Benavidez rail disaster

The railway accident Benavídez was a rear-end collision, the February 1, 1970, around 20:30, in Benavídez, north of Buenos Aires, Argentina, took place. In different sources 142-236 dead are called beyond 368 injured. This was the worst railway accident in the history of Argentina.

Starting position

The two trains were involved in the accident on a stretch of State Ferrocarril General Bartolomé Mitre ( FCGBM ) go. There was no automated track safety. The accident occurred at kilometer 36

The above -propelled train was the local train 3832 Zárate to Buenos Aires with 700 passengers in 10 cars, most of them trippers on the ride home. The diesel locomotive of the train had a problem with their diesel fuel injection system and was therefore remained on the open road, a little south of the station Benavídez lie.

The following train, No. 1016, was a mixed distance train of 21 wagons, pulled by two diesel locomotives. In it traveled about 500 passengers. He came from San Miguel de Tucumán and was on his way to the Retiro station in Buenos Aires.

Circumstances of the accident

Although the first train was stopped for 40 minutes while the engine crew tried to correct the problem, failed the crew of the train, securing it to the rear. In poor visibility the subsequent train of Tucumán drove therefore also in a still difficult to access terrain with around 100 km / h on the stationary train. Meanwhile, last car was completely smashed by the two leading locomotive of the second train. The last but one car was almost completely pushed into the car in front of him, pushed the front train by the impact of nearly 80 meters forward. All the dead and most seriously injured had been travelers of the front train.