Transport chief blames federal railways for Gotthard derailment

Destroyed and damaged tracks can be seen in the Gotthard Bass Tunnel. Due to the derailment of a freight wagon on August 10, 2023, the Gotthard Base Tunnel was closed to passenger traffic. Keystone / Keystone

As a freight carrier, the Swiss Federal Railways’ cargo division is responsible for the accident in the Gotthard base tunnel.

The law is clear on this point, according to the director of the Federal Office of Transport (FOT), Peter Füglistaler, in the SonntagsBlick on Sunday.

The Cargo division bears responsibility as a freight carrier, according to Füglistaler. The subsidiary is therefore “responsible for operational safety” and must take the necessary measures. It is the subsidiary that must check the wagons before departure and therefore assume responsibility for them. This would be the case even if it turned out that the wagon that derailed because of a broken wheel disc had come from Germany, explained the official.

He rejected the criticism that the FOT, as the supervisory authority, was too lax in its controls. He added that companies even find that there are too many checks. As things stand, it seems that a very rare and unavoidable accident has occurred: a broken wheel disc.

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