Fiesch derailment

The Fiesch derailment occurred on Friday 23 July 2010, at 11:50 CET[1] when a Glacier Express train, from Zermatt heading towards St. Moritz, derailed at low speed between the cities of Lax and Fiesch, Canton Valais, Switzerland.

Fiesch derailment
Location of the derailment in Switzerland
Details
Date23 July 2010
LocationFiesch
CountrySwitzerland
OperatorMatterhorn Gotthard Bahn
Incident typederailment
Statistics
Trains1
Deaths1
Injured40

Two rear panorama cars were overturned while a third car derailed but remained on the track.[2]

A 64-year-old Japanese woman was killed and 42 people were injured and taken to hospital. The day after the accident 17 persons (16 Japanese, 1 Spanish) were still in hospital care.[2]

The cause of the accident was blamed on human error in that the driver was going too fast.[3] Traffic resumed on Sunday 25 July after repair and the railway had been declared safe by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (operator of the Glacier Express).[4]

On 7 March 2011, it was announced that the engineer of the train at the time of its crash had been convicted of homicide and negligence, and would face a fine of 15,000 Swiss francs.[5]

The Investigation Bureau for Railway, Funicular and Boat Accidents investigated the accident.

References
  1. "Woman dies in Swiss train accident". Japan Times. 25 July 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  2. "Railway lines in the Valais passable again". NZZ Online. 25 July 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  3. "Driver error to blame for Glacier Express crash". Euronews. 30 July 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  4. "Glacier Express: Line tested – operations running to schedule" (PDF). Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. 26 July 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  5. "Engineer convicted in fatal Swiss crash". Trains Magazine. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2011.

46.403007°N 8.132672°E / 46.403007; 8.132672

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