Harmelen train disaster

The Harmelen train disaster was the worst railway accident in the history of the Netherlands on 8 January 1962. Harmelen, in the central Netherlands, is the location of a railway junction where a branch to Amsterdam leaves the Rotterdam to Utrecht line. It is common at high-speed junctions to avoid the use of diamond crossings wherever possible — instead a ladder crossing is employed where trains destined for the branch line cross over to the track normally employed for trains travelling in the opposite direction for a short distance before taking the branch line.

Not to be confused with Woerden train disaster.
Aftermath of the disaster
Details
Date8 January 1962
LocationHarmelen, Utrecht
Coordinates52°06′17″N 4°57′23″E
CountryNetherlands
OperatorNederlandse Spoorwegen
Incident typeHead-on collision
CauseSignal passed at danger
Statistics
Trains2
Passengers~500
Deaths93

The accident happened 1.5 year after the Woerden train accident, the derailment of a British furlough train nearby. Previously the Weesp train disaster of 1918 had been the worst railway disaster in the Netherlands.

Accident

Shortly before 9.20 a.m. on Monday, 8 January 1962, a foggy day, a Rotterdam to Amsterdam local-train consisting of electric multiple unit sets 700 and 297 was authorised to carry out this manoeuvre, protected by a red signal to stop trains approaching from Utrecht. The EMU was travelling at approximately 75 km/h (47 mph). Simultaneously, an express train from Leeuwarden to Rotterdam, hauled by electric locomotive 1131, was approaching at 107 km/h (67 mph).

Perhaps because of the foggy weather, the driver of the train from Utrecht missed the warning yellow signal and applied the emergency brake when he saw the red signal protecting the junction, far too late to prevent a near head-on collision between the two trains. Six coaches of the Amsterdam train and three on the express train were destroyed.

Victims

Of approximately 500 people aboard the trains, 93 lost their lives, including the drivers of both trains.

Aftermath
The current flyover, near the site of the accident

The accident spurred the installation on Dutch railways of the system of automatic train protection known as Automatische treinbeïnvloeding (ATB), which automatically overrides the driver in such a "signal passed at danger" situation.

The junction itself was later rebuilt as a flying junction.

Memorial
Memorial to victims of the Harmelen train disaster

On January 8th, 2012 Pieter van Vollenhoven unveiled a memorial for the victims of the disaster, which on that day, had taken place exactly fifty years ago. The organization of the disclosure was owned by the local "Dorpsplatform" Harmelen.

The monument was designed by Taeke de Jong, an artist from Kamerik. The mason was Maurice van Dam from Woerden. The design consists of two stone slabs that are tilted relative to each other and contain the names of the 93 victims. Looking through the two slabs discloses the actual spot where the accident happened. A red stone plinth, bearing a body that represents the victims, is placed in the middle in front of the two slabs. Three names on the slabs were spelled incorrectly; the names are copied from contemporary handwritten police reports. The mistakes have since been corrected.[1]

Similar accidents
  • Schiedam train disaster (South Holland, Netherlands)
  • Beresfield rail disaster (New South Wales, Australia)
  • Violet Town railway disaster (Victoria, Australia)
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gollark: Hmm. Perhaps seagate somewhat bad then.
gollark: ```ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 2 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 179 171 021 Pre-fail Always - 2033 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 001 001 000 Old_age Always - 168316 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 079 079 000 Old_age Always - 15354 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 2564192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 320193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 088 088 000 Old_age Always - 336830194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 126 080 000 Old_age Always - 21196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0032 088 088 000 Old_age Always - 8931```Wow, this disk is in a great state.
gollark: I don't see why I would want dead ones.
gollark: Certainly not to the extent that you'd expect piles of dead ones.

See also

References
  1. "Spelfouten op monument". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-01-17.

Further reading
  • Duin, Menno Joost van. (1992). Van rampen leren: een vergelijkend onderzoek naar de lessen uit spoorwegongevallen, hotelbranden en industriële ongelukken (in Dutch). The Hague: Haagse Drukkerij en Uitgeversmij. ISBN 90-71504-15-8.
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