1994 Lausanne derailment
| 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]
References
- ^ Cochard, Catherine (16 March 2021). "Le 29 juin 1994, le jour où on a frôlé la catastrophe". 24 heures (in French). Retrieved 2025-09-04.
- ^ a b "Giftwaggon vor Lausanner Bahnhof entgleist". Die Tageszeitung (in German). 1994-06-30. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
- ^ "Déraillement d'un Eurocity". www.letempsarchives.ch. Journal de Genève. 25 July 1994. p. 10. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
- ^ Fuchs, Isidore (2 December 1994). "Après l'accident de Lausanne, les CFF indemniseront les commerçants". www.letempsarchives.ch. Journal de Genève. p. 19. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
- ^ a b "Un an après l'accident de la gare de Lausanne". www.letempsarchives.ch. Le Nouveau Quotidien. 28 June 1995. p. 20. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
- ^ "Le wagon qui signale lorsqu'il déraille". www.letempsarchives.ch. Le Nouveau Quotidien. 21 February 1996. p. 17. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
- ^ Unfall-Sommer bei den SBB. In: Schweizer Eisenbahn-Revue. Nr. 9/1994. Minirex. Nr. 9/1994. Minirex. Nr. 9/1994. Minirex, ISSN 1022-7113, pp.382–386.