The Ústí nad Labem derailment occurred on 28 June 2010 when a CityElefant train derailed at Ústí nad Labem

Ústí nad Labem

Ústí nad Labem is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Ústí nad Labem Region. The city is the 7th-most populous in the country.Ústí is situated in a mountainous district at the confluence of the Bílina and the Elbe Rivers, and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. The driver was killed and eleven passengers were injured.

Train

The train involved was a ČD Class 471 CityElefant double deck electric multiple unit

Electric multiple unit

An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...

 that had been manufactured in 2001.

Accident

At 16:47 CEST, the train was derailed on approach to . It was almost at the end of its journey from Prague when the accident happened. The leading carriage smashed into a concrete wall after being derailed. The driver was killed and eleven passengers were injured, including two with serious injuries. The train's cab car has been irreparably destroyed, while the other two cars have survived with only minor structural defects. The line was closed following the accident, although one track was later reopened to traffic but requiring the use of diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

s as the overhead wiring had been damaged.

Cause

Although investigations are still underway, it has been already reported that at the time of the accident, the train was travelling at 108 kilometres per hour (67.1 mph) while the speed limit at that location was 50 kilometres per hour (31.1 mph). The most probable cause of the disaster is thus either a fault of the brakes or the driver's inattention.