Woerden train disaster

Not to be confused with Harmelen train disaster.
Woerden train disaster
Date 21 November 1960
Location Woerden
Country Netherlands
Type of incident Derailment
Cause Ignoring temporary speed limit
Statistics
Trains 1
Passengers 151
Deaths 2
Injuries 3 (seriously)
tens (minor)

The Woerden train accident was a railway accident on 21 November 1960 at around 20:10 in Woerden, the Netherlands near the Cattenbroek rail crossing. The train involved in the crash, a DM80760 / Fac BD, was a British train from Hanover, Germany to Hook of Holland, the Netherlands with 151 furloughs including some 10 women and several children.[1] The train driver failed to notice a temporary speed limit. The train rode too fast and crashed. The train broke behind the second carriage and six of the eleven carriages derailed and tilted partially. Two people died, three people were seriously injured and tens more received minor injuries.[2]

Ambulances from surrounding places (Zwammerdam, Woerden, Bodegraven and Utrecht) were summoned. The rescue operation was difficult because the site of the disaster was only accessible through a muddy country road. Eventually people had to be carried on a stretcher over a few hundred meters to the ambulances, before it was better organized later.[3] Some military personnel helped during the rescue operation while others were sent to Woerden railway station. Around 100 people of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen started the cleanup with cutting torches. Hours after the disaster the unharmed people were brought to Gouda by bus from where they were transported to Hook of Holland by train.

The tracks were blocked in both directions. The overhead wire was destroyed and the overhead supports had fallen on the tracks. The cleanup work was continued through the whole night and in the early morning, after the day of the crash, train traffic was resumed on one track. Train cranes were able to lift some carriages back on the track in the morning. During the day after the crash the president of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen, ir. J. Lohman, visited the disaster site.

Cause

Due to track works there was a temporary speed limit of 40 km/h which was indicated with special signs. According to statements the train rode with a speed of 90 km/h.

Victims

One of the two people who was killed was Heinz Schmodta, a 62-year-old German cook. The other person was E. H. Miller, a 31-year-old British able seaman from Dunham. Just before the crash he went to the toilet in the fourth carriage and was crushed by the concertina effect. With the help of cutting torches his body was removed from the train.

The people who were injured included a conductor who was train driver who was hurled out of the train.

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ De spoorwegramp te Woerden Leidse Courant, 22 November 1960 (pag 1)
  2. ↑ Jongerius, René (1993). Spoorwegongevallen in Nederland 1839-1993. Deel 22 in de boekenreeks van de NVBS (in Dutch). Schuyt & Co (Haarlem). ISBN 9060973410.
  3. ↑ Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (7 November 2013). "Vliegramp Franeker en treinongeluk Woerden op zelfde dag (1960)" – via YouTube.

External links

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