Lagerlunda rail accident

The Lagerlunda rail accident occurred in the early hours of November 15, 1875 about 8 km west of Linköping in Östergötland, Sweden. Unclear signalling between a station master and a steam engine driver led to a train leaving the station although another train was approaching on the single line track. 9 people were killed in the head-on collision shortly after. The station master was sentenced to 6 months of prison.

Lagerlunda rail accident
The accident site, a few days after the crash.
Details
DateNovember 15, 1875
circa 01:11
LocationKapellån, between Malmslätt and Bankeberg
Coordinates58.402°N 15.483°E / 58.402; 15.483
CountrySweden
LineEastern Main Line
Incident typeHead-on collision
Statistics
Trains2
Deaths9
Injured3

A contemporary investigation by Swedish ophthalmologist Frithiof Holmgren suggested that color blindness on the part of the driver could have contributed to the accident, which prompted the introduction of mandatory color-vision screening of railroad personnel. However, more recent analyses dispute color blindness as the main cause of the accident.[1][2]

References
  1. Frey, F. G. (1975). "A railway accident a hundred years ago as reason for systematic testing of colour vision (author's transl)". Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde. 167 (1): 125–127. PMID 1104986.
  2. Mollon, J. D.; Cavonius, L. R. (2012). "The Lagerlunda Collision and the Introduction of Color Vision Testing" (PDF). Survey of Ophthalmology. 57 (2): 178–194. doi:10.1016/j.survophthal.2011.10.003. PMID 22301271.
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