A runaway train is a type of railroad incident in which unattended rolling stock is accidentally allowed to roll onto the main line, a moving train loses enough braking power to be unable to stop in safety, or a train operates at unsafe speeds due to loss of operator control. If the uncontrolled rolling stock derails or hits another train, it will result in a train wreck.

A deadman's control, if the brakes are working, can prevent unattended rolling stock from moving.

A railway air brake can fail if valves on the pipe between each wagon are accidentally closed; the 1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck and the 1988 Gare de Lyon train accident were results of a valve accidentally closed by the crew, reducing braking power.

A parked train or cut off cars may also run away if not properly tied down with a sufficient number of hand brakes.

Incidents

Accidents and incidents involving defective or improperly-set railway brakes include:

Date Incident Location Cause Details Ref
August 22, 2019 Upper Palatinate, Germany Improper brake setup A 1900 t freight train with two engines ran without brakes 90 kilometres (56 mi) through Upper Palatine, starting at Cheb near the Czech border and coming to a stop safely on flat terrain in Irrenlohe. Brakes were ineffective due to a closed angle cock between the locomotives and the first car of the train. [1]
February 27, 2019 Ramses Station rail disaster Ramses Station, Cairo, Egypt Train driver left train to fight with another train driver Unmanned train rolled into buffer, fuel tank burst and fuel exploded, killing 20 and injuring another 40 [2]
2018 Port Hedland, Australia Train driver left engine to inspect a wagon An iron ore train consisting of 4 locomotives and 268 loaded wagons en route from Newman to Port Hedland (operated by BHP on the Pilbara railways) travelled driverless for 92 kilometres (57 mi) at high speed, after the driver went out to inspect. The company deliberately derailed the train to avoid an uncontrolled incident. [3]
2017 Wadi, India An electric locomotive traveled without a driver for 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) after it was being swapped for a diesel locomotive to pull the train on a non-electrified section of track. Railway personnel chased after the locomotive by motorbike, and the train was stopped safely after 50 minutes [4]
December 22, 2017 North of Brenner, Austria Improper brake setup While setting up the lead engine, the driver closed the angle cock between lead and slave unit to perform the ATP test. He forgot to open the cock before departure. The train went down the 2.5% grade North ramp of the Brenner Railway and reached a speed of 125 kilometres per hour (78 mph) before cars at the end of the train derailed and broke off emptying the brake pipe. Despite 2nd locomotive was coupled to the brake pipe, it did not vent it because the emergency brake signal from the first unit was not transmitted over the train bus. [5]
2016 Landen, Belgium Driver error The driver left the cabin to do some check-ups on the train when it started moving. After 30 minutes and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi), the train was stopped by a driver who jumped into the train's cab. No one was injured nor did the train hit anything. [6]
2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, Canada Combination of neglect, defective locomotive, poor maintenance, driver error, flawed operating procedures, weak regulatory oversight, lack of safety redundancy Train driver did not set enough hand brakes to stop the crude oil train from rolling down the slope, train rolled down the slope and derailed in a curve. Several tank cars burst and caught fire, killing 47 people [7]
2012 Ion Luca Caragiale village, Romania Improper brake setup A freight train ran away from Lon Luca Caragiale Station because of the improper brakes setting and hit a Dacia car on a level crossing, killing 2 people [8]
2010 2010 Pretoria train accident Pretoria, Johannesburg, South Africa During a locomotive changeover, the carriages ran away out of control for 12 miles (19 km) until they derailed at Pretoria 7 injuries and 3 deaths were reported with total damage to the carriages of about R15,000,000.
June 15, 2010 Braz, West ramp of Arlbergbahn, Austria Technical defect A low hanging air coupling between two permanently coupled car racks got kicked by rails laying in track. It broke in two and the rear part ended up kinked and jammed in the underframe of the car rack. Air was bottled in the rear part of the train leaving the brakes released. Train could only apply brakes of the locomotive and the first car on the 3.1% grade. Train derailed, driver was slightly injured. [9]
2007 Benaleka train accident Congo-Kinshasa Brake failure 100 killed [10]
May 27, 2006 Switzerland near Thun Improper brake setup During the brake test it was not discovered that the angle cock between the locomotive and the first car was still closed. The construction train run down the 1.5% grade of the North access ramp to the Lötschberg Tunnel. Dispatchers did have another option then diverting the train in an active construction site, which had to be evacuated on short notice. 3 killed. The incident inspired the motion picture Der Geisterzug von Spiez.[11] [12]
December 19, 2005 Świnna rail crash Improperly manufactured composite brake blocks caused loss of braking power in EN57-840 EMU operating as passenger train between Sucha Beskidzka and Żywiec. The cooperation between the crews of Sucha-Żywiec and Żywiec-Sucha trains and train dispatcher in Jeleśnia resulted in controlled collision near Świnna, Silesian Voivodeship instead of head-on collision. Both drivers and 6 passengers were injured. [13]
June 20, 2003 Los Angeles, United States A cut of 31 freight cars rolled away after they were improperly secured and left unattended in a yard east of Los Angeles. The train was derailed in Commerce at an estimated speed of 95 mph (153 km/h). 13 people suffered minor injuries. [14]
2003 2003 Melbourne runaway train Melbourne, Australia 11 people injured [15]
2002 Igandu train disaster Tanzania 281 killed
2002 Tenga rail disaster Mozambique 192 killed
May 15, 2001 CSX 8888 incident Ohio, United States Incorrectly configured dynamic brake. Train driver left train to pull switch, and was unable to get back onboard. CSX #8888, an SD40-2, ran away under power without a crew after the engineer incorrectly set the locomotive's dynamic brake and was unable to get back into the locomotive after it began moving. The train - nicknamed Crazy Eights - proceeded to travel at speeds of over 50 km/h for just under 2 hours, being successfully brought to a halt by a second locomotive's crew, who were able to couple to the rear of the train and apply their brakes. The incident inspired the 2010 motion picture Unstoppable.[16] [17]
1999 Martín Coronado, Argentina Train's brakes failed during motoman's distraction, passing by six stations without him. Stopped by a passerby train keeper after noticing hysterical people inside the train. [18]
1989 Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States 67-car Burlington Northern coal train runaway [19]
May 12th, 1989 San Bernardino train disaster California, United States Brake failure and engine crew communication errors and miscalculated weight of cargo by yard clerk and two engines at the front end of the train had mechanical issues The freight train crashed into houses
1988 Wasserburg am Inn, Upper Bavaria, Germany On New Years Eve morning an EMU of Munich S-Bahn became a runaway train after the train driver went to the toilet in the terminal station Ebersberg. Train run the complete line till Wasserburg, where it ended at a buffer stop. The engineer was in the second engine while the conductor was in the caboose back at the rail yard. No injuries, but equipment was damaged. [20]
1987 New Brunswick, Canada Canadian National ore train derailed at Bathurst Mining Camp [21][22]
1972 Chester General rail crash England Brake failure Train collided with parked DMU.
1959 Jersey Central "ghost engine" incident New Jersey, United States Incident suspected of being sabotage as throttle was open, and air brakes were set for running. A single ALCO RS-3 locomotive of the Central Railroad of New Jersey left a terminal yard in Jersey City as a runaway and covered 22 miles in 36 minutes before it was stopped by a crewed locomotive on the tracks ahead. [23]
1957 Chapel-en-le-Frith, Great Britain Broken steam pipe made it impossible for crew to apply brakes
1953 Federal Express train wreck Union Station, Washington, DC Valve closed by badly designed bufferplate.
1948 Wädenswil, Switzerland Driver of the crocodile locomotive did not realise that he was in electric traction instead of dynamic brake while going downhill on a 5% grade. Winter sport train was guided deliberately in a siding. 21 killed [24]
1944 Torre del Bierzo rail disaster Spain Brake failure on overloaded passenger train. Train which collided with another in a tunnel; a third train was unaware and also crashed into it.
1898 Asheboro, North Carolina Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad crew uncouples a locomotive from a freight train without setting the brakes on the cars properly The uncoupled cars roll downhill to collide with the locomotive, pinning the engine crew. [25][26]
1895 Montparnasse derailment Paris, France Paris Express overran the buffer stop at its Gare Montparnasse terminus when its air brakes failed Train crashed through the entire station, and fell onto the Place de Rennes killing one woman; five on the train and one in the street were injured.
1889 Armagh rail disaster Ireland 80 people killed, 260 injured. Backwards runaway led to change in law.
1874 Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash Oxford, England Caused by fracture of a carriage wheel.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Zug in Bayern außer Kontrolle: Verdacht richtet sich gegen Lokführer". Merkur. September 28, 2019.
  2. ^ "Cairo Train Driver Left Brakes Off". BBC News. February 28, 2019.
  3. ^ "BHP counts cost of runaway ore train derailment after suspending rail operations". ABC News. November 5, 2018. Archived from the original on September 10, 2019.
  4. ^ Mouneshwar Sonnad (November 9, 2017). "Driver chases runaway engine on his bike, stops it after 13km". The Times of India.
  5. ^ "Untersuchungsbericht Entgleisung von Z 43144 zwischen den Hst Gries und St. Jodok am 22. Dezember 2017" (PDF). 2018.
  6. ^ "Belgian runaway train prompts alert". BBC News. February 19, 2016.
  7. ^ Huffstutter, P.J. (July 8, 2013). "Insight: How a train ran away and devastated a Canadian town". Reuters. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
  8. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Accident tren IL Caragiale Dambovita iulie 2012 VEZI IMAGINI DE LA ACCIDENT". YouTube.
  9. ^ "Zugunglück am Arlberg: Bremssystem versagte". Die Presse. June 17, 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  10. ^ "DR Congo crash toll 'passes 100'". BBC News. August 2, 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  11. ^ "Der Geisterzug von Spiez". September 7, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  12. ^ "Schlussbericht zum Unfall eines Dienstzuges der BLS in Dürrenast (Thun)". September 10, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  13. ^ Wojciech Trzmiel; Antoni Trzmiel. "Jeleśnia zróbcie coś, bo nie mam hamowania". Wolna Droga (in Polish). Archived from the original on December 3, 2017.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "CNN.com - Human error blamed for runaway train". CNN. June 26, 2003. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  15. ^ Runaway of Suburban Electric Passenger Train 5264 and collision with Diesel Locomotive Hauled Passenger Train 8141 Australian Transport Safety Bureau October 2003
  16. ^ David Patch (November 12, 2010). "At times, 'Unstoppable' goes off track from reality". Toledo Blade.
  17. ^ Kohlin, Ron. "CSX 8888 Runaway Investigation". Kohlin. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  18. ^ "Un tren sin maquinista descontrolado por la Línea Urquiza". Clarín (in Spanish). May 6, 1999.
  19. ^ The Colorado Springs Runaway 30 years later, archived from the original on December 12, 2021, retrieved January 5, 2020
  20. ^ "Die Geisterfahrt des ET 420". OVB Heimatzeitungen. December 31, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  21. ^ "Runaway - Arbitration Case of Wesley MacDonald". www.cwrr.com. December 17, 1987.
  22. ^ "Nepisiguit Junction". Traingeek - Trains and Photography.
  23. ^ "Runaway Engine on the Main Line!". Popular Science. October 1961. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  24. ^ "Archivbilder: Der Zugunfall von Wädenswil". SRF. May 18, 2006.
  25. ^ "A Wreck at Asheboro". Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, NC. January 23, 1898. p. 8. Retrieved October 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  26. ^ Winston Daily Journal (January 27, 1898). "A Horrible Accident on the Asheboro & Aberdeen Railroad". Webster's Weekly. Reidsville, NC. p. 2. Retrieved October 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
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