Lack of grease blamed for two Swiss train derailments in 2017

The accident shut down Lucerne train station for four-and-a-half days while crews carried out repairs. © Keystone / Urs Flueeler

An investigation into the derailment of trains in Lucerne and Basel eight months apart in 2017 states lack of grease on switchers and rails partly to blame.

The Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board’s investigation into the two derailments ruled out human error in the report released on Thursday. On March 22, 2017 a Eurocity train operated by the Swiss federal railways came off the tracks as it was pulling out of Lucerne’s main rail station, injuring six passengers. The accident shut down Lucerne train station for four-and-a-half days while crews carried out repairs. On November 29, a German train from Hamburg bound for Zurich derailed in Basel station. Nobody was injured but rail service was disrupted for four days.

The report points out similarities between the two accidents especially the fact that they occurred on the same type of double-junction switch. In both cases, the wheel flange – which keeps the wheel on the rail – was on the rail before derailing. In both Basel and Lucerne, the grease film on the wheel flange and rail was missing, as was the case for the switch blades. The report points out that the lack of grease on the rails and switches had contributed significantly to the risk of an accident.

In its first response to the report, the Swiss Federal Railways stated that none of the factors cited alone led to the derailment. It stuck to its original explanation that the derailments were likely the result of a rare chain of events that individually would not have caused the trains to derail. Since the accidents, 45 similar switches have been examined and two switches were changed in Basel and Lucerne and 41 others were modified and stabilised. Switch checks have also been intensified and a project for automatic monitoring of switches has been launched.