The cause of the rail accident near Voorschoten remains a guess for the time being. The main questions: how could a ‘crane on a lorry’ end up on the wrong track and how much time was there between the collision of the freight train on the crane and that of the passenger train?
The collision
At 2:41 am, a freight train from the German company DB Cargo departs from the Kijfhoek, the largest marshalling yard in the Netherlands near Zwijndrecht, the first stop from the port of Rotterdam. “The vehicle consisted of 26 wagons,” says a company spokesman, “of which only the last 9 were filled with a load of lime.” The intended final destination: Beverwijk.
The route runs via Voorschoten, where railway manager ProRail carries out maintenance. In order to keep the railway network between the larger cities in the Netherlands in perfect condition, construction company BAM has been asked to work on the track near Voorschoten station as a subcontractor. Two of the four tracks are therefore out of use on Tuesday night.
“The freight train was traveling on one of the middle tracks with a heavy, electric locomotive,” said the DB Cargo spokesman. Just before the Voorschoten platform, the train collides with a green-yellow ‘krol’, jargon for ‘crane on lorries’, from BAM.
The subcontractor was instructed to work on the two tracks on the Voorschoten side. The freight train ran on the track next to it, which was in use that night. The train rammed into the vehicle near a rail insert, a place where vehicles can cross the track. Laterally next to the track is a ProRail inspection path, from which the railway manager can get close to the track.
“My colleague stopped the train after the collision,” says the spokesman for DB Cargo. The locomotive of the freight train is badly damaged.
Meanwhile, the night train left Utrecht Central at a quarter past two. The double-decker stops at Amsterdam Central, Schiphol and Leiden, where, among others, an English tourist and a few students who have just finished partying have boarded. At 03:23 the train left Leiden on its way to The Hague, Delft and Rotterdam. The train travels in the opposite direction, over the track next to which the freight train has now come to a standstill.
Once at Voorschoten, the passenger train hits the debris of BAM’s krol. The train derails and the front train section ends up in an adjacent meadow. About fifty of the more than four hundred seats of ride 1409 are occupied at that time.
The assistance
At 3:28 am, the first reports of the train collisions reached the emergency authorities. Then the 112 emergency center receives the first call from a bystander in Voorschoten. It is unknown whether this report related to the first or second collision. “A few minutes later, the first passengers called from the train,” says the chairman of the Hollands Midden security region during a press conference later that morning.
Five minutes later, the first police officers of the Hague police force are on the scene, reports a police spokesman for the National Unit, who is leading the investigation into the circumstances of the investigation. He cannot confirm whether the accident with the passenger train had already taken place at that time.
Almost simultaneously, the report about the accident also reached ProRail’s traffic control center. From The Hague, eight to ten train traffic controllers ensure that train traffic in that part of the country runs smoothly. They also maintain contact with train drivers and workmen who need to be on the track. It is the intention that crane operators report to them before they enter the track. Whether or not this has been done in this case remains to be seen from an investigation.
At 3:35 a.m., the ProRail system reports a collision with a freight train. Six minutes later, the railway manager also put the collision with the passenger train in writing.
The cause of the accident is still a mystery. How the BAM vehicle ended up on the wrong track is unclear to all parties involved. The same applies to the amount of time that elapsed between the first and second collision. “Everyone is full of questions,” said NS director Wouter Koolmees.
Almost immediately after the accident, the travelers are taken care of by three local residents. The assistance “went flawlessly”, says Hans Zuidijk, chairman of the Hollands Midden security region, on Tuesday afternoon. “Within an hour, all the injured were off the train,” says a ProRail spokesperson. “An hour later they were taken to five hospitals in the area.” The calamity center in Utrecht was specially equipped for a short time to receive slightly injured people.
The damage to the track is considerable: the overhead wires are broken, the track is bent. Only when the investigations are completed can the repair work begin. The NS expects that train traffic between The Hague and Leiden will not start again until after Easter.
