The derailment of a train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel on Thursday was probably caused by a broken wheel tread. Federal investigators found fragments of a wheel and traces of derailment a few kilometres before the accident site.
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The derailment occurred early on Thursday afternoon near the station at Faido in canton Ticino. This multifunction station is one of two emergency stops of the tunnel. A few kilometres away, specialists from the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB) discovered fragments of a wheel and traces of derailment on the tracks.
According to the information available, the freight train entered the Gothard tunnel in good condition. The STSB therefore assumes that the tread of a wheel on the freight wagon broke inside the tunnel.
Despite the broken wheel, the wagon managed to travel several kilometres. At the switch at the Faido station, where trains can pass from one tube to another in the tunnel, the wagon derailed, taking with it more than 20 wagons following it.
The cause of the wheel break has not yet been determined but external influence or a fatigue fracture are conceivable. The wheel parts will be subjected to metallurgical analysis for a final analysis. Such tread failures are not common, according to the STSB. One case occurred in 2014 on the Appenzell railways.
The derailed freight wagons destroyed the gauge changing device at the multifunction station, which separates the two tubes of the tunnel and only opens when a train needs to change track and therefore tube. Until the passage between the tubes is assured again, no train can use the base tunnel for safety reasons. The Swiss Federal Railways said the tunnel would remain closed until August 16 at the earliest.
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