Dropping Death: The 1997 Neustadt Freight Collision.
Background
Neustadt (Hesse) is a city of 9945 people (as of December 2019) in central Germany, located 58.5km/36mi south-southwest of Kassel and 24km/15mi east of Marburg (both distances measured in linear distance). “Hesse” refers to the federal state it’s in, distinguishing it from the approximate 2 dozen other cities and towns called “Neustadt (XY)” in Germany.
Running through the southern outskirts of the city is the Main-Weser Railway, a 200km/124mi double-track electrified main line connecting Kassel with Frankfurt. Opened in 1852 and upgraded to two tracks all the way in 1865 the Railway is an important corridor for trains going through Germany lengthwise, especially those not using the high speed line between Hannover and Würzburg opened in 1991. Being set up for up to 160kph/99mph in some sections the Railway sees everything from regional traffic and freight trains to long distance high speed trains. Neustadt itself is only served by regional trains, with everything else passing through without stopping.
The trains involved
Freight train 54755 was a mixed freight train of unknown configuration (the report doesn’t seem to be publicly available) crossing southbound through Neustadt on it’s way towards Kornwestheim. Part of the train were several four axle type RS685 flatbed cars made in 1972, running on so-called Niesky bogies. Each of them was loaded with four steel pipes made for underground natural gas lines. Each pipe weight six metric tons and measured 13.5m/44ft in length. Securing the load were wooden wedges and 30mm wide nylon ropes. The vertical steel stakes meant to further secure the cargo on the car had not been folded up but were lying down flat (as they would for loading and unloading).
Coming the other way was RE (Regional Express) 3602 from Frankfurt to Kassel. It consisted of five third generation Bombardier bilevel passenger cars, including a control car at the end. The third generation control car (model DBbzf 761) that ran at the back of the involved train weights 48 metric tons empty at 27.3m/89ft long and can carry 101 second class passengers at up to 140kph.
Pulling the train on the day of the accident was a DB (German national railway) series 111, a four-axle electric locomotive introduced in 1975 mostly for regional traffic. Weighting 83 metric tons at 16.75m/55ft long the Series 111 reaches 160kph/99mph, plenty for the demands of regional trains especially at the time of it’s introduction. The locomotive pulling the train that day had been borrowed from the S-Bahn (suburban rapid transit commuter trains), wearing a distinct white (officially “gravel gray”) and orange livery in contrast to the usual red.
The accident
On the fifth of July 1997 at approximately 8:30am freight train number 54755 is approaching Neustadt (Hesse) from the north. Going through the southern part of the city it will navigate most of a large right-left s-bend and leave the city on the southwestern corner, facing south. At the same time RE 3602 is reaching the outskirts of the city from the south, carrying over 400 passengers. As the freight train passes through Neustadt station, approximately 320m/1050ft up the track from the later site of the accident, one of the flatbed cars carrying the pipes starts to sway and lean. The top-heavy cars develop too much lateral forces for the thin nylon ropes holding the cargo in place, and four pipes end up falling off the train as it leaves the station. Three pipes pass in front of the oncoming express train, fall off an overpass and land on the road below, causing severe damage to the tarmac. Standing near the final position of these pipes is Mr. Müller, the local soccer club’s coach. He and some of his players were standing at a bus stop next to the tracks waiting for a chartered bus. Müller hears the pipes fall off the train, sees one stand up vertically before falling off the elevated tracks. Meanwhile the driver of the RE has initiated an emergency stop, but too late. The fourth pipe misses the locomotive and bounces off the first few bilevel cars several times before it drills itself into the control car not in one place but down nearly half the car’s length, creating a massive gash between the doors over 10m/33ft long before falling back down into the gravel between the tracks. Only now do both trains come to a stop, a few meters apart. Six passengers die in the collision, 12 are injured (2 of which severely).
Aftermath
Standing next to an overpass just a few meters from the site of the accident Mr. Müller can see the passenger train come to a stop, he can hear people aboard scream and cry. Knowing that something just went very, very wrong Mr. Müller and his players climb up the steep embankment, making their way through thick vegetation on the way up. At the top they come upon a field of debris consisting of metal, glass, gravel, interior pieces and insulation stretches over 700m/2300ft long. As Müller climbs out of the bushes onto the track he sees injured survivors lying among the debris, he later suspects that they managed to crawl out of the destroyed train car on their own. No one was thrown from the train, none of the cars derailed. He knows that he and his players can do very little, if anything at all, to help. He leaves his players at the site to provide first aid while he heads down the other side of the tracks and runs into the adjacent residential area, going to find a phone to call the emergency services. More than 300 responders pour into the site, including the THW (federal agency for technical relief) and the German Army, which has soldiers stationed nearby.
The local police successfully keeps the arriving media crews away from the wreckage while survivors and victims are attended to, by 10am the train is completely empty and the site can entirely be handed over to the investigators. Only now camera crews get to see the remains of the passenger train. The cause of the destruction is glaringly obvious, and what caused the pipes to strike the train is soon found as well. Investigators find torn nylon ropes hanging off two of the cars, while none of the flatbed cars carrying the pipes have the stakes in the upright position. They’re all neatly folded down, not something that happened during the accident.
Despite seeming insufficient, the ropes and wooden wedges are actually all that is needed to secure a load like this properly, along with the steel stakes. It’s unknown who folded the stakes down when or if they were ever up in the first place. The report filed for the departure-check at Seelze, 175km/109mi linear distance to the north, listed the train as being up to the requirements. So either the report was filed dishonestly, or by someone not actually knowing the guidelines, or the stakes had been up at that point.
The investigation lasts 3 years, but the exact cause or specific people to blame can never be found. In the end, the report holds two valid theories:
- Excessive speed overloaded the bogies’ suspension system, causing them to sway when crossing the points at Neustadt station. This swaying then created too high lateral forces for the ropes to contain.
- Insufficent securing, maybe a loose rope, caused the cargo to shift. The imbalance caused the swaying which then caused the ropes to give out and drop the cargo.
Either way, the stakes being up could have prevented at least some of the pipes from falling off.
The report did praise the work of the police to keep cameras away from the site, avoiding that relatives would see their loved ones dead or injured on TV, as well as the good care taken of responders (both professional and civilian) after the accident, providing therapy and spiritual support.
After the accident the speed limit for the car-bogie-combination was lowered, and the model has been retired from service in Germany since. The requirements for securing cargo on flatbeds have also been raised, the ropes wouldn’t be used for a similar load today. Third generation bilevel cars are still in use, however their usage is declining as two new generations have been introduced since. The DB series 111 is on it’s last legs, a lot of the locomotives have been put into storage (presumably used for spares before being disposed of). The very last ones in DB-services will (as it seems) be retired by 2026, leaving 5 in private hands and 1 (the 111 001) in the DB museum’s fleet. The orange-white livery disappeared in the early 2000s.
In 2017 a small memorial plaque was unveiled near the site of the accident, among the invited guests was the RE’s driver, the heads of the city’s fire department back then and in 2017 and two representatives of the soccer club as well as the Mayor of Neustadt in 1997.
A German news-segment about the accident, showing the aftermath.
WARNING: Some blood is seen in the train’s interior.
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