Wenzhou train collision

The railway accident in Wenzhou was a rear-end collision at the 23 July 2011, two high-speed trains collided after a signal failure on a viaduct in the suburbs of Wenzhou in the People's Republic of China. 40 people died and over 210 were injured. This was the first accident involving a high-speed train in China, in which people were killed, and the second heaviest after the ICE accident Eschede.

Starting position

The accident occurred on the high speed line Hangzhou - Shenzhen, where the Chinese Train Control System is used as a train control system.

Pre rode the train D 3115 which consisted of a set CRH1 the China Railways and 1072 travelers had on board. He was immediately followed by D 301, a railcar of the CRH2 series in which 558 passengers were traveling. D 3115 came to a stop. This was due to a lightning strike to a signal device.

The accident

The disturbed by lightning signal device triggered at the first train, D 3115, an emergency brake application, but announced at the same time in the system that the section in which the train was now, be free of railway vehicles. The engineer of the train tried the backup technique that had triggered the emergency brake bridge, which he succeeded after seven minutes. He set the train in motion again. Only when this reached the next block section that worked properly, said the dispatcher that the track was obviously not free before the next D 301. He warned the drivers of the D 301 still to be cautious when it came to a viaduct by 20 clock 34 to the collision. The D 301 drove to the time of the accident at a speed of almost 100 km / h The rear car of the D 3115 and the first of the D 301 derailed. It crashed four cars on the viaduct.

Follow

40 people died and over 210 were injured. It took 21 hours until the last wounded had been salvaged from the rubble. Shortly thereafter, the investigation of the accident scene was stopped and the crashed car on the spot parts with excavators and buried, the first car of the D 301, before it was even been investigated. The public criticism and suspicion that this evidence should be eliminated, was officially met with censorship, but only partially followed the media. In addition, the official reaction was to the accident initially contradictory. The official inquiry earnings before in December 2011 and found that conceptual error in the signal system, malfunction of the person responsible for the safety - the report identifies 54 leaders, including the then reigning Chinese Transport Minister Liu Zhijun - and other shortcomings had led to the subsequent train not " stop" was offered as the pre -propelled train lay. The report, however, remained in the technical details so vague that it is not ultimately reveals how it could come to this failure of the railway infrastructure, which should ensure the command.

The fact that in the accident trains of high-speed traffic were involved and that it occurred on a high- speed line, played no role in the accident. Both trains ran at less than 100 km / h However, the accident led to a temporary freeze on the building of new high-speed lines in China and let the number of travelers temporarily as a significant pace that the Chinese railways it responded with a 5% reduction in fares.