Brandsen rail disaster | |
---|---|
Details | |
Date | March 8, 1981 4:30 |
Location | Brandsen |
Country | Argentina |
Line | Constitución–Mar del Plata |
Operator | FC Roca |
Service | Passenger Freight |
Incident type | Head-on collision |
Cause | Points failure |
Statistics | |
Trains | 2 |
Passengers | 803 |
Deaths | 34 |
Injured | 74 |
The Brandsen rail disaster occurred on March 8, 1981, in Brandsen, a town in Buenos Aires Province in Argentina, when a passenger train carrying 803 passengers collided head-on with a freight train, killing 34 and injuring another 74. [1] The train crash was caused by points failure. [2]
It is considered one of the worst tragedies in the history of rail transport in Argentina. [3] The Brandsen disaster was also the second accident involving a Luciérnaga long-distance service in Brandsen Partido after the Altamirano rail disaster occurred in 1964. [2]
The accident occurred at 4:30 on March 8, 1981, when a passenger train named La Luciérnaga ("the firefly") operated by state-owned Ferrocarriles Argentinos that had departed from Mar del Plata Station on March 7 at 23:55, ran on General Roca Railway tracks to Constitución Station in Buenos Aires with 803 passengers on board. The train ran at a speed of 120 km/h. In the opposite direction, a freight train transporting oil was stopped on km. 69 after derailing on the opposite track. The derailing caused a tank railcar to stop on the track where the Luciérnaga ran. [3]
The Luciérnaga entered to a curve near the bridge over Samborombón River. Due to the high speed, the passenger train could not stop on time, crashing into the tank railcar. [3] Due to the strong impact, the diesel locomotive overturned while the wagons were stacked upon each other. The crash caused the death of 34 people and 74 injured. [4]
Victims were taken to Brandsen, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Chascomús, and Buenos Aires. Several eyewitnesses said that the driver of the freight train ran away when he saw the Luciérnaga coming, after his failed attempts to warn the driver of the passenger train. [3]
When seeing light signals made with a lantern I realised something had happened. After leaving the curve, I saw vehicles on the track so I activated the emergency brake but due to the high speed, the collision was inevitable. [2]
— Domingo Fernández, driver of La Luciérnaga
According to the train driver, it would have needed at least 1,000 meters of distance to stop the train. The line to Mar del Plata was interrupted during several days due to some wagons could not be removed from the place of the accident. It was determined that the derailment was caused by the break of an axle.
A white cross placed alongside PR 29 commemorates the tragedy. [2]
A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track.
Ferrocarriles Argentinos was a state-owned company that managed the entire Argentine railway system for nearly 45 years. It was formed in 1948 when all the private railway companies were nationalised during Juan Perón's first presidential term, and transformed into the Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado Argentino.
The Buenos Aires–Rosario–Córdoba high-speed railway was a project designed to link the Argentine cities of Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba through a 710 km (440 mi) high-speed rail network.
The General Roca Railway (FCGR) is a 5 ft 6 in broad gauge railway in Argentina which runs from Constitución station in Buenos Aires to the south of the country through the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Neuquén and Río Negro. It was also one of the six state-owned Argentine railway divisions formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the railway network in 1948, being named after former president Julio Argentino Roca. The six companies were managed by Ferrocarriles Argentinos which was later broken up during the process of railway privatisation beginning in 1991 during Carlos Menem's presidency.
The General Manuel Belgrano Railway (FCGMB), named after the Argentine politician and military leader Manuel Belgrano, is a 1,000 mmmetre gauge railway and the longest of the Argentine system. It was one of the six State-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the railway network in 1948.
The Province of Buenos Aires Railway was a French railway company that operated a 902 km 1,000 mmmetre gauge railway network in the Province of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
The Sarmiento line is a broad gauge commuter rail service in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, run by the state-owned Trenes Argentinos since 11 September 2013.
The Belgrano Sur line is an Argentine 1,000 mmmetre gauge commuter rail service in the Greater Buenos Aires area, currently operated by state-owned enterprise Trenes Argentinos. The Belgrano Sur runs over tracks and through stations built by the Franco–Belgian-owned Compañía General de Buenos Aires and British Midland companies at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Argentine railway network consisted of a 47,000 km (29,204 mi) network at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in the world. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up in 1993 of Ferrocarriles Argentinos (FA), the state railroad corporation. During the period following privatisation, private and provincial railway companies were created and resurrected some of the major passenger routes that FA once operated.
The Altamirano rail disaster occurred in 1964 in the city of Altamirano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, when a passenger train collided head on with a freight train, killing 34 people.
The Benavídez rail disaster, which occurred on February 1, 1970, is the worst-ever rail disaster in Argentina and South America, leaving 236 dead and more than 500 injured.
The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) was one of the Big Four broad gauge, 5 ft 6 in, British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 and the first general manager was Edward Banfield after whom the Buenos Aires suburban station of Banfield was named, when it opened in 1873. After president Juan Perón nationalised the Argentine railway network in 1948 it became part of the state-owned company Ferrocarril General Roca.
The 2012 Buenos Aires rail disaster, also known as the Once Tragedy, occurred on 22 February 2012, when a train crashed at Once Station in the Balvanera neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The 2011 Flores rail crash occurred at 06.23 ART on 13 September 2011 when a bus on a level crossing at Flores railway station, in the Flores barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was hit by a train on the Sarmiento Line, heading for Moreno. The accident caused that same train to collide into another one as it derailed.
Mar del Plata is a railway and bus terminus in the homonymous city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Opened in 2009 as a bus terminus only, the railway tracks from the old "Norte" station were extended to connect both terminals in 2011 by architect Claudio Luis Lucarelli, adding new platforms to receive trains from Buenos Aires.
The Tren de los Pueblos Libres was an 813-km length rural railway line that connected Argentina and Uruguay, being operated by both the Argentine private company Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) on General Urquiza Railway standard gauge rail tracks, and Uruguayan the State-owned State Railways Administration of Uruguay "Administración de Ferrocarriles del Estado" (AFE).
Pinamar was a railway station in the homonymous city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Operated by recently created Ferrocarriles Argentinos, the station was opened in 1949 as an extension of the General Guido – General Madariaga branch of General Roca Railway, transporting tourist to the city of Pinamar mostly during Summer.
The Comodoro Rivadavia rail disaster occurred on July 12, 1960, in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia in the Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina. It happened in a region between stations Muelle YPF and Gamela in the General Mosconi neighborhood, popularly known as "Kilómetro 3".
The 1953 Comodoro Rivadavia rail disaster occurred on February 15, 1953, in Punta Piedras, a beach resort near the city of Comodoro Rivadavia in the Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina. It happened in the branch to Rada Tilly that extended alongside the coast, part of the Comodoro Rivadavia Railway and then operated by Ferrocarriles Argentinos.