C3/​2000R Freight wag­ons de­rail­ing at Si­il­in­järvi, on 20 May, 2000

20.05.2000

On Saturday, 20 May 2000 at 17.15 hours, five wagons of a freight train heading towards Iisalmi from Pieksämäki derailed at Siilinjärvi. In the accident 83 m of track was damaged while the derailed five wagons only suffered minor damage in their underframe and end structures. Furthermore as a result of the derailment a meeting passenger train ran 37 minutes late. No other significant disturbances in train traffic was generated by the accident.

The derailment was caused by the rail fastenings failing and the rails moving towards the outer curve, as a joint result of a bigger spacing adopted for the rail fastenings, the compression stress due to the warming up of the rails and the load stress created by the loaded train. Actually the day of the accident was the until then warmest spring day featuring an outdoor temperature of about +20 ºC and a rail temperature of about +40 ºC.

In order to prevent corresponding accidents, the Accident Investigation Board of Finland recommends that unambiguous work instructions and work criteria be applied to such preparative work affecting track stability, to be performed prior to, e.g. superstructure replacement or other major track work.

Suositus S150