2009 Viareggio train derailment
Encyclopedia
The Viareggio derailment was the derailment
of a freight train and subsequent fire which occurred on 29 June 2009 in the railway station
of Viareggio
(LU
), Tuscany
(Central Italy
). Twenty-six people were injured, and , 32 people were confirmed as having died.
to Gricignano
, hauled by Class E655 locomotive
E 655 175 with 14 bogie tank wagons was derailed at Viareggio at 23:48 local time
(21:48 UTC
) on 29 June 2009. Of the 14 wagons, the first wagon was registered by Polskie Koleje Państwowe
, the other 13 wagons by Deutsche Bahn
(DB) The first DB-registered wagon, No. 338078182106, which was owned by GATX Rail Austria GmbH
derailed on plain track in Viareggio station. The wagon hit the platform of the station and overturned to the left. The next four wagons also overturned and the two following were derailed but remained upright. The last seven wagons were not derailed, remaining intact on the track. The derailed wagons crashed into houses alongside the railway line.
Some of the wagons were owned by KVG Kesselwagen, a division of GATX and leased to ExxonMobil
and ERG
(the owners of the oil refinery where the train left), were reported to have been carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Two of these exploded and caught fire. Seven people were reported to have been killed when a house collapsed. An eighth person who was killed was reported to have been riding a scooter
on a road adjoining the railway. A child was found carbonised
in a car in front of the house where he lived with his parents. It is speculated that his parents put him in the car to save him and then returned to the house to save other two children.
The two members of the train crew suffered minor injuries in the accident. A large area of Viareggio was damaged in the subsequent fires caused by the wagons carrying LPG exploding. Twenty-six people were reported to have been injured in the accident. The accident is the worst rail accident in Italy since the collision between two trains in Murazze di Vado near Bologna
on 15 April 1978, which killed 48 people. It was reported that a whole street had been destroyed in the explosion and fire.
visited Viareggio "to take control of the situation", but he received boos and cries of "go home". Dr Enrico Petri, an eyewitness and local hospital physician, said that 36 people had been taken to Versilia Hospital in Viareggio suffering from 80-90% burns. He compared the aftermath to a terrorist attack. The accident left around 100 people homeless. The accident resulted in the disruption of rail services between Rome
and Genoa
. Viarregio railway station was partially reopened on 3 July 2009.
The Viareggio derailment was the derailment
of a freight train and subsequent fire which occurred on 29 June 2009 in the railway station
of Viareggio
(LU
), Tuscany
(Central Italy
). Twenty-six people were injured, and , 32 people were confirmed as having died.
to Gricignano
, hauled by Class E655 locomotive
E 655 175 with 14 bogie tank wagons was derailed at Viareggio at 23:48 local time
(21:48 UTC
) on 29 June 2009. Of the 14 wagons, the first wagon was registered by Polskie Koleje Państwowe
, the other 13 wagons by Deutsche Bahn
(DB) The first DB-registered wagon, No. 338078182106, which was owned by GATX Rail Austria GmbH
derailed on plain track in Viareggio station. The wagon hit the platform of the station and overturned to the left. The next four wagons also overturned and the two following were derailed but remained upright. The last seven wagons were not derailed, remaining intact on the track. The derailed wagons crashed into houses alongside the railway line.
Some of the wagons were owned by KVG Kesselwagen, a division of GATX and leased to ExxonMobil
and ERG
(the owners of the oil refinery where the train left), were reported to have been carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Two of these exploded and caught fire. Seven people were reported to have been killed when a house collapsed. An eighth person who was killed was reported to have been riding a scooter
on a road adjoining the railway. A child was found carbonised
in a car in front of the house where he lived with his parents. It is speculated that his parents put him in the car to save him and then returned to the house to save other two children.
The two members of the train crew suffered minor injuries in the accident. A large area of Viareggio was damaged in the subsequent fires caused by the wagons carrying LPG exploding. Twenty-six people were reported to have been injured in the accident. The accident is the worst rail accident in Italy since the collision between two trains in Murazze di Vado near Bologna
on 15 April 1978, which killed 48 people. It was reported that a whole street had been destroyed in the explosion and fire.
visited Viareggio "to take control of the situation", but he received boos and cries of "go home". Dr Enrico Petri, an eyewitness and local hospital physician, said that 36 people had been taken to Versilia Hospital in Viareggio suffering from 80-90% burns. He compared the aftermath to a terrorist attack. The accident left around 100 people homeless. The accident resulted in the disruption of rail services between Rome
and Genoa
. Viarregio railway station was partially reopened on 3 July 2009.
The Viareggio derailment was the derailment
of a freight train and subsequent fire which occurred on 29 June 2009 in the railway station
of Viareggio
(LU
), Tuscany
(Central Italy
). Twenty-six people were injured, and , 32 people were confirmed as having died.
to Gricignano
, hauled by Class E655 locomotive
E 655 175 with 14 bogie tank wagons was derailed at Viareggio at 23:48 local time
(21:48 UTC
) on 29 June 2009. Of the 14 wagons, the first wagon was registered by Polskie Koleje Państwowe
, the other 13 wagons by Deutsche Bahn
(DB) The first DB-registered wagon, No. 338078182106, which was owned by GATX Rail Austria GmbH
derailed on plain track in Viareggio station. The wagon hit the platform of the station and overturned to the left. The next four wagons also overturned and the two following were derailed but remained upright. The last seven wagons were not derailed, remaining intact on the track. The derailed wagons crashed into houses alongside the railway line.
Some of the wagons were owned by KVG Kesselwagen, a division of GATX and leased to ExxonMobil
and ERG
(the owners of the oil refinery where the train left), were reported to have been carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Two of these exploded and caught fire. Seven people were reported to have been killed when a house collapsed. An eighth person who was killed was reported to have been riding a scooter
on a road adjoining the railway. A child was found carbonised
in a car in front of the house where he lived with his parents. It is speculated that his parents put him in the car to save him and then returned to the house to save other two children.
The two members of the train crew suffered minor injuries in the accident. A large area of Viareggio was damaged in the subsequent fires caused by the wagons carrying LPG exploding. Twenty-six people were reported to have been injured in the accident. The accident is the worst rail accident in Italy since the collision between two trains in Murazze di Vado near Bologna
on 15 April 1978, which killed 48 people. It was reported that a whole street had been destroyed in the explosion and fire.
visited Viareggio "to take control of the situation", but he received boos and cries of "go home". Dr Enrico Petri, an eyewitness and local hospital physician, said that 36 people had been taken to Versilia Hospital in Viareggio suffering from 80-90% burns. He compared the aftermath to a terrorist attack. The accident left around 100 people homeless. The accident resulted in the disruption of rail services between Rome
and Genoa
. Viarregio railway station was partially reopened on 3 July 2009.
(FS) opened an investigation into the cause of the accident.In Italy, FS is the investigating body for railway accidents Italian police said that the accident may have been caused by damaged tracks or a problem with the brakes on the train. Italian union CGIL
is reported to have blamed the decrepit state of the rolling stock, the maintenance of the wagon was the responsibility of GATX
. The failure of an axle on the wagon that derailed is being investigated as a possible cause. Italian Transport Minister Altero Matteoli
informed the Italian Parliament on 1 July that a defective axle may have caused the accident.
On 29 July 2009, an Extraordinary Network Meeting of the Network of National Safety Authorities was held. It invited members to disseminate information related to problems related to Type A Axles to railway operators, owners and keepers of freight wagons. .
Derailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
of a freight train and subsequent fire which occurred on 29 June 2009 in the railway station
Viareggio railway station
Viareggio railway station serves the city and comune of Viareggio, in the region of Tuscany, central Italy. Opened in 1936, it forms part of the Pisa–La Spezia–Genoa railway, and is also a junction for a secondary line to Lucca....
of Viareggio
Viareggio
Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
(LU
Province of Lucca
The Province of Lucca is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lucca.It has an area of 1,773 km², and a total population of 372,244...
), Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
(Central Italy
Central Italy
Central Italy is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics , a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency...
). Twenty-six people were injured, and , 32 people were confirmed as having died.
Details
Freight train No. 50325 from TrecateTrecate
Trecate is a comune in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 90 km northeast of Turin and about 9 km east of Novara....
to Gricignano
Gricignano di Aversa
Gricignano di Aversa is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km north of Naples and about 13 km southwest of Caserta.-References:...
, hauled by Class E655 locomotive
FS Class E656
The Class E656 is an Italian articulated rheostatic-type electric locomotive built from 1973 to 1989. An evolution of the E646/5, they are all-purpose locomotives, and have been used on every kind of train, ranging from freight to intercity passenger trasport.The E656 is nicknamed "Caimano" .-...
E 655 175 with 14 bogie tank wagons was derailed at Viareggio at 23:48 local time
UTC+2
UTC+02 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . This time is used in:-Central Africa Time:*Botswana*Burundi*Democratic Republic of the Congo...
(21:48 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
) on 29 June 2009. Of the 14 wagons, the first wagon was registered by Polskie Koleje Państwowe
Polish State Railways
is the dominant railway operator in Poland.The company was founded when the former state-owned operator was divided into several units based on the requirements laid down by the European Union...
, the other 13 wagons by Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
(DB) The first DB-registered wagon, No. 338078182106, which was owned by GATX Rail Austria GmbH
General American Transportation Corporation
GATX Corporation is an equipment finance company based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1898, GATX's primary activities consist of railcar operating leasing in North America and Europe...
derailed on plain track in Viareggio station. The wagon hit the platform of the station and overturned to the left. The next four wagons also overturned and the two following were derailed but remained upright. The last seven wagons were not derailed, remaining intact on the track. The derailed wagons crashed into houses alongside the railway line.
Some of the wagons were owned by KVG Kesselwagen, a division of GATX and leased to ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
and ERG
Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone
ERG is an Italian multi-energy company, founded in 1938 and based and headquartered in Genoa, Italy.ERG has been listed on the Milan stock exchange since 1997.-Origins, development, integration:...
(the owners of the oil refinery where the train left), were reported to have been carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Two of these exploded and caught fire. Seven people were reported to have been killed when a house collapsed. An eighth person who was killed was reported to have been riding a scooter
Scooter (motorcycle)
A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier...
on a road adjoining the railway. A child was found carbonised
Carbonization
Carbonization or carbonisation is the term for the conversion of an organic substance into carbon or a carbon-containing residue through pyrolysis or destructive distillation. It is often used in organic chemistry with reference to the generation of coal gas and coal tar from raw coal...
in a car in front of the house where he lived with his parents. It is speculated that his parents put him in the car to save him and then returned to the house to save other two children.
The two members of the train crew suffered minor injuries in the accident. A large area of Viareggio was damaged in the subsequent fires caused by the wagons carrying LPG exploding. Twenty-six people were reported to have been injured in the accident. The accident is the worst rail accident in Italy since the collision between two trains in Murazze di Vado near Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
on 15 April 1978, which killed 48 people. It was reported that a whole street had been destroyed in the explosion and fire.
Aftermath
A state of emergency was declared by local authorities. Around 1,000 residents of Viareggio were evacuated from their homes as a result of the accident. Italian Prime Minister Silvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
visited Viareggio "to take control of the situation", but he received boos and cries of "go home". Dr Enrico Petri, an eyewitness and local hospital physician, said that 36 people had been taken to Versilia Hospital in Viareggio suffering from 80-90% burns. He compared the aftermath to a terrorist attack. The accident left around 100 people homeless. The accident resulted in the disruption of rail services between Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. Viarregio railway station was partially reopened on 3 July 2009.
The Viareggio derailment was the derailment
Derailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
of a freight train and subsequent fire which occurred on 29 June 2009 in the railway station
Viareggio railway station
Viareggio railway station serves the city and comune of Viareggio, in the region of Tuscany, central Italy. Opened in 1936, it forms part of the Pisa–La Spezia–Genoa railway, and is also a junction for a secondary line to Lucca....
of Viareggio
Viareggio
Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
(LU
Province of Lucca
The Province of Lucca is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lucca.It has an area of 1,773 km², and a total population of 372,244...
), Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
(Central Italy
Central Italy
Central Italy is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics , a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency...
). Twenty-six people were injured, and , 32 people were confirmed as having died.
Details
Freight train No. 50325 from TrecateTrecate
Trecate is a comune in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 90 km northeast of Turin and about 9 km east of Novara....
to Gricignano
Gricignano di Aversa
Gricignano di Aversa is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km north of Naples and about 13 km southwest of Caserta.-References:...
, hauled by Class E655 locomotive
FS Class E656
The Class E656 is an Italian articulated rheostatic-type electric locomotive built from 1973 to 1989. An evolution of the E646/5, they are all-purpose locomotives, and have been used on every kind of train, ranging from freight to intercity passenger trasport.The E656 is nicknamed "Caimano" .-...
E 655 175 with 14 bogie tank wagons was derailed at Viareggio at 23:48 local time
UTC+2
UTC+02 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . This time is used in:-Central Africa Time:*Botswana*Burundi*Democratic Republic of the Congo...
(21:48 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
) on 29 June 2009. Of the 14 wagons, the first wagon was registered by Polskie Koleje Państwowe
Polish State Railways
is the dominant railway operator in Poland.The company was founded when the former state-owned operator was divided into several units based on the requirements laid down by the European Union...
, the other 13 wagons by Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
(DB) The first DB-registered wagon, No. 338078182106, which was owned by GATX Rail Austria GmbH
General American Transportation Corporation
GATX Corporation is an equipment finance company based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1898, GATX's primary activities consist of railcar operating leasing in North America and Europe...
derailed on plain track in Viareggio station. The wagon hit the platform of the station and overturned to the left. The next four wagons also overturned and the two following were derailed but remained upright. The last seven wagons were not derailed, remaining intact on the track. The derailed wagons crashed into houses alongside the railway line.
Some of the wagons were owned by KVG Kesselwagen, a division of GATX and leased to ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
and ERG
Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone
ERG is an Italian multi-energy company, founded in 1938 and based and headquartered in Genoa, Italy.ERG has been listed on the Milan stock exchange since 1997.-Origins, development, integration:...
(the owners of the oil refinery where the train left), were reported to have been carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Two of these exploded and caught fire. Seven people were reported to have been killed when a house collapsed. An eighth person who was killed was reported to have been riding a scooter
Scooter (motorcycle)
A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier...
on a road adjoining the railway. A child was found carbonised
Carbonization
Carbonization or carbonisation is the term for the conversion of an organic substance into carbon or a carbon-containing residue through pyrolysis or destructive distillation. It is often used in organic chemistry with reference to the generation of coal gas and coal tar from raw coal...
in a car in front of the house where he lived with his parents. It is speculated that his parents put him in the car to save him and then returned to the house to save other two children.
The two members of the train crew suffered minor injuries in the accident. A large area of Viareggio was damaged in the subsequent fires caused by the wagons carrying LPG exploding. Twenty-six people were reported to have been injured in the accident. The accident is the worst rail accident in Italy since the collision between two trains in Murazze di Vado near Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
on 15 April 1978, which killed 48 people. It was reported that a whole street had been destroyed in the explosion and fire.
Aftermath
A state of emergency was declared by local authorities. Around 1,000 residents of Viareggio were evacuated from their homes as a result of the accident. Italian Prime Minister Silvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
visited Viareggio "to take control of the situation", but he received boos and cries of "go home". Dr Enrico Petri, an eyewitness and local hospital physician, said that 36 people had been taken to Versilia Hospital in Viareggio suffering from 80-90% burns. He compared the aftermath to a terrorist attack. The accident left around 100 people homeless. The accident resulted in the disruption of rail services between Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. Viarregio railway station was partially reopened on 3 July 2009.
The Viareggio derailment was the derailment
Derailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
of a freight train and subsequent fire which occurred on 29 June 2009 in the railway station
Viareggio railway station
Viareggio railway station serves the city and comune of Viareggio, in the region of Tuscany, central Italy. Opened in 1936, it forms part of the Pisa–La Spezia–Genoa railway, and is also a junction for a secondary line to Lucca....
of Viareggio
Viareggio
Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
(LU
Province of Lucca
The Province of Lucca is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lucca.It has an area of 1,773 km², and a total population of 372,244...
), Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
(Central Italy
Central Italy
Central Italy is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics , a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency...
). Twenty-six people were injured, and , 32 people were confirmed as having died.
Details
Freight train No. 50325 from TrecateTrecate
Trecate is a comune in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 90 km northeast of Turin and about 9 km east of Novara....
to Gricignano
Gricignano di Aversa
Gricignano di Aversa is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km north of Naples and about 13 km southwest of Caserta.-References:...
, hauled by Class E655 locomotive
FS Class E656
The Class E656 is an Italian articulated rheostatic-type electric locomotive built from 1973 to 1989. An evolution of the E646/5, they are all-purpose locomotives, and have been used on every kind of train, ranging from freight to intercity passenger trasport.The E656 is nicknamed "Caimano" .-...
E 655 175 with 14 bogie tank wagons was derailed at Viareggio at 23:48 local time
UTC+2
UTC+02 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02. In ISO 8601 the associated time would be written as . This time is used in:-Central Africa Time:*Botswana*Burundi*Democratic Republic of the Congo...
(21:48 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
) on 29 June 2009. Of the 14 wagons, the first wagon was registered by Polskie Koleje Państwowe
Polish State Railways
is the dominant railway operator in Poland.The company was founded when the former state-owned operator was divided into several units based on the requirements laid down by the European Union...
, the other 13 wagons by Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
(DB) The first DB-registered wagon, No. 338078182106, which was owned by GATX Rail Austria GmbH
General American Transportation Corporation
GATX Corporation is an equipment finance company based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1898, GATX's primary activities consist of railcar operating leasing in North America and Europe...
derailed on plain track in Viareggio station. The wagon hit the platform of the station and overturned to the left. The next four wagons also overturned and the two following were derailed but remained upright. The last seven wagons were not derailed, remaining intact on the track. The derailed wagons crashed into houses alongside the railway line.
Some of the wagons were owned by KVG Kesselwagen, a division of GATX and leased to ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
and ERG
Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone
ERG is an Italian multi-energy company, founded in 1938 and based and headquartered in Genoa, Italy.ERG has been listed on the Milan stock exchange since 1997.-Origins, development, integration:...
(the owners of the oil refinery where the train left), were reported to have been carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Two of these exploded and caught fire. Seven people were reported to have been killed when a house collapsed. An eighth person who was killed was reported to have been riding a scooter
Scooter (motorcycle)
A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier...
on a road adjoining the railway. A child was found carbonised
Carbonization
Carbonization or carbonisation is the term for the conversion of an organic substance into carbon or a carbon-containing residue through pyrolysis or destructive distillation. It is often used in organic chemistry with reference to the generation of coal gas and coal tar from raw coal...
in a car in front of the house where he lived with his parents. It is speculated that his parents put him in the car to save him and then returned to the house to save other two children.
The two members of the train crew suffered minor injuries in the accident. A large area of Viareggio was damaged in the subsequent fires caused by the wagons carrying LPG exploding. Twenty-six people were reported to have been injured in the accident. The accident is the worst rail accident in Italy since the collision between two trains in Murazze di Vado near Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
on 15 April 1978, which killed 48 people. It was reported that a whole street had been destroyed in the explosion and fire.
Aftermath
A state of emergency was declared by local authorities. Around 1,000 residents of Viareggio were evacuated from their homes as a result of the accident. Italian Prime Minister Silvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
visited Viareggio "to take control of the situation", but he received boos and cries of "go home". Dr Enrico Petri, an eyewitness and local hospital physician, said that 36 people had been taken to Versilia Hospital in Viareggio suffering from 80-90% burns. He compared the aftermath to a terrorist attack. The accident left around 100 people homeless. The accident resulted in the disruption of rail services between Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. Viarregio railway station was partially reopened on 3 July 2009.
Cause
The Direzione Generale per le Investigazioni Ferroviarie, a section of Ferrovie dello StatoFerrovie dello Stato
Ferrovie dello Stato is a government-owned holding which manage infrastructure and service on the Italian rail network. The subsidiary Trenitalia is the main rail operator in Italy.-Organization:Ferrovie dello Stato subsidiaries are:...
(FS) opened an investigation into the cause of the accident.In Italy, FS is the investigating body for railway accidents Italian police said that the accident may have been caused by damaged tracks or a problem with the brakes on the train. Italian union CGIL
Italian General Confederation of Labour
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is reported to have blamed the decrepit state of the rolling stock, the maintenance of the wagon was the responsibility of GATX
General American Transportation Corporation
GATX Corporation is an equipment finance company based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1898, GATX's primary activities consist of railcar operating leasing in North America and Europe...
. The failure of an axle on the wagon that derailed is being investigated as a possible cause. Italian Transport Minister Altero Matteoli
Altero Matteoli
Altero Matteoli is an Italian politician, former member of Alleanza Nazionale right-wing party and then member of People of Freedom.Matteoli was born in Cecina. From 2001 to 2006 he was the Italian Environment Minister.-References:*...
informed the Italian Parliament on 1 July that a defective axle may have caused the accident.
On 29 July 2009, an Extraordinary Network Meeting of the Network of National Safety Authorities was held. It invited members to disseminate information related to problems related to Type A Axles to railway operators, owners and keepers of freight wagons. .