New expert opinion Could the SBB have prevented the train accident in the Gotthard Base Tunnel?
The serious accident in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in August 2023 could possibly have been prevented. An expert report criticizes the fact that several warning signals went unheeded.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- A report on the Gotthard accident in 2023 shows that SBB could have responded to several warning signals.
- Experts and trade unions criticize the fact that no emergency braking was triggered despite conspicuous faults.
- SBB rejects the criticism and emphasizes that its systems monitor the infrastructure, not the trains. An external expert also sees no clear indications of a derailment in the reports.
The serious accident in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in August 2023 could possibly have been prevented, as reported by SRF. At the time, a broken wheel on a freight train caused damage of 150 million Swiss francs and one tunnel tube was closed for over a year. A new expert report commissioned by the public prosecutor's office in Ticino has now come to the conclusion that SBB could have reacted to warning signals.
According to the expert opinion, several fault messages appeared in the operations center after the wheel broke on the eleventh freight wagon. These were displayed on the screens, but there was apparently no reaction. Criticism comes from politicians, among others: "If a train can drive for miles into the tunnel and a trail of error messages appears on the screens - if it lights up red in the control center and no one intervenes, then something is wrong with the system," says one politician.
The alarm should have gone off two minutes before the accident
From the rail staff's point of view, too, action should have been taken. "This is an event that we have seen in other cases, and the emergency braking would have been the logical consequence. I can't understand why this didn't happen," says a union representative. For him, it is unclear why no intervention took place despite the signals.
The report shows that the warnings arrived in quick succession. A total of eight error messages were registered. One section of track remained red even though the train had already passed it. At the same time, axle counter faults occurred because the damaged, hanging wheel destroyed cables.
This accumulation of messages should have triggered an alarm around two and a half minutes before the derailment. Nevertheless, neither the system nor the staff recognized the situation as dangerous. One possible reason: similar faults had already been visible for some time and were apparently classified as unproblematic.
SBB rejects the accusations
SBB rejects the accusations. A spokeswoman explains: "The systems of the operations center are important for safety, but they do not monitor trains, but the infrastructure." This means that it is not possible to detect whether a train derails. "Everything worked correctly," she says.
A rail safety expert also sees no clear fault on the part of Deutsche Bahn. "For me as a long-time railwayman, this was nothing more than a technical axle counter fault. There was no way it could be interpreted as a derailment."
Around five minutes after the wheel broke, the derailment finally occurred: the damaged wheel destroyed a switch and the train was torn apart.
