Is it a systematic problem?

A year and a half ago there was a fateful accident in the Gotthard base tunnel. Due to a break, several freight cars derailed and destroyed one of the two tunnel tubes, so that it had to be closed again shortly after the opening. There were no injuries to the great luck in misfortune.

Railway operation has been running normally on the Gotthard since last autumn. The damage to the base tunnel is fixed. But in the background, the processing of the freight train accident is still in full swing. Especially the clarification of the legal question of the responsibility and the answer to who has to stand for the damage one day.

In the middle of this review, SRF is now bursting with the news that a freight train accident can be repeated at any time from the Gotthard. The “Rundschau” editorial team of television and radio (SRF) of German Switzerland is released in its contribution published on Wednesday on a so far confidential report by the Swiss Security Search Center (Sust).

Not maintenance is a problem, but bikes in itself

According to the research of the “Rundschau”, its design shows: it was not a chain of unfortunate circumstances. The problem with the freight train accident in the Gotthard base tunnel is rather with the brake system, which is used in the vast majority of freight cars. According to the previous state of knowledge, that alone is not really new, but different assumptions already went in this direction.

However, according to the confidential draft of the investigation report, clarifications on the criticized bike type in other European countries show that there are numerous comparable problems. So far, these have never led to accidents with this scope. Although it should be noted that it could come even worse depending on. Because in the Gotthard the accident happened in a single -track tunnel.

Specifically, in the draft of the investigation report, the Gotthard-Hunglück says:

« The bicycle break is not due to a lack of maintenance of the wheel sets of car 466-2 (…) This is a systematic problem. »

According to the SRF, the investigation brought to light that all bikes of the accident car « had the same crack characteristics » – although some of them were significantly new. Such fatigue cracks arise from « thermal overload ». Say: if the bike heats up.

For the first time, the confidential Sust report also gives figures: Experts from all over Europe discovered 77 other cases of cracks after the Gotthard-Hunglück, at 10 the bike was even broken. However, according to the SRF, the European supervisory authority did not emit more than a non -binding recommendation for individual bike types that have already been worn out heavily.

At the request of CH Media, Sust does not want to confirm or deny the passages cited by SRF. After an consultation of the report, this will now be finalized. The final version of the investigation report is expected to be published in April.

Experts criticize dealing with knowledge about problems

Compared to the “Rundschau”, several experts also criticize that the risk of breaking a bike ride in practically all freight cars. Especially since freight trains are now faster than before. Accordingly, they emphasize that SBB was still lucky in the accident in the Gotthard. Because if the wheel of a freight train on an open route or in a train station break or in a tunnel with oncoming traffic, then dozens of dead would be expected.

And according to the experts, this applies not only to SBB, but to all railway companies. Because the braking types of freight wagons are practically the same everywhere: namely brake pads, as horse -drawn carriages were already brought to a standstill at the time. In contrast, disc brakes have long been used by railway cars for people.

Accordingly, SRF concludes in his contribution that the accident in the Gotthard base tunnel with the freight train could not be a chain of unhappy circumstances, but that it was an accident. And can repeat this at any time.