Background
Valendas is a town of 288 people in eastern Switzerland, located at an elevation of 810m/2657ft above sea level in the canton of Graubünden 20km /12.5mi west of Chur and 86km/53.5mi southeast of Zürich (both measurements in linear distance).
Valendas shares the station Valendas-Sagogn with its partner-town on the other side of the Rhine River, connecting the town to the Oberländerlinie (translatable to “Highland Line”), the Reichenau-Tamins–Disentis rail line. Opening in 1912 this 49.31km/30.64mi single track electrified rail line was built in 1000mm (“Meterspur”/”Meter gauge”) narrow gauge (standard track width is 1435mm), necessitating less space and allowing tighter turns than a normal railway. Services on the line include passenger and freight trains and are provided by the Rhätische Bahn (“Rhaetian Railway”/RhB), one of Switzerland’s largest rail service providers, who also own the narrow gauge network their trains drive on. The line connects 14 towns, utilizing about twice as many bridges, tunnels and galleries along the way. Galleries are a variation on the classic tunnels, meant to protect roads or rail lines from avalanches or rockfall by featuring a roof and a closed wall as well as an open side, usually in the form of a row of pillars or windows in the valley-side wall.
Typical for a narrow gauge mountain railway the speeds are relatively low, scheduled passenger trains on the line only reach an average speed of 45.5kph/28mph. The section of the line north of Valendas sticks relatively close to the Vorderrhein/Anterior Rhine, making use of what little space the narrow valley offers, while the landscape flattens out a little bit south of the station, allowing more independent routing.
The train involved
RegioExpress 1270 was a late evening regional passenger train from Chur to Disentis, consisting of a locomotive, baggage car and a row of four-axle passenger cars in first and second class. At the time of the accident the train carried the driver and just 30 passengers (according to the RhB, other sources claim 50 passengers). Pulling the train was Ge 4/4 II number 632, christened “Zizers” (a local municipality). Introduced in 1973 (and with a second series in 1984) the Ge 4/4 II is a four-axle narrow gauge multipurpose locomotive used for pretty much all of the RhB’s needs. Made in a total of 23 units the Ge 4/4 II measures 12.96m/42.5ft in length at a weight of 50 metric tons. It sends up to 1700kW/2300hp to all four axles (hence the “4/4” part in the name), allowing a top speed of up to 90kph/56mph. Locomotive number 632 was delivered on the 12th of December 1984, being the second to last one made.
Running between the locomotive and the passenger cars was a four-axle baggage car (number D4224) with space for baggage, bicycles, strollers and mail. These baggage cars weight approximately 15 metric tons at 13.95m/46ft in length.
The accident
On the 5th of January 2007 at an unknown point between 9:50pm and 10:40pm rockfall moves down the cliff north of Valendas-Sagogn station, partially missing the gallery constructed to protect the rail line and landing on the tracks to the immediate north of the gallery, creating a small obstruction. At the same time RegioExpress 1270 is approaching the northern portal of the gallery, slowly making its way downhill towards Valendas-Sagogn station. The trains run every hour, and the previous train made it to the station just fine. At 10:44pm the train rounds a long left hand turn along the steep side of the valley, the moment the gallery comes into view the train runs into the soil and rocks on the track. The locomotive is forced up and to the right, derailing as it runs into the pillars on the valley-side of the gallery. Even at low speed the train carries enough momentum to knock down 4 concrete pillars, stopping mere inches short of a fifth. Some larger rock-structures keep the locomotive from falling down into the valley, but with the pillars gone the roof of the gallery suffers a fatal structural failure. A 16m/52.5ft long piece of the gallery ceiling (little more than a massive, rectangular concrete slab with some plants on it) falls down, crushing most of the locomotive and part of the baggage car under it and pinning the train in place. None of the passengers are harmed, and the driver escapes his mangled locomotive uninjured too as he moved to the left side of the driver’s cab right before the right side was caved in by the first concrete pillar.
Aftermath
Right after the accident the driver notifies his superiors of the accident before climbing out of the severely damaged locomotive. With the passengers shocked and shaken at worst he collects them on the mountain-side of the train and leaves the train behind as they walk the last 350m/1150ft along the tracks to Valendas-Sagogn station where they’re met by professional responders to be evaluated and released before completing their journeys by bus or taxi.
The next morning a geologist inspects the site of the accident, when he declares the mountainside to be stable enough for work crews the RhB brings in a recovery-crew. The largely undamaged passenger cars are uncoupled and towed away before a crane can remove the fallen piece of the gallery ceiling. Once separated from the locomotive the severely damaged baggage car can be towed away on its own wheels too. Only now does the extend of the damage inflicted on locomotive #632 become clear. The rear half of the locomotive lost about half its height as the roof was pushed down by the concrete slab, even the electrical equipment in the engine compartment couldn’t quite withstand the weight. The other side looks marginally better, as the locomotive hit the concrete pillars the right side of the of the driver’s cabin got pushed in while the roof came down also. Moving to the left saved the driver’s life, neither the right side of the leading cab nor the rear half of the locomotive offer any survival space, and with the damage inflicted on the electrical installations he may not have survived in their compartment either.
After hours of work and, quoting one of the workers involved, “a whole load of curse words” the locomotive is back on the tracks and towed north to Versam-Safien station. Re-tracking the locomotive was unusually difficult due to its proximity to the fifth pillar (which held up the damaged gallery roof) as well as the uneven soft soil being less than ideal for the heavy hydraulic presses used to lift and move the locomotive. The locomotive is placed on a siding at the station, in contrast to the baggage car it can’t be moved to the maintenance facility at Landquart yet since the roof pressing down from above bulged out the sides, meaning the locomotive won’t fit through any tunnels. While the baggage car is an obvious write-off the fate of the locomotive is unsure at this point. The frame appears to be largely intact, as do the underpinnings (since it could still roll on its own). And the RhB didn’t exactly have an oversupply of locomotives. In the days after the accident workers at Versam-Safien station work on the severely damaged locomotive with saws, angle-grinders and hammers, cutting and bending it back into shape until it can be towed through the tunnels to Landquart. During this phase someone steals the coat of arms of Graubünden off the locomotive, it’s unknown if it’s ever recovered. With the work on the locomotive finished and the track repaired locomotive #632 is towed to Landquart on the 9th of January 2007, where the decision is made that it will actually be repaired/rebuilt.
Up at the site of the accident the RhB temporarily secures the side of the valley with netting meant to catch rockfall, for a long time it’s fairly obvious that a piece of the gallery is missing. It’s only by 2008 that the gallery is repaired and, matching the adjusted risk-evaluation, extended by 40m/131ft, with new fences and netting providing additional protection beyond that point.
On the 19th of May 2008, over a year after the accident, an announcement by the RhB reports that the repair of locomotive #632 is complete. In the process of the repairs the locomotive also received the technical upgrade some of its siblings had already received, most notably new, rectangular headlights. The same day as the announcement is the day the RhB has the locomotive pull a special service, bringing employees involved in the recovery and repair up to the site of the nearly-finished gallery extension. According to the RhB the repairs to the locomotive alone cost 3 million Swiss Francs, a little less than half as much as getting a new locomotive would’ve cost. The recovery and repair work along with the extension of the gallery is listed at the same amount. With the repairs and upgrade complete the RhB estimates that #632 will remain in service for 20–30 more years.
All things considered the accident happened the best way it could have been, while it caused delays, severe damage and blocked the rail line no one got aboard the affected train required any medical attention. One doesn’t want to imagine how things would’ve looked had the accident happened to a pushed train (leading car, locomotive at the back) or a multiple unit. After the accident the RhB changed their risk-evaluation procedures, justifying protective structures at lower risk-levels (matching the repaired, extended gallery).
Despite its successor being introduced as early as 1993 the Ge 4/4 II is still in full service with the RhB, and no fleet retirement has been announced. Only one locomotive has been scrapped so far, with #628 being damaged beyond economical repair when it struck a large rock and derailed in Summer 2019. After the accident the locomotive was stripped for parts and scrapped in October 2019.
Trivia
The repairs and reconstruction work on #632 were so extensive that, as a little gag, the RhB had a third manufacturer-sign attached to the side of the locomotive, making it the only one to drive around listing SLM, BBC and also the RhB itself as manufacturers.
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