An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion , which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
| Lausanne derailment | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Date | 29 June 1994 2:56 a.m. |
| Location | Lausanne |
| Country |  Switzerland |
| Line | Basel – Monthey |
| Operator | Swiss Federal Railways |
| Incident type | Derailment |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Damage | 2 to 12 million Swiss francs |
On June 29, 1994, a freight train, including tanker cars carrying chemicals, derailed at Lausanne station in Switzerland.
The train, coming from Basel and bound for the Ciba-Geigy factory in Monthey, derailed at 2:56 a.m.. [1] Fourteen wagons of a freight train carrying forty cars derailed about 200 meters from the station. Seven cars overturned, including two tank cars containing 80,000 liters of epichlorohydrin - around 3-400 liters were spilled. [2]
Three thousand people had to be evacuated from the area, three schools were closed, and the station remained closed to the public for several days. [2] [3] Hundreds of men from the Lausanne fire department, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), police and civil protection and chemical units were mobilised. [4] Their costs were entirely paid by the SBB. [5]
During the removal of the carriages the train derailed a second time, this time near Lutry. [5] Following this and another derailment the same year in Affoltern, the Federal Railways developed and implemented a series of detection and safety systems on their freight trains. [6]
The inquiry later established that due to braking, excessive longitudinal pressure forces formed in the long (700m) train, which led to derailment in the area of a deflecting switch with unfavourable track geometry. The braking rules for freight trains over 1200 tonnes were subsequently changed. [7]