up the points already set for the passenger train. After the dispatcher in the Hordorf signal box was automatically alerted, he said he had given an emergency stop order over the train radio . Another report after the first evaluation of both data records confirmed that the driver of the freight train ignored both the pre-signal and the main signal and that the first reaction only took place immediately before the collision. The assumption that the driver of the freight train was not on the first but on the second locomotive was rejected on the grounds that the train was controlled from the first locomotive.

On September 14, 2011, the Federal Railway Accident Investigation Board published its investigation report. She concludes that all other possible causes other than human error can be ruled out. Furthermore, it does not rule out that the fog contributed to the accident. Due to the nature of fog, which occurs very differently over a short distance and over time, no clear statement can be made about the actual conditions at the time of the accident. The driver of a previous train stated a visibility range of 100 to 150 meters.

On November 28, 2012, the train driver was sentenced to one year probation by the Magdeburg Regional Court. The court followed the demands of the public prosecutor's office and defense. A representative of the secondary prosecution , who had demanded five years imprisonment, announced a revision before the Federal Court of Justice , as the accident had not been sufficiently clarified.

On August 6, 2013, the BGH rejected the appeal of the two joint plaintiffs and the judgment became final.

background

The 58-kilometer-long railway line between Magdeburg and Halberstadt is single-tracked for 37 kilometers, for a maximum speed of 100 km / h and at the time of the accident was only partially equipped with punctual train control (PZB), which could have triggered an emergency braking of the freight train. There was a legal obligation to install a train control device according to § 15 paragraph 2 of the Railway Construction and Operating Regulations at the time of the accident only on routes with an approved maximum speed of over 100 km / h. In the vicinity of the Hordorf stop, a single-track section changes to a double-track section. This transfer point is secured with signals that are operated by a local interlocking . The installation of the PZB line facility in Hordorf was part of the expansion of the line to travel speeds of 120 km / h planned for March 2011. The conversion of other sections of the route, however, has already taken place according to information from Deutsche Bahn. The equipment that has not yet been completed should “be completed by the end of 2008 at the latest,” it said in a memo. The lack of approval of the necessary funds for equipping the 52-kilometer-long Halberstadt – Magdeburg route in the amount of 533 is a hindrance 000 Euro called by the Federal Railway Authority . At the end of May 2011, four months after the accident, the punctual train control was put into operation in Oschersleben and at the accident site in Hordorf.

With the change in the railway building and operating regulations of July 25, 2012, the equipping of all German main and many branch lines with punctual train control was prescribed by December 31, 2014.

Web links

 Wikinews: Train accident with at least 10 dead in Saxony-Anhalt  - message

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Serious train accident near Oschersleben with several dead. In: Magdeburger Nachrichten. January 31, 2011, archived from the original on February 11, 2013 ; accessed on January 24, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Investigation report train collision, transfer point Hordorf / route Magdeburg Hbf - Halberstadt on January 29, 2011. (PDF; 841 kB) Federal Railway Accident Investigation Agency, September 14, 2011, accessed on February 14, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Alexander Schierholz: Office confirmed: stop signals passed . Investigations into the cause are ongoing. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . February 17, 2011, p. 3 .
  4. ↑ Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk: Freight train engine driver runs over a stop signal ( memento from February 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) from February 1, 2011, accessed on February 1, 2011 at 11:18 am
  5. ↑ bild.de; from February 18, 2011
  6. ↑ Picture of the demolished locomotive of the freight train. In: image . January 30, 2011, archived from the original on February 10, 2013 ; accessed on January 24, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Picture of the destroyed passenger train - train accident at Hordorf Train driver has to go to court. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . January 2, 2012, accessed February 2, 2011 .
  8. ^ A b Norbert Claus, Wolfgang Schönwald: Serious train accident in Saxony-Anhalt. (No longer available online.) In: Sächsische Zeitung . January 30, 2011, formerly in the original ; accessed on January 31, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.sz-online.de
  9. ↑ Train accident: Incredible collision, seven kilometers to be heard. In: Welt Online . January 30, 2011, accessed January 31, 2011 .
  10. ↑ a b c First report from the Federal Ministry of Transport - the train driver of the accident train ran across two signals. In: Volksstimme . February 1, 2011, accessed February 2, 2011 .
  11. ↑ http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2011-01/zugunglueck-sachsen-anhalt accessed on October 25, 2011
  12. ^ Funeral service for the 10 dead from Hordorf. January 31, 2011, accessed February 5, 2011 .
  13. ↑ a b Alexander Schierholz: Train driver has to go to court. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. January 2, 2012, accessed November 10, 2017 .
  14. ^ Commemoration - One year after the Hordorf train disaster. ( Memento from September 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  15. ^ Dpa : Processes Hordorf process: train driver apologizes . In: zeit.de , October 8, 2012, accessed on October 8, 2012.
  16. ^ After the train accident near Hordorf - charges were brought against the train driver. In: mdr.de. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, January 3, 2012, archived from the original on January 14, 2012 ; accessed on January 24, 2016 .
  17. ^ Hordorf train accident - revision against train driver judgment announced. ( Memento from January 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, November 28, 2012.
  18. ↑ Train driver sentenced to suspended sentence. In: Spiegel Online , November 28, 2012.
  19. ^ Judgment against the accident train driver von Hordorf is final. In: Braunschweiger Zeitung. August 6, 2013, accessed August 10, 2013 .
  20. ↑ a b Manuela Pfohl: Investigations into the train accident in Hordorf: routine trip to death. In: stern . January 31, 2011, accessed February 1, 2011 .
  21. ↑ Oliver Schumacher: The Halberstadt – Magdeburg route corresponds to valid safety standards. Press release 003/2011. In: deutschebahn.com. DB Mobility Logistics , January 31, 2011, archived from the original on February 11, 2011 ; accessed on February 14, 2016 .
  22. ↑ Christian Esser and Astrid Randerath: Article: Avoidable train disaster? - Bahn saves on safety. (PDF) manuscript. In: Frontal21 . February 1, 2011, accessed February 1, 2011 .
  23. ↑ Deadline should be rehabilitated in 2011
  24. ↑ Train accident near Hordorf - the railway and the ministry had known about the dangers of the route for years. In: Spiegel Online . February 5, 2011, accessed February 5, 2011 .
  25. ↑ Automatic braking system for the accident route . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . June 3, 2011 ( mz-web.de [accessed June 3, 2011]).
  26. ↑ Sixth ordinance amending railway regulations . In: Federal Law Gazette Part I, Volume 2012, No. 37 of August 20, 2012, p. 1703 f.

Coordinates: 52 ° 0 ′ 2 "  N , 11 ° 11 ′ 29.9"  E