Kamensk-Shakhtinsky rail disaster
Encyclopedia
The Kamensk-Shakhtinsky rail disaster occurred on August 7, 1987 at 01:30 in Kamenskaya station in the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky
on the North Caucasus Railway
in the Soviet Union
when a freight train ran into the rear of a passenger train standing in the station, killing 106.
A freight train from Bataisk (a port on the Don River
) consisting of 55 wagons loaded with Kuban
grain, hauled by a pair of VL80
-C three section electric locomotives and weighing 5500 tons arrived at Lihai station where a leakage of air between the 6th and 7th wagons was noticed. The train crew closed the brake line after the 6th wagon, thereby isolating the brakes of the rearmost 49 wagons, meaning that they were not being replenished with air from the locomotives. The locomotive crews were then changed without the new crew being informed of the leak and brake isolation. Complying with the regulations the new crew performed a brake test, the driver noticed the brake had to be applied harder than usual but the driver incorrectly assumed all was in order, and at 00:55 the heavy train began the long descent to Kamensk-Shakhtinsky. As the train accelerated the driver applied the service brake to keep the speed of the train down to 65 km/h but the train continued to accelerate; the emergency braking proved ineffectual. A warning was sent by radio to Kamenskaya station where a number of trains were standing (many carrying dangerous chemicals).
Ahead of the runaway freight train the 10 carriage Rostov
-Moscow
passenger train was due to stop at Kamenskaya station. The officer on duty at the station attempted to radio the driver to tell him not to stop but is unable to make contact and at 01:28 as it stopped at the station the driver was immediately ordered to continue. Unfortunately the conductor of the train aware that passengers had not yet alighted, pulled the emergency brake (as demanded by his job description).
At 01:30 the freight train entered the station travelling at 140 km/h and collided with the rear of the passenger train, destroying three carriages and killing 106 people (including the locomotive crew of the freight train) and injuring more than 100.
The two engineers who last checked the brakes on the freight train were each sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Kamensk-Shakhtinsky
Kamensk-Shakhtinsky is a town in Rostov Oblast, located on the Seversky Donets River. It was founded by Cossack settlers in 1686 and was granted town status in 1927...
on the North Caucasus Railway
North Caucasus Railway
North Caucasus Railway is a broad gauge Russian railway network that links the Sea of Azov and Caspian Sea . It runs through ten federal subjects: Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, Republic of Adygeya, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, and Kalmykia...
in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
when a freight train ran into the rear of a passenger train standing in the station, killing 106.
A freight train from Bataisk (a port on the Don River
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
) consisting of 55 wagons loaded with Kuban
Kuban
Kuban is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, Volga Delta and the Caucasus...
grain, hauled by a pair of VL80
VL80
The VL80 is a Soviet built electric AC mainline freight locomotive. The initials VL are those of Vladimir Lenin , after whom the class is named.-History:...
-C three section electric locomotives and weighing 5500 tons arrived at Lihai station where a leakage of air between the 6th and 7th wagons was noticed. The train crew closed the brake line after the 6th wagon, thereby isolating the brakes of the rearmost 49 wagons, meaning that they were not being replenished with air from the locomotives. The locomotive crews were then changed without the new crew being informed of the leak and brake isolation. Complying with the regulations the new crew performed a brake test, the driver noticed the brake had to be applied harder than usual but the driver incorrectly assumed all was in order, and at 00:55 the heavy train began the long descent to Kamensk-Shakhtinsky. As the train accelerated the driver applied the service brake to keep the speed of the train down to 65 km/h but the train continued to accelerate; the emergency braking proved ineffectual. A warning was sent by radio to Kamenskaya station where a number of trains were standing (many carrying dangerous chemicals).
Ahead of the runaway freight train the 10 carriage Rostov
Rostov
Rostov is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population:...
-Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
passenger train was due to stop at Kamenskaya station. The officer on duty at the station attempted to radio the driver to tell him not to stop but is unable to make contact and at 01:28 as it stopped at the station the driver was immediately ordered to continue. Unfortunately the conductor of the train aware that passengers had not yet alighted, pulled the emergency brake (as demanded by his job description).
At 01:30 the freight train entered the station travelling at 140 km/h and collided with the rear of the passenger train, destroying three carriages and killing 106 people (including the locomotive crew of the freight train) and injuring more than 100.
The two engineers who last checked the brakes on the freight train were each sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Source (Russian)
- Крушение на станции Каменская, 17 августа 1987 года (www.TrainDisaster.ru)