Switzerland - railway services, facilities, improvements and incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[stuving]

This report (http://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/5100665-collision-dans-la-broye-la-these-du-non-respect-de-la-signalisation-privilegiee-
par-la-police.html) already gives an almost complete description of what happened (if not an explanation).

A three-car Lausanne S-bahn train S21 from Payerne to Lausanne stopped at the station (Granges-pr^s-Marnand).
A two-car regional train from Lausanne to Payerne was due to pass it without stopping.
(The accident was reported at 19:44, but the RE^▸ (Religious Education) is timetabled at 18:44 - S21s run at both times).

The S21 left too soon, against the signal which is reported as working, and must have crossed trailing points against it.
The driver stopped just past these points and evacuated the front of carriage 1 (though another police statement said it was moving at 40 km/hr).
The RE struck the stationary S21 at up to 100 km/hr, its first carriage was compressed by 8 m, and its driver killed.
The possibility of passengers being found in the front of this carriage has not yet been excluded.

This line has the lowest of 4 levels of protection described as "Integra".
If this is Integra-Signum, which appears  to intervene after a SPAD^▸ (Signal Passed At Danger - very bad!), nothing else, it still should have applied the brakes here. If the signal is close to the platform end it is surprising the train got so far - 280 m by my reckoning.

[BerkshireBugsy]

Just been posted on sky news

http://news.sky.com/story/1318028/derailed-train-carriages-plunge-into-ravine

[Pb_devon]

And some more dramatic images here... http://www.20min.ch/schweiz/ostschweiz/story/Sind-noch-Personen-im-abgestuerzten-Waggon--18005231

(All in German, but the pictures tell it all)

All pax accounted for, with 5 seriouly injured.

[Chris from Nailsea]

It does indeed seem quite remarkable that there were no fatalities, and so relatively few serious injuries, in view of the scale of that derailment.  Best wishes to all of those injured for a swift recovery.

The Swiss do seem to have some smart kit available to them, to help deal with any such incidents - for example:

[Pb_devon]

Indeed they do, Chris.  A couple of years ago I had a tour of the Lotschberg Base Tunnel emergency train based at Frutigen, and it was impressive stuff.

[trainer]

It's very good to know that there were no fatalities and we all hope the injured will fully recover quickly and the crew cope with the shock.  Wonderful rescue service personnel as well as equipment.

Normally, I would expect the Swiss to have the trains running normally by tomorrow night, but allowing for the ravine and the weather I expect it will take until Friday!   

[ChrisB]

Two more photos here

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bu7AxXfCEAE36ow.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bu60wqxCAAAPZ5K.jpg

[stuving]

Reports say up to 50 people have been injured in a "serious" collision between a high-speed train and a local service near Zurich.
08:43, UK^▸ (United Kingdom),
Friday 20 February 2015

The crash site by the town of Rafz. Pic: @watson_news

Two trains have collided in Switzerland injuring up to 50 people, according to reports.

The collision happened at the train station in the Swiss town of Rafz, around 30 km (19 miles) north of Zurich.

The crash was between a commuter train and a a high-speed train on its way from Zurich to Stuttgart.

Eyewitnesses said the high-speed train hit the other from behind.

"There was an accident this morning, it's serious, there are injured," a police spokeswoman said.

"Ambulances from all regions have been mobilised," she added.

One rescue worker said as many as 49 people had been injured.

A passenger on the local train told the 20 Minutes newspaper that his train had been pulling out of the station when the driver braked suddenly.

"An express train from Zurich came up from behind and hit the side of our train - the intercity train derailed," said the man, who did not give his name.

The 18-year-old went on to say that passengers had quickly been evacuated from the trains, both of which were "quite damaged".

Rail services have been suspended.

The Swiss rail service is generally admired for its safety and efficiency - the Swiss are the biggest users of trains in Europe.

[ChrisB]

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) now have it too

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31547979

[stuving]

No word of an official explanation yet, but the pictures do support the initial reports of a signal passed at red.

There are two through lines and two platform loops at Rafz, and the express train from Zurich to Schaffhausen can be seen to have struck the suburban train a glancing blow and to have been almost entirely derailed. It crossed the other through line (to Zurich), and struck something (presumably an OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") stanchion) hard enough to tear a hole in the power car and result in serious injuries to the driver.

This train continued over a small bridge, where it just stayed within the parapet railing, onto the bare ground beside the track. The suburban train was left upright - and may have stopped by the time of the impact. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the suburban train set off before its signal had cleared, unless the signal had cleared in error.

Incidentally, both trains were going to Schaffhausen - in Switzerland - but the next two stations are in Germany. Do they still drive on the left there? It's a bit academic, as the line is single at the border so there is no need for an Alsace-style flyover.

[stuving]

Further news (in French) from 24heures.ch

This says that both trains were driven by trainees under instruction, and unlike the last Swiss accident at Granges-Marnand the station has an up to date signalling system (ZUB). This ought to at least stop a train trying to pass a red signal, so the current expert view is that that driver error alone can't explain it.

[stuving]

There are two through lines and two platform loops at Rafz,

Having looked at the layout on Google Earth, that's wrong. The pictures are misleading - there's a main island platform, and also a second one, but very low. And they use both sides of the main platform for both ways - many trains terminate here and start back both ways too. So the stopping train (RER) was on the left and the express on the rightmost track, which gives the same geometry.

[the void]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36423250

[TonyK]

Impressive!

[chuffed]

Don't remember the orange army doing acrobatics and cavorting about in their undies at Dawlish. As I recall it was a bit parky that day !!
Or was it just another Berlusconi Bunga Bunga party ?