List of wind-related railway accidents
High winds can blow railway trains off tracks and cause accidents.[1]
Dangers of high winds[edit]
High winds can cause problems in a number of ways:
- blow trains off the tracks
- blow trains or wagons along the tracks and cause collisions
- cause cargo to blow off trains which can damage objects outside the railway or which other trains can collide with
- cause pantographs and overhead wiring to tangle
- cause trees and other objects to fall onto the railway.
Preventative measures[edit]
Risks from high winds can be reduced by:
- wind fences akin to snow sheds
- lower profile of carriages
- lowered centre of gravity of vehicles[2]
- reduction in train speed or cancellation, at high winds
- a wider rail gauge
- improve overhead wiring with:
- regulated tension rather than fixed terminations
- shorter catenary spans
- solid conductors
By country[edit]
Australia[edit]
- 1928 – 47 wagons blown along line at Tocumwal[3]
- 1931 – Kandos – wind blows level crossing gates closed in front of motor-cyclist [4]
- 1943 – Hobart, Tasmania; Concern that wind will blow over doubledeck trams on 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge if top deck enclosed.[5]
- 2010 – Marla, South Australia; Small tornado blows over train.[6]
Austria[edit]
- 1910 – Trieste (now in Italy) – train blown down embankment.[7]
China[edit]
- Lanxin High-Speed Railway#Wind shed risk
- February 28, 2007 – Wind blows 10 passenger rail cars off the track near Turpan, China.
Denmark[edit]
- Great Belt Bridge rail accident. On 2 January 2019 a DSB express passenger train is hit by a semi-trailer from a passing cargo train on the western bridge of the Great Belt Fixed Link during Storm Alfrida, killing eight people and injuring 16.[8]
Germany[edit]
- Rügen narrow-gauge railway, 20 October 1936: derailment of a train, five injured[9][10]
India[edit]
- One reason for choosing broad gauge in India for greater stability in high winds.
Ireland[edit]
- On the night of 30 January 1925, strong winds derailed carriages of a train crossing the Owencarrow Viaduct of the 914 mm (3 ft) gauge Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway.
Japan[edit]
- Inaho
- Amarube Viaduct
- 1895 Gale blows train into sea [11]
New Zealand[edit]
Norway[edit]
- Makrellbekken (station)#Wind related accident – blowing snow disoriented a tractor driver who collided with a train
South Africa[edit]
Switzerland[edit]
- In 1996, one train from the Wengernalp Railway derailed in Bernese Oberland with four people injured.[13]
- On January 19, 2007, one train derailed near Wasserausen.[13]
- In 2018, one train from the Montreux–Lenk im Simmental line derailed in the Simmental region, injuring eight people.[13]
- On March 31, 2023, two trains derailed in the Canton of Bern due to strong winds, with fifteen people injured.[14]
United Kingdom[edit]
- Tay Bridge disaster 1879
- Chelford rail accident 1894 – during shunting
- De-wirements on the East Coast Main Line
- Leven Viaduct, Cumbria 27 February 1903
- Cheddington 2008 – two containers blown off train – design of "spigots" criticised.[15]
- Moston 2015 – out of gauge train hits platform, throwing stones onto other track.[16]
- Scout Green 2015 – empty 30-foot ISA container blown off train [17]
United States[edit]
- On April 24, 1883, 2 cars of a passenger train were blown from the narrow-gauge Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad tracks near Como, Colorado, with only minor injuries.[18]
- Around 6:15 pm, May 6, 1876, a passenger train traveling south on the Illinois Central Railroad at about 23 miles per hour was derailed during a storm just south of Neoga, Illinois. Numerous minor injuries were reported.[19]
- Around 7 am, Feb. 23, 1884, 2 cars were blown off the narrow-gauge tracks of the Colorado Central Railroad near Georgetown, Colorado.[20]
- Around 2 pm, February 4, 1885, the wind overturned an entire 3-car Colorado Central Railroad train just east of Georgetown, Colorado. The express train had slowed to 8 miles per hour because of the wind. 18 out of 20 passengers were injured.[21][22]
- At 3:30 pm, April 1, 1892, a narrow-gauge passenger train of the Burlington and Northwestern Railway was blown off the tracks while running at full speed 1 mile east of Butler, a station between Fremont, Iowa and Hedrick, Iowa.;[23][24][25] 4 were seriously injured, a dozen more suffered minor injuries.[26] Note that the location places this on the Burlington and Western Railway tracks.
- On September 2, 1911, tram services in Charleston, South Carolina, were suspended due to winds.[27]
- On June 28, 1986, a derecho derailed 18 piggyback cars on the Kate Shelley High Bridge over the Des Moines River in Iowa.[28]
- On June 29, 1998, the Corn Belt Derecho blew several double stack and piggyback cars off the Iowa Interstate Railroad bridge across the Iowa River.[29]
- A 2008 tornado in Northern Illinois derailed a Union Pacific train.[30] Dramatic footage of the event was captured by a camera mounted on the train.[31]
- On April 27, 2015, a severe storm knocked several double stack cars off the track as a train crossed the Huey P. Long Bridge, New Orleans, Louisiana, with no injuries. The accident was captured by a WGNO News Team dashcam.[32]
- On March 13, 2019, mid-day winds of around 80 mph derailed the rear 26 cars of a double stack train on the Union Pacific high steel trestle over the Canadian River south of Logan, New Mexico.[33]
One reason for choosing broad gauge (17% wider than standard gauge) for BART was the greater stability in high winds and perhaps earthquakes.[34][35][36]
Factors[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ C. Proppe, C. Wetzel (2007). "Overturning Probability of Railway Vehicles under Wind Gust Loads". Iutam Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Nonlinear Systems with Uncertainty. IUTAM Book Series. 2. Springer: 23–32. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6332-9_3. ISBN 978-1-4020-6331-2.
- ^ Kieper, Klaus; Preuß, Reiner; Rehbein, Elfriede (1982). "Bahnen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern". Schmalspurbahn-Archiv (in German) (2nd ed.). Berlin: Transpress. p. 116.
- ^ "SEVERE WINDSTORM". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 8 October 1928. p. 8. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ "LEVEL CROSSING ACCIDENT". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 27 August 1931. p. 10. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ "Double-Deck Trams". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 1 June 1943. p. 4. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ "Tornado derails outback freight train".
- ^ "FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT". Northern Star. Vol. 34. New South Wales, Australia. 4 April 1910. p. 3. Retrieved 26 November 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Six dead in train crash on Denmark's Great Belt Fixed Link". The Local DK. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- ^ "GALE DERAILS TRAIN". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 21 October 1936. p. 16. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ "TRAIN DERAILED". The Examiner. Launceston, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 21 October 1936. p. 8 Edition: DAILY. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ "RAILWAY ACCIDENT". Zeehan and Dundas Herald. Tas.: National Library of Australia. 31 July 1895. p. 3. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ "WIND STALLS CAPE TRAINS | Railways Africa". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2012. Wind stalls Cape trains
- ^ a b c "En Suisse, des trains ont déjà déraillé à cause du vent" (in French). April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
- ^ "Two Swiss trains derail in strong winds, several injured - SWI swissinfo.ch". April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
- ^ The Railway Magazine April 2015, p12
- ^ The Railway Magazine April 2015, p12
- ^ The Railway Magazine April 2015, p12
- ^ Blown from the Track, Railroad Gazette, April 4, 1883; pages 285-286. Reprinted from the Apr. 25 'Denver Tribune'.
- ^ Thrown off the Track, Chicago Daily Tribune, May 8, 1876, page 5. (Retrieved via Library of Congress Chronicling American archive).
- ^ Two Cars Blown Off the Track, New York Times, Feb. 24, 1884.
- ^ Train Wreck at Georgetown, February 4th, 1885, Rocky Mountain Railroad Heritage Society Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 9 (Winter, 2017); page 6. (reprinted from the Denver Tribune Republican, Feb. 5, 1885.)
- ^ Derailed in a Hurricane at Georgetown, Feb. 4, 1885, photo in the Ted Kierscey Collection, retrieved Feb 2021.
- ^ Exhibit No. 5. Casualties, 1891-'92, Annual Report of the Postmaster General of the United States for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1892, GPO, 1892; page 845. Gives time and location.
- ^ Train Blown Over, St. Paul daily globe (Saint Paul, Minn.), 02 April 1892; page 1. Historic American Newspaper collection, Library of Congress.
- ^ Swept by Fearful Winds, The Abbeville press and banner (Abbeville, S.C.), 20 April 1892; page 2. Historic American Newspaper collection, Library of Congress.
- ^ "NEWS BY MAIL". The Brisbane Courier. National Library of Australia. 24 May 1892. p. 7. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
- ^ "AMERICAN WIND STORM". The Northern Times. Carnarvon, WA: National Library of Australia. 2 September 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
- ^ July 28-29 1986 Derecho "The Supercell Transition Derecho", part of the NOAA About Derechos web site, retrieved Aug. 2020.
- ^ Archive photos: June 1998 derecho hits the Iowa City area, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, retrieved Aug. 2020.
- ^ "Twisters hit Illinois and Wisconsin | ABC7 Chicago | abc7chicago.com - ABC7 Chicago".
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: TRAIN Vs. TORNADO - BEST PART!!!!!. YouTube.
- ^ Carlie Kollath Wells (27 April 2015). "Train cars blown off tracks on Huey P. Long Bridge, FOX 8 reports". The Times-Picayune.
- ^ Kyle Cheromcha, Bomb Cyclone Winds Blow Freight Train Off Railroad Bridge in New Mexico, The Drive, March 14, 2019
- ^ "The deep-lodged problems with the BART system". 13 August 2009.
- ^ "Crossing the Bay Again — but Not Necessarily with BART". 6 January 2010.
- ^ http://homepage.mac.com/s_sloan/twar/ISSUE66/BODY.HTM [permanent dead link]
- ^ "BECCA Wiki : Rail vehicle overturning". Archived from the original on 22 February 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
- ^ http://www.yunlong.com.au/pdf/Liu-CFD.pdf [bare URL PDF]
