Fields of Fog: The 1980 Winsum (Netherlands) Train Collision
Background
Winsum is a town of 7405 people as of 2021 (13.000 in 1990) in the north of the Netherlands, located in the Groningen province 12km/7.5mi north of the city of Groningen and 42km/26mi west of the German border at Emden (both measurements in linear distance).
Winsum lies on the Sauwerd–Roodeschool railway, a 27km/17mi single-track non-electrified branch line which opened in 1893, connecting Groningen with the Netherlands’ northernmost train station. The line has a top speed of just 80kph/50mph.
The Trains Involved
Both train service 8726 (southbound from Roodeschool to Sauwerd) and 8713 (northbound from Sauwerd to Roodeschool) were provided by NS (Dutch national railway) Plan X “Blue Angel” trains, with the northbound train being a single unit while the southbound train ran in double-traction. The Blue Angel was a single-car diesel rail car introduced in 1953 in single (DE-1) or two-car (DE-2) versions. The southbound train consisted of units 84 and 79, while the northbound train consisted of unit 87.
Each DE-1 measures 27.05m/88ft in length at a weight of 57 metric tons and can carry 73 people at up to 105kph/65mph. Their nickname comes from the original blue paint job, they were later repainted red (and re-nicknamed “red devil” by some).
The Accident
The single-track line between Sauwerd and Roodeschool had no signals or train control system in 1980, with traffic being regulated via radio from an off-site control center. The 25th of July saw heavy fog over the area as the southbound train departs Winsum at 7:30am, not knowing that the northbound train had just departed Sauwerd just 3.5km/2.15mi down the line. The train quickly accelerates past 80kph/50mph as it leaves Winsum behind, diving into dense fog hanging over the fields. All seems ordinary until the driver sees the headlights of the northbound train emerge from the fog, too close for either train to come to a stop. The trains collide head-on at approximately 80kph/50mph each, sending a deafening crash across the landscape. The northbound train climbs the frame of its counterpart, obliterating the driver’s cab before getting stuck, severely damaged. Nine people, including the southbound train’s driver, are killed, while 21 more are injured.
Aftermath
Mister Guikema, then the deputy Mayor, happened to be refueling his car at a nearby gas station when the accident occurred. He heard a train’s horn in the fog, thinking it was the regular warning for a level crossing. He didn’t realize he was hearing two different horns before a “loud, dull impact” could be heard as the trains crashed. Him and other bystanders hurried to the rail line, being guided through the fog by the screams and yells of the survivors. The wreckage looked like a three-car train had folded in the middle, with either train losing its leading end. Responders were on site soon after, but access to the core of the wreckage was difficult until dump trucks were brought in to fill up a track side ditch with sand.
Cranes are brought in once the responders recover the last body, lifting the two crashed rail cars off the tracks and putting them down in the adjacent field for investigators to examine. The southbound train’s rear unit is barely damaged and towed away on the track.
The direct cause of the accident doesn’t take long to determine, the southbound train had been told to wait at Winsum station until the northbound train reaches it, instead it departed the station anyhow. The land is flat and the line almost straight, but the heavy fog concealed the trains from each other until it was too late to avoid the collision. Its driver perished in the crash, and the injured conductor can’t recall the minutes before the accident.
The investigation theorizes that the driver of the southbound train may have become confused about his location, assuming he was at a previous stop in Baflo. This would explain why he proceeded after being told not to depart Winsum before seeing the other train, but some have argued that, even in the fog, Baflo was clearly a different/smaller town than Winsum. Baflo had around 1600 residents at the time, while Winsum had 13000. The alternative theory is that the driver was inattentive for an unknown reason and, after waiting for a short time, assumed that the oncoming train had passed him while he didn’t pay attention and thus departed the station.
The line’s traffic had been managed by radio (“CRVL”, Central Radio Traffic Control) since 1967 in order to reduce operating costs, as an option to avoid closure of it and 14 other low-traffic lines. The switch to CRVL allowed the closure of station buildings, elimination of on-site dispatchers and removal of signaling systems, significantly cutting down cost. Ticket sales were now done by the conductor and/or the driver. The line from Sauwerd to Roodeschool alone saw staff reduced from 25 to 7.
The removal of signals and block-sections (an automatic system keeping trains from getting near each other) did reduce operating cost and allowed the struggling NS to maintain operations on low-traffic lines that would otherwise likely be shut down, but it also did away with almost any safety-measure. The off-site control center was dependent on the train drivers telling them when they reached or left a station, as there was no automatic way to track train positions anymore, and if a train driver erroneously decided to depart there was nothing to stop him. In the case of the accident, the traffic controller had told the southbound train to wait (and likely then told the northbound one they were clear to head to Winsum), and from that point on had to rely on the southbound train doing as they were told until the northbound train would call in and say they reached Winsum. The investigation never determined why exactly the southbound train departed Winsum early, declaring the cause as undefined human error on the part of its driver enabled by the poor safety-standard (which is a flattering term for it) of CRVL.
The practice of CRVL was ended within the year, and the line was fitted with signals by 1981, improving safety somewhat. It would take until 2007, 26 years later, for the line to be fitted with an actual train control system that could monitor trains and force them to stop if they ran a signal.
A memorial to the accident was constructed at the site in 2005, 25 years after the accident, consisting of an unpainted steel fence reading 1980–2005.
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