The train wreck near Mchenice showed a system problem. The general stop didn’t help and only made the situation worse, for the second time

INYetovatel untangled the roots of a railway accident from the past, when the company derailed near Mchenice at a speed of about one hundred kilometers on the uncontrolled regional railways. Nothing happened to anyone, only the three-arm motor unit is a write-off. HNfound out details from several sources of nearby surveys. Including the fact that there could have been many accidents.

Only about 14 minutes before Regionová, a train – a freight train from Dobe – was traveling on the same track. And when they actually tried to stop the uncontrolled Regionova with the so-called general stop, i.e. the function that activates the brakes for all trains in the vicinity, they made the situation even more complicated.

As a reminder: on Thursday, May 2, the three-armed Regionova, which had previously stopped the town hall of Isovice, was set in motion. According to a source from the research company, the train driver and conductor underestimated the set’s braking.

The regional ones basically have brake systems, two of which are pneumatic. One brakes the whole unit and is relatively robust in terms of reliability, but it is slower. And the kind, on the other hand, prunj, but also with the same risk of being weaned. That’s why the brakes are applied.

Two sources familiar with the accident reported that the driver stopped at the station using one of them, but the air escaped from the brake. And he did not even apply the brake, which is usually used on these vehicles when the driver leaves. While the train driver testified to the investigators that she learned about the disappearance of the train over the phone, according to one of the sources, the driver was about to get on the train when it was leaving, but it was too late. Right after that they activated the general stop, but it did not engage the outgoing unit.

How far the train driver violated the regulations and how a technical fault could have contributed to this is up to the Dirt Inspection. “We are gradually evaluating the data from the speedometer, which shows not only the speed, but also information about the condition and operation of the brake system,” said Jan Kuera, general inspector of the HN Drn inspection.

A freight train, which was traveling in front of Regionová, caught a general stop shortly before the entrance to Mchenice station. While he was forced to stop, the uncontrollable Regionova rushed towards him from behind in a sharp descent. According to the police, the dog was traveling at a speed of one hundred kilometers per hour. If the two trains collided in this town, it would be a risk both for the driver of the freight train and for the people in the houses around the tracks.

In the end, it didn’t come to that – Regionova derailed in one of the curves on the track. And it was so lucky that it buried itself in the vegetation and the surrounding slope, even if the twenty-ton wagons wouldn’t hurt anyone. But no one could have known that at the time. When they found out that a freight train had stopped in the direction of the rider, they issued an order to speed up its departure. But it takes a few minutes – and it could be too late.

“It’s a question whether the specific hunter should not have thought before using the general track, because here it could potentially add to the code,” said HN Zdenk Michl from the Faculty of Transport, BUT. According to him, the principle of the general trace of pitom should be applicable in most situations. “In most situations, it gets worse when all the trains stop. But he really has to stop,” he added.

It is not the first time that the use of a general track paradoxically complicated the situation. Nand in the fall of 2015, in a similar way, the heart of the cargo train near Velvt in Teplice fell apart. At that time, the general stop did not stop such a heavy train with a sleeping driver – on the contrary, it stopped the train in front of it. Both then collided.

And one incident from 2022: two freight trains collided on the eastern outskirts of Prague. One of them drove into the middle of the road, and even when the general stop was activated, the accident did not stop. During the survey, it turned out that some models of the exhaust are not connected to the brake pipe, but for the general track, just play the acoustic warning. In addition, Vyetovac’s attempt did not exclude the fact that the saliva could be heard.

The Railway Administration (S) started to use the GSM-R system as a general stop in 2017. Compared to the tens of billions invested in long-distance safety ETCS, the cost was relatively negligible, at that time it was said to be 25 million crowns. S stands behind his current use and refers to the falls where he prevented an accident.

“Procedures for similar situations are based on many years of practice, which is also reflected in the existing regulations. Klov is the fastest possible reaction, both the train and the dispatcher must first do everything in the event of an extraordinary event to stop the other trains on the affected track and prevent the heart from falling. Then the entrepreneur gave me steps to a specific situation,” said the speaker Duan Gavenda. Bli refused to give details about the accidents near Mchenice, referring to a running search engine.