2011 Saxony-Anhalt train collision
Track map of the railway
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| Date | 29 January 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Time | ~ 22:25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Hordorf, Saxony-Anhalt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 52°00′02″N 11°11′30″E / 52.00056°N 11.19167°ECoordinates: 52°00′02″N 11°11′30″E / 52.00056°N 11.19167°E | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rail line | Magdeburg–Thale railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | Veolia Verkehr Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH / Verkehrsbetriebe Peine-Salzgitter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type of incident | Collision | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Trains | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deaths | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries | 23 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2011 Saxony-Anhalt train collision occurred on 29 January 2011, when a freight train and a passenger train collided near Hordorf in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on the Magdeburg–Thale line. The passenger train derailed in the collision. Ten people were killed and 43 people were injured, some of them critically.
Initial reports of 33 injured persons were later corrected to 23, some of them critical. Around 100 rescue workers were at the collision site, which is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west of Berlin.
The local passenger train with about 45 to 50 passengers on board was on a single track at a speed of approximately 100 km/h (62 mph), where it collided head-on in very foggy conditions with the freight train, which had a speed of about 80 km/h (50 mph). Both trains had reduced their speeds prior to impact – while the freight train slowed only marginally to 68 km/h (42 mph) the emergency brake of the passenger train allowed it to slow down from 98 to 66 km/h (61 to 41 mph). The impact derailed the passenger train, which fell on its side next to the track. The front part of the passenger train was crushed. The freight train ran on for another 500 metres (1,600 ft) before coming to a halt.
Subsequent investigations showed that the freight train had most likely passed a red signal (as well as the additional distant signal requiring it to slow down and prepare to stop). The track had been planned to be equipped with the PZB automatic train protection system for years; however at the time of the accident it still used only visual signals. When the freight train passed the switch (which was already set for the passenger train) the train director in the interlocking box at Hordorf was alerted – he testified that he had radioed an instruction to stop via but got no response until after the collision (which occurred only seconds later).
Since many people were severely injured, it was considered likely that the death toll could rise in the immediate aftermath of the incident. The nine killed passengers had lived in the Harz region; the killed driver of the passenger train came from Mecklenburg.
The passenger train involved in the incident was a lightweight Baureihe 648 operated by Harz Elbe Express, which was traveling from Magdeburg to Halberstadt. It had a tare weight of 63.5 t.
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Wikipedia