Background
Vado is a town of 3300 people (as of 2023) in northern Italy, located in the municipality of Monzuno 24km/15mi south of Bologna and 58km/36mi north of Florence (both measurements in linear distance).
The town lies on the Bologna–Florence railway, a double-tracked electrified main line opening in 1934. The 97km/60mi line was constructed as the most direct connection possible to construct between the two cities, making it one of Italy’s main railway corridors while utilizing lengthy tunnels and bridges to cross much of the mountainous terrain in a straight line, allowing relatively high speeds.
The Trains Involved
Train #572 was a regular passenger service from Bari to Trieste, consisting of two locomotives and a row of four-axle passenger cars. The train was led by FS (Italian national railway) E.645.016, with FS Class E.636.282 in second place behind it. The Class E.645 is a six-axle electric locomotive developed alongside the E.646 as a freight-version of the latter but also occasionally seeing passenger use. The type was introduced in 1958, being based off the E.636 (see below). Each Class E.645 measures 18.25m/60ft in length at a weight of 111 metric tons. They have a power output of 3780kW/5069hp, the same as the passenger-version, but are geared differently leading to a lower top speed of just 120kph/75mph. The locomotive is constructed as an articulated vehicle with two connected halves, riding on three two-axle bogies with the ability to articulate above the center bogie, somewhat comparable to some city buses.
The second locomotive pulling the train was FS Class E.636.282, running in second place behind the leading locomotive and ahead of the passenger cars. The Class E.636 is a six-axle multipurpose electric locomotive, introduced in 1940. They have the same body- and wheel-layout as the E.645, being built in two articulating halves sat atop three two-axle bogies. Each Class E.636 measures 18.25m/60ft in length at a weight of 92 metric tons and can reach 120kph/75mph.
Travelling the other way was rapid train 813, nicknamed “Freccia della Laguna” (“Arrow of the Lagoon”), an express train service from Bolzano to Rome. The service was provided by a pair of FS Class ALe 601 units (number 051 and 067) towing a bistro car (FS LE.480) and a first class seating car (FS LE.601). The ALe 601 is an electric two-car multiple unit introduced in 1961. The ALe was developed with the ability of multi-traction and additional passenger cars in mind, featuring doors and a folding passageway at the ends of the train. This meant that, once connected, passengers could move throughout the train, rather than those in the multiple unit (EMU) being isolated from those in the added passenger cars. Each ALe measures 27.4m/90ft in length at a weight of 69 metric tons (second batch, early units weighed 62 metric tons) and can carry up to 60 passengers at as much as 200kph/124mph. The trains were all first class, with the only second class seating being provided by optional added second class passenger cars (with none of those being involved in the accident). The bistro car involved in the accident offered 48 seats with the first class seating car adding another 60 seats to the train’s capacity. A specialty of the train was that passengers couldn’t go to the bistro car at their choosing, they were given specific times when it was their turn to use the bistro car, splitting the passengers into groups as to not overcrowd the dining area and keep waiting time low.
The Accident
The 15th of April 1978 saw severely adverse weather hit most of the Italian peninsula, especially the Adriatic coast (the upper east coast of Italy). The storm had whipped up the seas, which led to waves crashing ashore with such force that they damaged a bridge on the Adriatic rail line (Bari-Foggia-Pescara-Ancona-Bologna). This forced the FS to divert services that would use the route or cancel them outright. Among the diverted services was train #572, which would now use the Bologna–Florence main line instead of its usual routing to get to Bologna.
The train, pulled by two electric locomotives, has just left Grizanna behind when, shortly after noon, the sustained rain causes a small landslide to hit the rail line, bumping up and derailing the passing train. The leading locomotive digs itself into the gravel ballast, grinding to a stop just before it would plunge into a ravine running along the rail line. No major injuries have been caused at this point, but E.645.016, the leading locomotive, is standing diagonally across both tracks of the rail line.
The “Freccia della Laguna” express train comes darting out of a nearby tunnel a few seconds later, with the driver likely adjusting to the light too late to stop, causing the train to crash into the derailed locomotive at 110kph/68mph. The impact deflects the EMU off the tracks to the left, sending the leading cars flying off the bridge into the ravine. The leading four cars of the express train end up going completely off the bridge, suffering a near-total loss of survival space as they break apart on impact with the ground below. The towed passenger car ends up hanging off the bridge at an angle, with just the bistro car remaining atop the bridge and aligned with the track.
The crash has ripped E.645.016’s body and frame of its bogies with such force that it has been driven backwards into the following E.636.282, obliterating its driver’s cab and tearing its body off the frame. The passenger cars from #572 remain largely intact and on track while the train’s two locomotives, along with most of the oncoming express train, suffer extensive destruction. None of #572’s passengers are injured, but both its train drivers are killed as they couldn’t escape the driver’s cab prior to impact. Another 44 passengers die aboard the express train, as well as both of its drivers, leaving 76* injured survivors on that train.
*76 is the official amount, different sources claim 117–120 injured survivors.
Aftermath
Motorists from the adjacent A1 motorway notify emergency services before the trains even come to a rest, describing scenes of train cars being launched into the air next to them. Some motorists also head into the wreckage soon after the accident, providing first aid until professional responders make it to the site.
The disaster is the first large scale rescue operation managed by CEPIS (the Center for Coordination of Rescue Operations), an organization funded after an express train had fallen victim to a terrorist bombing in 1974. The aim of the Center was to improve coordination of the required large-scale response and improve cooperation between different response services which might not be used to working together. The Center would also be instrumental in launching a unified emergency number in Italy by 1990.
Verona’s soccer team was found to be among the survivors aboard the express train, having booked the train last-minute when their flight to a match in Rome had been cancelled due to weather. Their seats had been in the leading car of the train, which was utterly obliterated, but they had escaped death by happening to be among the first group called to the restaurant car at the back of the train for lunch, reaching it just before the accident.
The police initially suspects another bombing, but statements of survivors along with what is left of the trains soon point the investigation in a different direction. The accident, which left a scene described by many who saw it as “apocalyptic”, isn’t the consequence of anyone’s bad intentions, the whole fault lies squarely with the weather. The official death toll made this Italy’s fourth-most fatal train accident in history, the third-most in peacetime (the 1944 Balvano train disaster is at the top of the list with (officially) a staggering 517 victims). This made it even more hurtful that there was no “fixable” cause to blame or a responsible person to put on trial. There was no negligence, no errors, no ill intentions. Not even a defective train.
The bad weather had, by chance, caused so much damage to a bridge on the coastal rail line that #572 had to be diverted. Not doing that would’ve been negligent, if the line was even still usable at all (the extend of the damages isn’t clear), as it could’ve led, at worst, to the bridge collapsing under the train. Neither train involved in the accident was speeding, they were just each driving along a straight section of track in opposite directions and would’ve passed each other the same way countless trains did every day.
It was yet another case of tragic coincidence that a landslide was triggered by the heavy, sustained rainfall soaking the hillside adjacent to the rail line next to the viaduct where the two trains would happen to pass each other, and that at just the right (or wrong) time, too. Rail line-adjacent areas prone to landslides, rockfalls or avalanches are usually fitted with preventative measures to contain the falling material or at least somewhat direct it around the tracks, or a rail line might be placed in a so-called gallery (an above-ground tunnel) to protect it, but the site of the accident was no such spot. It thus can’t even been said that the risk at the site was underestimated or that anyone dragged their feet on sufficient safety-measures as there was no known risk to speak of.
Lastly, while trains have been derailed from Avalanches and Landslides before and since the accident that wasn’t even the final, tragic piece of the puzzle. The landslide damaged the rail line and caused #572 to derail, but it actually remained upright and just ground to a stop. It was the day’s third and final tragic coincidence that it came to a stop right before the oncoming express train came out of the nearby tunnel, leaving too little time for the derailed train to be evacuated or for the driver of the express train to do just about anything before the trains collided. The stormy seas damaging the bridge on the coast, the diversion of #572, the position of the derailed train, the relatively poor visibility caused by the weather, the visual isolation of the tunnel, the fact that the rail line sat atop a viaduct, the express train’s speed and even the landslide all weren’t fatal on their own, but they came together in a long chain of coincidences which ended with two trains destroyed and 48 lives lost.
Two of the players from the Verona soccer team were interviewed by a newspaper years later, talking about dealing with intense survivor’s guilt and telling the story of how the team avoided railways for a while after the accident, travelling to matches in other cities by bus instead. Their first game was just a week after the accident, with the team visiting the site of the accident to place flowers next to the rail line. The site is marked today by two plaques attached to the arch of the viaduct which the trains collided on. One of the plaques reads (translated):
In Memory of the 48 victims of the train disaster of 15 April 1978
The other plate, which is a little hard to read due to damage from weather exposure, appears to read:
This is the place where a train disaster tragically occurred on 15–4–1978. Remembered by the colleagues of Domenico De Acutis [Likely the name of a victim], dedicated for thirty years by the Cay telephone services company.
The entire express train was written off and scrapped after the investigation finished, as was E.645.016. The express train service 813 was renamed “Marco Polo” after the accident, ending the era of the “Freccia della Laguna”. E.636.282, despite suffering severe damage, was actually repaired and returned to service. Its last sightings date from 2004, two years before the entire Class E.636 was finally retired after a respectable 66 years in service. The line has seen a drop in use in recent years, with the Bologna-Florence high speed line opening in 2009 after 13 years of construction, cutting travel times from a minimum of 59 minutes to a minimum of 37 minutes.
_______________________________________________________________
I have chosen to stay off Medium’s monetization offers to keep these stories as accessible as possible, but you can support me with a small tip via “Buy me a coffee” if you feel like it.
_______________________________________________________________
A kind reader is posting the installments on reddit for me, I cannot interact with you there but I will read the feedback and corrections. You can find the post right here.
