Czech Republic - railway collision incidents, merged topics

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

From the Evening Standard via MSN News

Two people died and more than 40 were injured when a fast train from Munich collided with a commuter passenger train in the Czech Republic on Wednesday.

Four people who were seriously injured were taken away by helicopter and seven others required surgery, while 31 suffered minor injuries in the crash near the western Czech town of Domazlice, the regional rescue service said.

Czech transport minister Karel Havlicek said on Twitter one of the trains involved was the Ex 351, which according to Czech Railways website is a fast train from Munich to Prague.

He said human error was likely to have caused the crash and that the high-speed train had failed to stop at a designated location.

“The situation is serious,” he added.

Police confirmed the tragedy happened shortly after 8am in the town of Milavce.

TV^▸ (Thames Valley, or TeleVision, depending on context) footage on Czech television showed the smashed driver’s cabin of the fast train‘s locomotive, as well as the front part of the local train.

Commander Jaroslav Hrdlicka of the regional fire department said rescue workers were still looking for one missing person in the wreckage.

[stuving]

From CT24 (via Google Translate):

On the track in the village of Milavče in the Domažlice region, an international express train from Germany collided with a regional passenger train on Wednesday, shortly after eight o'clock. Three people died, dozens more were injured, some severely. All components of the rescue system, including four helicopters, intervened. The evening Interview of ČT24 with the director of the Railway Administration Jiří Svoboda will also address the topic.

The accident occurred on line number 180 connecting Pilsen and Bavarian Munich, when the Western Express traveling from Bavaria to Prague collided with a RegioShark passenger train on the route between Pilsen and Domažlice. Both connections are operated by Czech Railways.

"At 8:06 they were to meet at the Radonice [turnout passing loop], which is an estimated four kilometers from Domažlice. The Western Express apparently did not wait for the [crucifixion trains to pass]in Radonice and set off in the opposite direction [to the other train] on a single-track line towards Pilsen. The trains apparently collided there, "explains ČT24 reporter Jan Beránek.

This was also confirmed by the Minister of Transport Karel Havlíček (for YES), when he stated at the scene of the accident that “according to all indications the driver of the express train coming from Munich with a passenger train ’.

The victims of the accident [as initially reported] are both train drivers

Three people lost their lives: both train drivers and a woman who was a passenger.

[Electric train]

Another single line incident of a German rail related service

[ChrisB]

From The Grauniad

Passenger train was en route to Ukraine and carrying more than 300 people when it hit a freight train in city of Pardubice, officials say

Four people have died and 26 were injured after a passenger train heading to Ukraine collided with a freight train in the Czech city of Pardubice, officials have said.

“I can confirm that four people suffered injuries incompatible with life,” local emergency spokesperson Alena Kisiala told broadcaster Czech TV^▸ (Thames Valley, or TeleVision, depending on context).

The crash occurred on Wednesday evening in Pardubice, part of the country’s main rail corridor from Prague, about 60 km west of the town.

Czech TV reported that the train had been carrying more than 300 passengers, many of them foreigners.

Prime minister Petr Fiala offered condolences on social media platform X, saying the crash was “a great disaster” and that “we all think of the victims and the injured”.

The interior and transport ministers arrived at the site in the early hours of Thursday. Interior minister Vit Rakusan said most of the injuries were light, and that the passengers had been evacuated into the train station building.

Rakusan said that police were identifying the passengers gathered at the train station after the operator, Regiojet, had provided the passenger list.

Rescuers said that nine ambulance vans, two helicopters and more than 60 firefighters, both professional and voluntary, had been deployed.

“The rescue work was complicated because the first carriage was deformed. That made it hard to access the injured people,” firefighter Pavel Ber told reporters at the site.

The train had been heading to the western Ukrainian town of Chop close to the border with Slovakia.

The timetable shows the train leaving Prague at 1952 GMT and was due to leave Pardubice at 2047 GMT. It was expected in Chop at 0835 GMT on Thursday after crossing Slovakia.

An investigation into the cause of the accident was under way, transport minister Martin Kupka said.

He added that the main train corridor connecting Prague with the second Czech city of Brno and the third city of Ostrava would remain closed for at least several hours.

Footage after the crash on news website idnes.cz showed at least one carriage off the track, while police showed on their X social media account a line of emergency service vehicles and a helicopter.

A spokesperson for the Railway Administration’s firefighters told Czech TV several were seriously injured.

Local fire brigade spokesperson Vendula Horakova told Czech TV the freight train was transporting calcium carbide.

Pardubice was also the scene of the worst-ever Czech railway accident in 1960 when 118 people died and about 100 were injured in a head-on collision of two passenger trains just north of the city.