Freight train derailment a year ago continues to affect traffic
Published: Friday, Aug 9th 2024, 12:20
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Saturday (tomorrow) marks the anniversary of the devastating derailment of a freight train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The accident caused by a broken wheel disk resulted in massive damage to the infrastructure in the tunnel. Passenger traffic is still impaired today.
The freight train derailed at 12:48 on August 10, 2023 on its journey from Chiasso to Basel in the west tunnel of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. According to the interim report by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (Sust), a broken wheel disk was responsible for the accident.
According to the report, a fragment of the wheel disc broke off about ten kilometers after entering the tunnel. Further fragments then came loose. The last fragment broke off 17 kilometers from the tunnel portal. The axle of the wagon hit the Faido track switch and destroyed it.
The 16 freight wagons behind derailed. The train was torn apart between the 13th and 14th wagon and certain wagons ended up on the diverting track.
Working at over 40 degrees
The damage to the tunnel infrastructure was enormous. The damaged wagons had to be removed from the tunnel via the south portal. A temporary track was constructed for the recovery operation. Several wagons were so badly damaged that they had to be dismantled at the scene of the accident.
According to SBB, seven kilometers of track had to be completely replaced in the following months. Two high-speed turnouts as well as more than 20,000 sleeper blocks and the concrete layer in which they are cast were replaced and a total of around 6,500 tons of concrete were removed.
The work took place under "very challenging logistical and climatic conditions", with temperatures of over 40 degrees. The seven-metre-high, four-metre-wide and ten-tonne lane-change gate also had to be replaced. The production of this steel gate alone, which separates the two tunnel tubes, took several months.
One train on weekdays
The first freight train was only able to pass through the base tunnel again around two weeks after the accident, and the first passenger train after around one and a half months. The disruption to passenger traffic was to last for over a year.
To date, only one passenger train runs from south to north through the Gotthard Base Tunnel on weekdays, and 38 on weekends. The remaining 60 or so trains per day are diverted in both directions via the panoramic route, which adds around an hour to the journey time.
The tunnel should then be fully operational again from September 2. The timetable is still realistic, SBB spokeswoman Sabrina Schellenberg told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday.
A test run with empty trains and diagnostic vehicles is currently being carried out to check the interaction of the systems. This will be followed by trial operation, during which the trains, which run through the tunnel from south to north according to the timetable, will run through the west tunnel again.
150 million francs damage
SBB estimates the material damage caused by the train derailment, including loss of earnings, at around CHF 150 million. The railroad company does have insurance for such events. However, SBB CEO Vincent Ducrot said in November last year that, in principle, whoever provides the train driver is liable.
According to Sust, the reason for the wheel breakage may have been fatigue cracks in the metal. However, according to the current state of the art of the train control equipment used in the Swiss railroad infrastructure, such cracks cannot be detected. The Sust found no evidence of operational defects as the cause of the accident.
©Keystone/SDA
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