The Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB) has confirmed that the derailment of a freight train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel last month was caused by a broken wheel.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Русский
ru
К аварии в Готардском тоннеле привело разрушение колеса
The existing train control systems were unable to detect earlier damage to the wheel.
The broken wheel was caused by fatigue cracks in the metal, the STSB wrote in an interim report published on Thursday. Such fatigue cracks grow with continued use until the wheel breaks. The STSB found no evidence of operational defects as a cause of the accident.
According to the current train control systems used on Swiss railway infrastructure, the cracks could not have been discovered. STSB said a crack can only be discovered to a limited extent during technical tensile tests, and they also depend on its size. In addition, cracks can only be found in the visible area of the wheel.
The damage pattern corresponds to a safety warning by the Belgian and Italian supervisory authorities from 2017, STSB said. In 2016 and 2017, several cracks and breaks occurred in similar freight train wheels in Belgium and Italy. Measures were then taken to limit risks during operation and maintenance.
The freight wagon that caused the derailment in the Gotthard Base Tunnel on August 10 belonged to a Zug company. It was the eleventh wagon being pulled by the train. According to STSB, a fragment of the wheel disc broke off about ten kilometres after entering the tunnel. More fragments then came loose.
The axle hung diagonally under the car. The last fragment broke off 17 kilometres into the 57.1-km tunnel. The axle hit and destroyed a switch. The following 16 freight cars then derailed. The train was torn apart between the 13th and 14th wagons and certain wagons ended up on the opposite track.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Culture
Documentary portrays Swiss teenagers forced to return to parents’ homeland
Swiss political class divided over reform of EU asylum pact
This content was published on
As a result of the EU's Migration and Asylum Pact, Switzerland must adapt five laws linked to the Schengen/Dublin agreements.
AI can reduce the number of animals needed for research
This content was published on
Swiss researchers have developed a new, AI-supported method that analyses the behaviour of mice in the laboratory more efficiently.
Geneva Conventions conference on Middle East scheduled for March 2025
This content was published on
The conference on the Middle East of the 196 States party to the Geneva Conventions, organised by Switzerland, will take place in Geneva in March.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Gotthard Road Tunnel to re-open on Friday evening
This content was published on
The Gotthard Road Tunnel, which was closed on Sunday owing to a damaged ceiling, will be re-opened to traffic at 8pm on Friday.
Damaged train to be removed from Gotthard by end September
This content was published on
The work to evacuate the freight train that crashed in the Gotthard base tunnel on August 10 will continue until the end of September.
Transport chief blames federal railways for Gotthard derailment
This content was published on
As a freight carrier, the Swiss Federal Railways’ cargo division is responsible for the accident in the Gotthard base tunnel.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.