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Broken wheel responsible for 2023 Gotthard tunnel derailment

Sust: Räderisse responsible for Gotthard goods train derailment
Sust: Räderisse responsible for Gotthard goods train derailment Keystone-SDA

The cause of the derailment of a goods train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in August 2023 was a broken wheel disc. The wheel cracks are a systematic problem. This is the conclusion reached by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board in its final report.

Material fatigue cracks were found in the so-called LL brake blocks. In order to prevent similar incidents in the future, recommendations will be made to the European Safety Agency and the Federal Office of Transport, as stated on Monday in Bern at the presentation of the final report by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB).

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When a Federal Railways train with 30 freight wagons was on its way from Chiasso to Basel on August 10, 2023, part of a wheel disc on the eleventh wagon broke off in the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The front part of the freight wagon formation passed the points still in a straight position. The rear part was routed onto a connecting track. This led to the derailment and collision with the tunnel’s transverse wall. Nobody was injured.

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Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

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