Translated material
Riot of wagons and tanks
Major train accidents resulted in no casualties
Two, without exaggeration, grandiose train wrecks occurred in less than 24 hours in the Voronezh and Ryazan regions. In one case, a collision between two freight trains derailed and mangled more than 40 cars carrying, among other things, hazardous chemicals. As a result, about 20 tons of hydrochloric acid spilled onto the ground. In another case, a trailer carrying an excavator damaged a railway bridge, onto which a train soon arrived. As a result, seven tanks containing gasoline and fuel oil collapsed from the bridge. The fuel spilled and caught fire, forming a sea of fire with an area of more than 4 thousand square meters. m. However, despite the impressive scale of these accidents, in both cases there were no casualties or even serious consequences for transport systems.According to the Voronezh Transport Prosecutor's Office, the accident in the area of 199 km of the South-Eastern Railway (linking the Urals and southern Russia) occurred on the Ikorets - Bityug section on Monday at 21.10. Shortly before this, a freight train traveling here had problems with its electronics. The train was stopped, and a team of technicians began repairs. However, according to the investigation, due to technical errors, the so-called “depletion” of the brake line occurred - simply air escaped from the pneumatic brake system of the train. Special brake “shoes” were not installed under the wheels, and the multi-ton colossus, consisting of 73 cars, rolled downhill in the opposite direction. The repairmen managed to jump out of the moving train, but one of the drivers failed to do this, and he remained in the locomotive cabin. Having traveled 2 km, the uncontrollable train accelerated to 60 km/h and crashed with its tail into another freight train standing behind and waiting for the semaphore signal. A monstrous blow hit the locomotive of a stationary train, which was literally flattened. But, fortunately, dispatchers managed to warn the drivers inside, and they managed to run away to a safe distance.
The collision derailed a total of 43 cars, including several empty phosphoric and nitric acid tanks and a full hydrochloric acid tank. 20 tons of this chemical spilled onto the tracks. Several fire brigades and four firefighting trains were sent to the scene of the emergency, which quickly cleared and restored the tracks, filling the “acid puddle” with water. And already at 15.00 yesterday traffic on this section was restored. In total, 11 passenger trains were delayed because of this incident. Moreover, it was during repair work that the only casualty appeared. One of the track's linemen carelessly stepped into a puddle of hydrochloric acid in the dark and received burns to his legs.
The Transport Prosecutor's Office began an investigation into the accident, but yesterday it became clear that there would be no criminal case. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for violating the rules of movement and operation of railway transport (this is how the incident is classified so far), it is possible to bring someone to criminal liability only if, as a result of the accident, serious harm was caused to the health of at least one person. But in this case this did not happen. Accordingly, as explained by the prosecutor's office, the culprit of the accident, who will be identified by the inspection, will be held accountable for what happened only in civil law.
Another railway accident occurred yesterday on the Listvyanka - Perevles section of the Ryazan direction of the Moscow Railway. At about 7.55 am, a trailer carrying an excavator drove under the railway bridge there. The driver did not ensure that the load exceeded the permissible height limit on this section of the road, and as a result, the excavator crashed like an arrow into the bridge span and moved it from its place, breaking the railway track. Just at this time, a freight train was approaching the bridge along the tracks. Seeing this, the truck driver ran out onto the tracks and, waving his arms, tried to give a signal to the drivers. According to preliminary data, they even turned on the emergency braking mode, but the train did not have time to stop. The locomotive crossed the bridge, falling further down the slope, but the next seven tank cars also went off the rails, and several of them fell. As a result, about 180 tons of gasoline and fuel oil spilled onto the ground, which spilled and immediately caught fire. Firefighters were able to extinguish the sea of fire by noon, and repair work was planned to be completed only today. However, delays in passenger trains were avoided - they were redirected along the Moscow-Cherusti bypass route to bypass Ryazan. In this case, the prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against the truck driver immediately - under Art. 267 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (rendering unusable vehicles or means of communication).