Zagreb train disaster

The accident

The accident occurred when all nine cars from a passenger express train derailed and rolled over at the entrance to Zagreb's main train station, 719 m from the entrance to Track IIa. At 22:33 hours the locomotive entered the station via Track IIa without any of its carriages.

Many of the passengers died immediately; as many as 41 who could not be identified were buried in a common grave at the Mirogoj Cemetery.

The surviving passengers reported that the train had not slowed while passing through the stations at Ludina and Novoselec, about an hour before reaching Zagreb Main Station, and that it had been leaning dangerously.

The passengers were mainly gastarbeiters (guest workers) working in West Germany and their families, which included many children. The driver and driver's assistant were uninjured, and the locomotive remained intact. The locomotive is now on display in the Croatian Railway Museum.

The train was scheduled to arrive in Zagreb from Vinkovci at 19:45 local time. The driver, Nikola Knežević, and his assistant, Stjepan Varga, were both exhausted, having worked for two full days.

Investigation

A subsequent investigation into the accident showed that the train had exceeded the speed limit by nearly 70 km/h at several points, so that instead of entering the station at the speed limit of 40 km/h, the train had been traveling at a speed of 104 km/h. The crew also applied the brakes too late, so that the train quickly derailed into an unrecognizable wreck.

File:View to the east from the overpass Strojarska street.jpg|The view to the east from Strojarska Road overpass, the direction from which the train came. File:View to the west from the overpass Strojarska street.jpg|The view to the west from Strojarska Road overpass. The crash site is located about 300 m away, 150 m behind the carriages in the centre of the picture.

Aftermath

The engineer was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, and his assistant to eight years. The court upheld their sentence due to the duo working the previous 52 hours as a mitigating circumstance in the accident.

References

References

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2. Handabaka, Antonija. (15 February 2010). "Najveće željezničke nesreće: U Zagrebu je poginulo 153 ljudi – Jutarnji.hr". [[Jutarnji list]].
3. (30 August 2012). ""Zagrebačka noć užasa": Obilježava se godišnjica stravične željezničke nesreće na Glavnom kolodvoru – Vijesti.net – Index.hr". [[Index.hr]].
4. (1 September 1974). "Yugoslays Mourn 150 Killed in Zagreb Train Crash". The New York Times.
5. "Timeline: Worst train disasters in Europe". The Irish Times.
6. (2 September 2006). "30. kolovoza 1974. noć užasa na zagrebačkom Glavnom kolodvoru – Jutarnji.hr". [[Jutarnji list]].
7. (24 July 2009). "Najveća željeznička nesreća u hrvatskoj povijesti – Crna kronika – Hrvatska". Dalje.com.
8. (30 August 2012). "Najtragičnija željeznička nesreća u čitavoj hrvatskoj povijesti – 1974.". Dnevno.hr.