Bioče train disaster

Bioče derailment

Rescue workers at the site
Date	January 23, 2006
Time	4:00 pm
Location	Near Bioče
Country	Montenegro
Rail line	Bijelo Polje - Bar
Operator	Željeznica Crne Gore
Type of incident	Derailment
Cause	Braking system failure
Statistics
Trains	1
Deaths	45
Injuries	184

The Bioče derailment was a train crash on January 23, 2006 in Montenegro. At least 45 people, including five children, were killed and another 184 injured. It was the worst train disaster in Montenegrin history.

The derailment occurred shortly after 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) about 10 km north of the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica on the Belgrade-Bar railway, renowned as one of the most scenic lines in Europe. A local class 412 train carrying around 300 people from Bijelo Polje in the north of Montenegro to the Adriatic Sea port of Bar derailed above a 100 m-deep ravine above the Morača river, into which it fell. Many of the casualties were said to be children returning from a skiing holiday in the north.

According to the Montenegrin Interior Minister, Jusuf Kalamperović, the accident was caused by a failure in the braking system. Minister of Transport Andrija Lompar and Director of Montenegro Railways Ranko Medenica immediately resigned over the accident, and train driver Slobodan Drobnjak was arrested on suspicion of negligence.

As soon as he arrived at Podgorica hospital on the night of the disaster, Drobnjak was questioned by the investigative judge Zoran Radović of the Podgorica Elementary Court.

The day after the accident, before the detailed investigation had started and contrary to eye-witness reports that the braking system was faulty, Montenegro Railways executive Momčilo Rakočević suggested that human error was the reason for disaster, blaming Drobnjak explicitly: "According to preliminary, partially incomplete data, it could be said that the accident probably happened because the train operator and the accompanying staff did not follow the operating procedure which should have prevented the train from self-starting down the incline".

Judge Radović said on January 25, 2006 that the "most probable cause of the accident is the failure of braking system". He elaborated, "700 meters before the accident there was no problem with the brakes, the train stopped the way it should. All the facts so far point to the brake failure and further investigation will determine why and how".