Sloterdijk train collision

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sloterdijk train collision

The two trains involved in the collision near Westerpark
Details
Date 21 April 2012 (2012-04-21)
Time 18:30 local time (16:30 UTC)
Location Sloterdijk, Amsterdam
Coordinates 52°23′15″N 4°52′44″E / 52.387364°N 4.879003°E / 52.387364; 4.879003Coordinates: 52°23′15″N 4°52′44″E / 52.387364°N 4.879003°E / 52.387364; 4.879003
Country Netherlands
Rail line Oude Lijn
Operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Type of incident Head-on collision
Cause Suspected SPAD
Statistics
Trains 2
Passengers 136
Deaths 1
Injuries 116 (12 critical, 43 or 44 serious, < 60 minor)
Sloterdijk train collision location
Legend
 To Amsterdam Muiderpoort
 Amsterdam Centraal
 Singelgracht
 Site of accident
Isolatorweg
A10 motorway
Amsterdam Sloterdijk
Amsterdam Sloterdijk (Hemboog)
De Vlugtlaan
Amsterdam Metro Lijn 50
Westpoort
To Schiphol
To Den Helder
 To Haarlem

The Sloterdijk train collision occurred at 18:30 local time (16:30 UTC) on 21 April 2012, when two trains collided head-on at Westerpark, near Sloterdijk, in the west of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Around 117 people were injured, one of whom later died in a hospital. The collision is thought to have been caused by the driver of one of the trains having passed a red signal.

Accident

In the early evening a local train (an NS Sprinter Lighttrain) had just left Amsterdam Centraal and collided with a double-decker NS VIRM Intercity train travelling in opposite direction on the same track. Initial reports varied with potentially between 33 and 136 passengers injured, with up to 20 of them seriously although a member of the fire service later corrected this to 56. The actual figures were reported at 117 injuries (13 critical, 43 or 44 serious, less than 60 minor).[1][2][3][4][5] On 22 April, a 68-year-old woman died from her injuries.[6] There were sixteen people still in hospital.[7][8] On Wednesday May 23, the last train victim in hospital was sent home.[9]

The trains involved were an NS Class 2600 electric multiple unit, number 2658,[10] and an NS VIRM double-deck electric multiple unit, number 8711.[11][12] Neither of the two trains derailed. Passengers were reported to have been thrown against walls, seats, windows, and other passengers.[3][4] Just before the crash, witnesses said one of the trains sounded a long hoot of its horn.[4] Photographs show that the VIRM unit received moderate damage, with deformation at the rear of the first and front of the second carriage.

The accident occurred between Amsterdam Centraal and Amsterdam Sloterdijk stations, near Westerpark, suspending railway services between Amsterdam and The Hague as well as to Schiphol Airport on one of the busiest rail routes in the Netherlands. The local train was travelling between Amsterdam and Uitgeest whilst the Intercity train was travelling between Den Helder and Nijmegen.[2][3] By Sunday afternoon, traffic was partially restored with a full service expected by that evening. The stretch of line where the accident occurred is where trains do not travel at full speed.[7] It is estimated that at the moment of the collision the intercity was travelling at 25–30 km/h (16–19 mph) and the local train at about 20 km/h (12 mph). [13] Bus services were laid on to get people to their destinations during the suspension.[4]

Ik vrees dat ik een rood sein heb gemist.
I fear that I have missed a red light.
– Driver of the SLT train.[14]

Although the cause of the accident has not been officially determined, a reporter from de Volkskrant was travelling on SLT train, immediately behind the cab. He reported that the driver of that train said that she feared that she had just missed a red signal.[14]


Emergency response

Location of Sloterdijk in Amsterdam
Damage to the cab of the Class 8700 after the other train had been removed

Emergency services were swiftly on the scene. Many people were rescued from the train wreckage either by using cranes or by being placed in a protective wrap, with some carried out on stretchers. A trauma helicopter was used to take some of the people to a nearby hospital. Many of the injured were treated on a bridge nearby. Those that had only minor injuries were taken to an Amsterdam hotel. People were reported to have received broken bones, bruising and neck injuries.[1][3][4]

Investigations

Two separate investigations are being carried out into whether the train collision was by human error or by a technical fault on one of the trains. By 22 April, the damaged trains had been towed away by locomotives allowing technicians to inspect the track for damage. The director of Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Bert Meerstadt (nl), said it was still too early to speculate the cause and it was best to await the conclusion of the investigations.[7] The Dutch Safety Board (DSB, in Dutch: Onderzoeksraad Voor Veiligheid, OVV) is conducting one of the investigations,[15] whilst the other is being conducted by the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport, ILT).[16] The data recorders were recovered from both trains.[8]

ILT investigation

The fact that the driver may have passed a signal at danger has been included in the ILT's investigation. However, Transport Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen has said to await further investigations to see if the initial findings can be confirmed.[17] De Telegraaf reports that the driver may not face prosecution however as a report submitted by ProRail, the operator of the line, to the ILT, showed the signal in question was part of an older system and it is speculated that if it had been one of the more modern signals, fitted with upgraded safety equipment, the train would have stopped in time.[18]

DSB investigation

The investigation by the Dutch Safety Board has been looking into a number of questions, in particular, why the two trains crashed and why there were over 100 injuries and one death when the collision was not extremely hard. Prevention of accidents start with the planning of the timetable and one of the last things considered is a red signal. The driver or the signalman could intervene but the DSB asks why they did not do so or why the security system did not activate. Finally it continued to focus also on whether the signal was visible in the first place.[19]

In December 2012 the DSB published its final report.[13] It concluded that the accident was caused by the driver of the local train missing a red signal. The driver expected a red signal, but was distracted by a nearby goods train with only a single rear light, which she wanted to report.

Shortly after passing the signal at danger the safety system allowed the local train to accelerate to 60 km/h (37 mph). This was the speed limit transmitted to the intercity. Under normal circumstances the second train entering a section of track should short the track circuit, giving both trains a warning, but because of a set of points in the track this didn't happen until the local train passed the points. At that moment the intercity travelled at 53 km/h (33 mph) and the local train at 43 km/h (27 mph). By applying the emergency brake the trains managed to decelerate to 25–30 km/h (16–19 mph) and 20 km/h (12 mph) respectively.

There were several contributing factors to the cause and severity of the collision. Because of scheduled maintenance only a single track was available between the lower level platforms of Amsterdan Sloterdijk and Amsterdam Centraal station. In the modified timetable the intercity and the local train were supposed to use that short section of single track only three minutes after each other, for which the local train was supposed to wait for one minute at the signal it drove trough. Three minutes is the minimum time interval for passages over single track sections allowed by regulation. Because of a delayed goods train the intercity was two minutes late, causing the trains to arrive at the single track section at the same time.

The railyard where the collision happed is protected using ATB First Generation, which can only warn for signals at danger and enforce a low approach speed. An improvement, ATB-Vv (Verbeterde versie or Improved version) exists and could have stopped the local train before passing the signal. Although this system had been installed on the train and the signal in question was planned to support ATB-Vv, it hadn't been installed there yet. The DSB questioned the slow rate at which ATB-Vv is implemented in the Netherlands.

Despite the low speed of the trains the number and severity of the injuries was considerable. After the collision people were catapulted through the train and hit objects such as panels, seats and tables, causing severe in in one case lethal injuries. The DSB argued that those objects have not been designed with crashes in mind and recommends that train builders shall take crash safety of the furniture in passenger carriages into consideration.

Aftermath

Prorail and NS have been handing out compensations to alleged victims. One person tried to claim for a Stradivarius violin, which later footage showed to be an iPad.[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Dutch train injures 125: police". Reuters, New England Public Radio. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "At least 60 injured in Amsterdam two-train crash". Channel Asia News. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Dozens injured in Dutch train collision". BBC News. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "60 injured in Amsterdam two-train crash: police". AFP. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012. 
  5. ↑ "More than 100 injured as trains collide in Amsterdam". CNN. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2012. 
  6. ↑ "Treinbotsing eist leven 68-jarige vrouw" [Train collision costs life of 68-year-old woman]. AT5 Nieuws (in Dutch) (Amsterdam). 22 April 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012. "Een 68-jarige vrouw uit het oosten van het land is overleden aan de verwondingen die zij gisteren opliep tijdens het treinongeluk. (A 68-year-old woman from the east of the country has died of wounds suffered during yesterdays train accident." 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Dutch experts examine train crash site". The Age. Australia. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Dutch train crash: Woman dies of her injuries". BBC News. 22 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012. 
  9. ↑ "Laatste slachtoffer treinbotsing thuis" (in Dutch). AT5. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012. 
  10. ↑ "125 gewonden na treinbotsing" [125 wounded after train collision]. AT5 Nieuws (in Dutch) (Amsterdam). 21 April 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012. "Ter hoogte van het Westerpark zijn zaterdagavond rond 18.30 uur een stoptrein en een sneltrein frontaal tegen elkaar aan gebotst (Saturday evening around 18:30 in the Westerpark area a slow train and a fast train collided in a frontal collision)" 
  11. ↑ Hawley, Caroline (21 April 2012). "Netherlands train crash: Scores injured near Amsterdam". BBC News. Retrieved 22 April 2012. 
  12. ↑ "Treinongeluk Westerpark" (in Dutch). AT5. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Treinbotsing Amsterdam Westerpark (in dutch), Onderzoeksraad voor de Veiligheid, 2012, retrieved 2 August 2013 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Passagier ramptrein: Alles zat onder het bloed" (in Dutch). Algemeen Dagsblad. Retrieved 23 April 2012. 
  15. ↑ "Treinbotsing tussen intercity en sprinter, Amsterdam, 21 April 2012" (in Dutch). Onderzoeksraad Voor Veiligheid. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012. 
  16. ↑ "Treinbotsing in centrum Amsterdam – tientallen zwaargewonden" (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012. 
  17. ↑ "Train driver in crash ran red signal". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012. 
  18. ↑ "Train crash driver may avoid prosecution: signal safety out of date". Dutch News. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012. 
  19. ↑ "Onderzoek treinongeluk focust op oorzaak en botsveiligheid" (in Dutch). AT5. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012. 
  20. ↑ "Reizigers proberen te verdienen aan Amsterdams treinongeluk" (in Dutch). De Telegraaf. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sloterdijk train collision.
Railway accidents in 2012 (2012)
Location and date
2011 2013
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.