Jump to content

Draft:The train accident between Bjerka and Finneidfjord in 2024

Coordinates: 66°11′16″N 13°47′31″E / 66.1878°N 13.7920°E / 66.1878; 13.7920
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Comment: Please consider renaming this page to 2024 Finneidfjord train derailment to make it fit into list of train accidents, where year always comes in front
    This can be dealt with, when the article is accepted. Nthep (talk) 16:37, 16 November 2024 (UTC)
The train accident between Bjerka and Finneidfjord in 2024
The train passed Bjerka Station and was on its way to Finneidfjord when it crashed.
Details
Date24 October 2024
2:15 PM
LocationBetween Bjerka Station and Finneidfjord
Coordinates66°11′16″N 13°47′31″E / 66.1878°N 13.7920°E / 66.1878; 13.7920
CountryNorway
LineNordland Line
OperatorSJ Norge
Incident typeTrain accident
CauseA rock slide triggered the accident
Statistics
Passengers46
CrewThe train driver, the conductor and the café host
DeathsRolf Henry Ankersen (the train driver)
Injured4 passengers slightly injured

The train accident between Bjerka and Finneidfjord in 2024 was a train accident on the Nordland Line that took place on 24 October 2024. The accident took place between Bjerka Station and Finneidfjord. It led to the death of the train driver [1] and four passengers who were slightly injured. The train had 46 passengers.

Both the European route E6 and Nordland Line were closed as a result of the accident. The removal of the train was completed on 5 November 2024. European route E6 was reopened on 6 November 2024.

The train was operated and staffed by SJ Norge.

The train

[edit]

Passenger train no. 471 consisted of:

Train no. 472 at Sparbu in Steinkjer municipality in June 2022. Same type equipment as the accident train. (Photo: Kolbkorr, 23 June 2022)
  • Locomotive Di 4.653 (derailed and overturned)
  • B5-7 26041 (derailed)
  • BC5 26045 (derailed)
  • B5 26037 (partially derailed)
  • FR5 21722
  • B5 26022

The train was manned by the locomotive driver, the conductor responsible for boarding and the café host. In addition to these three, there were 46 passengers on board.[2] The train derailed 472 km north of Trondhjem.[3]

Course of events

[edit]

On 24 October 2024, a northbound passenger train from Trondheim to Bodø derailed between Bjerka station and Finneidfjord south of Mo i Rana Station. The train left Trondheim at 7:49 AM and passed Bjerka around 2:07 PM. It was a rock slide that triggered the accident, and huge boulders were in the track.[4] [5][6]

The day train from Trondheim to Bodø, south of Mo i Rana in June 2019. It was a similar train which derailed. (Photo: Kolbkorr, 27 June 2019)

The Norwegian police received a report about the train derailment at 2:15 PM. Emergency services and a AgustaWestland AW101 rescue helicopter arrived at the scene to evacuate the passengers. The train had 46 passangers, all of whom were evacuated at 4:30 PM.[2] It was a passenger train with five carriages. The locomotive and a wagon had derailed down a slope and almost ended up at the bottom of Europan route E6.[4][3]

On the same day, the train driver was found dead; 60-year-old Rolf Henry Ankersen from Mosjøen.[7] Three were taken to hospital and one to emergency room, but they were not injured in a life-threatening manner.[4]

Scandic Meyergården hotell in October 2017. The hotel was used as a reception center for evacuees and relatives. (Photo: Wolfmann, 9. October 2017)

Helgeland Hospital Trust went into red alert, but soon returned to normal operations. Reception centers were set up for evacuees and relatives on Scandic Meyergården hotell in Mo i Rana and in Mosjøen. Hemnes municipality and Bane NOR had set up a crisis team and the Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority sent a team to the accident site on 25 October 2024.[4][2][8]

Aftermath

[edit]

Removal of the passenger train

[edit]

The E6 and Nordland Line were closed at the scene of the accident, and remained closed for several days pending investigations, clean-up and repair of the damage. Geologists were unsure whether the train set could continue down towards the European route E6. It was very steep on a slope and there had been a lot of rainfall.[4][9][10]

On 25 October 2024, representatives from Bane NOR started planning to remove the train. On 26 October 2024, the work was underway. The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority arrived on 24 October 2024. It worked on 25 October 2024 with crime technicians from the Nordland police district, and finished its work on 26 October 2024.[11]

The police imposed a drone ban in the area on 25 October 2024; the rationale was that drones could disrupt the work.[12] [13]

Bane NOR worked to get cranes in place to lift out the train set. On 26 October 2024, the two rear wagons (FR5 21722 and B5 26022) were pulled away and taken to Bjerka with the help of a work train. On 28 October 2024, wagon number three (B5 26037), which was partially on the track, was taken to Bjerka by a work train. From there, all three were pulled by a Di 4 locomotive to a workshop in Trondheim.[14][15]

On 27 October 2024, all crew were pulled out. The reason was movements in the mountains. At European route 6 there were small movements on the mountain slope above the railway, there were some noises above the train set and some rock fall.[15][16]

The the Norwegian Safety Investigation was able to document a lot, but did not get to the two leading carriages. They too had to cancel because of the high risk of rockfall.[15]

Bane NOR was inside with a drone and saw a stone block lying directly above the train set. It had to be removed before the crew could continue.

On 28 October 2024, there remained some clearing of loose masses and vegetation on the mountain side and the slope above the train. Around 30 cubic meters of material had come down during the night at the accident site. On 29 October 2024, parts of the boulder above the train set were removed using explosives and expanding airbags.[15][14] On the morning of 30 October 2024, the rest of the stone block was removed.[17]

Storm Jakob, which triggered red alerts south of Trondheim, [18] has aggravated the landslide risk [19] and delayed the removal of the crashed locomotive at Finneidfjord. An orange alert was issued locally, on the 29th of October 2024, with a warning not to travel if not necessary. Stormy winds made it unsafe to install cranes for the salvage operation.

On Thursday the 31st of October 2024, the train accident at Finneidfjord claimed an indirect victim, after a car with 3 Norwegians crashed into the back of a stopped truck, on the detour road Blå Vägen, European route E12, between Bredviken and Kåtaviken, in Sweden. One of them died in hospital a few days later, as a result of his injuries. [20]

On 3 November 2024, the fourth wagon (BC5 26045) was lifted out of the accident site by crane. In the afternoon of 3 November 2024, the fifth carriage (B5-7 26041) was lifted out of the accident site. The lift itself took 30 minutes. [21][22] On 5 November 2024 the locomotive was removed by crane.[23]

Reopening of the European route E6 and the Nordland Line

[edit]

Whenever trains on Nordland line would not be running, they would normally have been replaced with busses, but no bus transport was offered to train passengers, as long as the road below the railway line, E6, was also closed. After E6 was reopened, train passengers were transported by bus. [24]

On 3 November 2024 at 9 PM, the European route E6 opened temporarily, to let traffic pass, due to bad weather and difficult driving conditions for the drivers taking the detour through Sweden, on E12. [25] [26] European route E6 was open until 5 November 2024 at 7 AM.[27] On 6 November 2024, the European route E6 reopened after the accident.[28]

The Nordland Line was expected to reopen on 18 November 2024,[29] but Bane NOR wrote in a press release on 11 November 2024 that the reopening date was unknown, as the work on rock protection will continue until the end of November 2024.[30]

Boat ride

[edit]

A local couple transported people from Kivika across the fjord in their own boat.[31] Until 26 October 2024 they had made more than 200 trips in this way. A joint venture was launched in the form of a digital fundraising campaign to support the couple.[32] On 28 October 2024 they ended the fjord ferry, when it was taken over by the municipality.[33][34]

Past events

[edit]

At almost the same place, a minor accident occurred with passenger train no. 474 on 3 October 2016. At that time, the southbound evening train from Bodø drove into a 1 m³ large stone block. When the train hit the boulder, it derailed with an axle. This train had 14 passengers and two people were injured.[35][36]

The accident site is located in scenic surroundings along the Sørfjorden in the municipality of Hemnes ... Photo: Magne Aga (27 October 2006)
... but the area has been haunted by landslides several times. Photo: Magne Aga (22 October 2006)

In May 2017, the Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority wrote that the area had been checked and race-secured by Bane Nor and was to carry out the next check in 2023. 2023.[11][37]

There have been several landslides in the area since 1984. During the construction of the Finneidfjord tunnel on 20 June 1996, a large beach zone landslide occurred at Tuvsletta in Sørfjorden in Hemnes municipality, just south-west of the tunnel.[38]

In the following days, traffic along the European route E6 had to be routed via the Norwegian national road 73 in Grane and Hattfjelldal, the Blue Highway (tourist route) through Storuman municipality in Sweden and European route E12 westwards to Mo i Rana.[38]

After 1996, 31 landslide incidents have been recorded in the area from Bjerka to Finneidfjord. What triggered the train derailment was the 32nd registration. According to Bane NOR, there have been 863 mudslides and rock falls on Norwegian railways since 2014, with the Nordland Line being the worst.[39]

Video of crash location, as seen in 2012

[edit]
  • Cabview: Nordlandsbanen Trondheim-Bodø, Autumn A traindriver has filmed the whole train ride from Trondheim to Bodø. The train is rolling into in Bjerka station at 6 hours and 25 minutes in the video. We pick the video up from where E6 dives under the railroad, from right to left side, to follow it parallel, further down the mountain slope.

If you compare this video with video footage made by NRK and VG, while paying attention to the red barn with an orange roof [40] on a small peninsula by the sea shore, left of E6, [41] the train crash of the 24th of October 2024 must have happened in a slightly left turn, just after Langkleiv tunnel, as can be seen on a map in a newspaper article by VG. [2] If the crash would have happened on the right turn into Finneidfjord, the rocks on the left hand side would have kept the locomotive up on the train tracks. Trains have long stopping distances. From what we know now (what passengers of the train have told the media), the train driver had little to no chance of seeing the rocks on the tracks in time to stop the train.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Locomotive engineer killed in train derailment News in English, published 24th of October 2024, retrieved 25th of October 2024
  2. ^ a b c d Jåma (foto), Naina Helén; Løkkevik, Ole; Øvrebø, Emma Fondenes; Medby, Marius; Bugge, Stella; Brekke, Anja Ariel Tørnes; Hansen, Stine Gaustadnes; Farestvedt, Ingrid Bjørndal; Breivik, Espen Moe (2024-10-24). "Togavsporing i Nordland: Lokfører omkom". VG (in Norwegian).
  3. ^ a b Medby, Marius; Hansen, Stine Gaustadnes; Løkkevik, Ole; Øvrebø, Emma Fondenes (2024-10-24). "Passasjerer på toget på Nordlandsbanen: – Et vanvittig leven". VG (in Norwegian).
  4. ^ a b c d e Hestenes, Sunniva Grimstad (2024-10-24). "Tog spora av på Nordlandsbanen". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  5. ^ "Train carrying 55 people derails on Norway's north coast, killing at least 1 person and injuring 4". MyStateline. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  6. ^ Sviggum, Silje Kathrine (2024-10-25). "Så toget komme mot seg ned fjellsiden: – Måtte stå på bremsen og sette bilen i revers". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  7. ^ Hestenes, Sunniva Grimstad (2024-10-25). "Togavsporingen i Nordland: Rolf Henry Ankersen omkom". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  8. ^ Ording, Oda (2024-10-24). "Dødelig togulykke: - Har varslet om strekningen". dagbladet.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  9. ^ Elgaaen, Vilde (2024-10-25). "Togavsporingen i Nordland: Omkjøring via Sverige". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  10. ^ Jåma (foto), Naina Helén; Løkkevik, Ole; Øvrebø, Emma Fondenes; Medby, Marius; Bugge, Stella; Brekke, Anja Ariel Tørnes; Hansen, Stine Gaustadnes; Farestvedt, Ingrid Bjørndal; Breivik, Espen Moe (2024-10-24). "Togavsporing i Nordland: Lokfører omkom". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  11. ^ a b Skjelvik, Sondre (2024-10-25). "Skal finne ut hva som skjedde med toget som sporet av på Nordlandsbanen". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  12. ^ Johansen, Maiken (2024-10-28). "Ustabilt fjell på oversiden av toglinjen og krevende arbeidsforhold: E6 Hemnes åpner tidligst fredag, droneforbudet forlenges". Rana Blad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-04. Archived version: [1]
  13. ^ Martinsen, Knut (2024-10-25). "Droneforbud i forbindelse med togulykken i Finneidfjord". Avisa Hemnes (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  14. ^ a b Kjærnli, Ann Kristin (2024-10-29). "Bruker sprengstoff for å løsne steinblokken på ulykkesstedet". Rana No (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  15. ^ a b c d Skjelvik, Sondre (2024-10-27). "Togulykken: Alt mannskap trukket ut på grunn av bevegelser i fjellet". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  16. ^ Rojas, Silje-Tamara (2024-10-28). "(+) Rundt 30 kubikk med masser har kommet ned i løpet av natten ved ulykkesstedet i Finneidfjord". Rana Blad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-04. behind paywall
  17. ^ Pedersen, Tord Olander (2024-10-30). "Har fjernet stor steinblokk ved hjelp av ekspanderende puter og sprengstoff - fortsatt usikkert hvor lenge banen vil være stengt". Rana Blad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-01. Archived version: [2]
  18. ^ Ekstremværet Jakob - Flom- og jordskredfare på oransje og rødt nivå Varsom, first published on the 29th of October 2024 in Norwegian, (but replaced by later updates), retrieved 30th of October 2024
  19. ^ Oppdaget 30 meter langt ras på vei til jobb: - Så plutselig bare et hull foran meg NRK, published 30th of October 2024, in Norwegian, retrieved 31st of October 2024
  20. ^ Man död efter lastbilskrocken på E12 Man dead after truck accident on E12, Sveriges Radio, P4 Västerbotten, in Swedish, published 3rd of November 2024, retrieved 4th of November 2024
  21. ^ NRK (2024-11-03). "Vogn løftet ut av ulykkesstedet på Nordlandsbanen". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  22. ^ NTB: Uvisst når Nordlandsbanen kan åpnes igjen etter ulykke, anlegg.bygg.no, 4. november 2024 kl 7:26, oppdatert kl 10:59
  23. ^ Susanne Skjåstad Lysvold, Lars-Petter Kalkenberg: Her løftes lokomotivet bort fra ulykkesstedet, NRK, 5. november 2024
  24. ^ Togtrafikk fremover på Nordlandsbanen Train traffic on Nordland Line, SJ Norge, updated 13th of November 2024, in Norwegian, retrieved 17th of November 2024; Archived version: [3]
  25. ^ Snö och halka orsakade långa lastbilsköer mellan Tärnaby och Norska gränsen Snow and skidding caused long truck traffic jams between Tärnaby and Norwegian border, SVT, in Swedish, published 30th of October 2024, retrieved 3rd of November 2024
  26. ^ E6 åpner søndag kveld og er åpen frem til tirsdag morgen E6 opens Sunday evening and will remain open till Tuesday morning, Statens Vegvesen, published 3rd of November 2024, in Norwegian, retrieved 14th of November 2024
  27. ^ Egelandsdal, Pontus (2024-11-03). "E6 i Hemnes åpnes fra søndag kveld til tirsdag morgen". Nettavisen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  28. ^ NRK (2024-11-05). "E6 i Hemnes åpnes onsdag morgen". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-15.
  29. ^ Kjartan Aa Berge: Nå vet vi når Nordlandsbanen åpner igjen, ilaks.no, 7. november 2024
  30. ^ Oppdatering om Nordlandsbanen Published: 25. oktober 2024, updated 11. november 2024, retrieved 15. november 2024
  31. ^ Bergo, Stine Gudmundsen (2024-10-27). "Ektepar frakter passasjerer etter togulykke i Nordland". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-04. Archived version: [4]
  32. ^ Rojas, Silje-Tamara (2024-10-28). "(+) Stian har samlet inn over 57.000 kroner til ekteparet som frakter folk med båt etter togulykken: – De har jobbet knallhardt, kjører i mørket og i all slags vær". Rana Blad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  33. ^ Forbord, Arne (2024-10-25). "(+) Hemnes kommune vurderer båtskyss til innbyggerne dersom E6 blir stengt lenge: – Vi må se hvordan det går med bergingen". Rana Blad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  34. ^ Halvorsen, Lars Martin (2024-10-28). "(+) Tar grep og setter i gang båtskyss for innbyggerne: – Forventer å være operative i løpet av dagen". Rana Blad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-11-01. behind paywall
  35. ^ NRK (2016-10-03). "To lettere skadd i togavsporing i Hemnes". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  36. ^ Løkkevik, Ole; Brekke, Anja Ariel Tørnes; Brenna, Jarle Grivi; Sviggum, Silje Kathrine; Bakken, Marie Dreyer (2024-10-25). "Togulykken: Persontog kolliderte i ras samme sted i 2016". VG (in language). Retrieved 2024-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  37. ^ "Rapport om sammenstøt mellom tog 474 og steinras ved Bjerka stasjon km 472,25 Nordlandsbanen 3. oktober 2016 | shk". havarikommisjonen.no. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  38. ^ a b Thonhaugen, Markus (2016-06-20). "– Åpent sår i 20 år". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  39. ^ Skjelvik, Sondre (2024-10-30). "Dødsulykken på Nordlandsbanen: 32 skred siden 1996". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  40. ^ Apple Maps, Look Around-viewer E6, ½km south of said peninsula in Finneidfjord
  41. ^ Google Maps satellite image with 3D-view activated

Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Draft:The_train_accident_between_Bjerka_and_Finneidfjord_in_2024&oldid=1257899497"