2012 Buenos Aires rail disaster
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| Date | 22 February 2012 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 08:33 ART | ||
| Location | Buenos Aires | ||
| Coordinates | 34°36′31.1″S 58°24′30.6″W / 34.608639°S 58.408500°WCoordinates: 34°36′31.1″S 58°24′30.6″W / 34.608639°S 58.408500°W | ||
| Country | Argentina | ||
| Rail line | Sarmiento Line | ||
| Operator | Trenes de Buenos Aires | ||
| Type of incident | Train wreck | ||
| Cause | Motorman error, brake failure | ||
| Statistics | |||
| Trains | 1 | ||
| Deaths | 51 | ||
| Injuries | 703 | ||
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The 2012 Buenos Aires rail disaster, also known as the Once Tragedy, occurred on 22 February 2012, when a train crashed at Once Station (Spanish: Estación Once de Septiembre; IPA: [ˈonse]) in the Balvanera neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
There were about 1,000 passengers on board when the crowded eight-carriage train, whose working brakes were not activated, hit the buffers at the end of the line, crushing the motor carriage and the following two carriages, after approaching the station at a speed of 26 kilometres per hour (16 miles per hour). Fifty-one people were killed and more than 700 were injured; the dead and seriously injured were in the first two carriages, which were packed with people who had moved to the front of the train to be near the station exit on arrival.
The Sarmiento Line, on which the incident occurred, was operated by Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA), owned by the Cirigliano brothers. It was the second fatal accident on the line within six months, following the 2011 Flores rail crash, and the third-deadliest train accident in Argentina's history, after the Benavidez rail disaster in 1970 (which left 142 dead and 368 injured) and the Estrella del Norte train accident in 1978 (which left 55 dead and an unknown number injured).
Train number 16 was operating the Sarmiento Line local service 3772 from Moreno to Once during the morning rush hour on the first working day after a Carnival holiday. The train was reported to be traveling too fast—about 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph)—on entry to the station. It failed to stop before the end of the track at Once Station and at 8:33 ART crashed into the buffer stops at a speed of 26 kilometres per hour (16 mph). The motor carriage and the following two carriages were crushed; the second carriage was telescoped 7 metres (23 ft) into the first. Several passengers described the impact as an explosion.
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