2013 Saltsjöbanan Train Crash
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The 2013 Saltsjöbanan train crash occurred in the early morning hours of 15 January 2013. A passenger train started to move without
authorization Authorization or authorisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences), in information security, computer security and identity management, IAM (Identity and Access Managemen ...
, with only a cleaner on board. It overran a set of
buffer stop A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent Railroad car, railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of Track (rail transport), track. The design of the buffer stop is dependen ...
s and crashed into a block of flats in
Saltsjöbaden Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago. History Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon W ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. The cleaner was at first suspected of having "stolen" the train, but was later cleared of blame, as the train was found to have started moving because of violation of safety procedures.


Incident

On 15 January 2013, a
Saltsjöbanan Saltsjöbanan () is an electrified suburban rail system between Stockholm and Saltsjöbaden in Nacka, Sweden. It is in length and has eighteen stations in use. An average of 17,200 boardings are made on an ordinary workday (2019). The line is ...
commuter train Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...
crashed into a residential building in the
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
suburb of
Saltsjöbaden Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago. History Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon W ...
, seriously injuring a cleaner who was in the train at the time. Travelling through two stations at 80 km/h (50 mph), the train derailed, running into the ground-floor kitchen of a house. The woman's condition was described as "serious but stable" in hospital. None of the five people who were inside the house at the time of the crash was hurt. Bertil Grandinson, a resident on the top floor of the house, explained: "We woke up at half past two by a terrible bang. It was as if an aeroplane crashed. I looked out the window and noted then to my great surprise that the train had run into the house. It is terrible and very shocking". Police spokesman Ulf Lindgren said: "It's incredibly lucky that no one in the house was injured. The head of the emergency services crew has ordered the house to be evacuated for safety reasons".


Investigation and aftermath

Initially media reports suggested the train had been stolen by a 20-year-old cleaner; however, the train owner
Storstockholms Lokaltrafik Storstockholms Lokaltrafik known as SL, () is the public transport organisation responsible for managing land-based public transport in Stockholm County, Sweden. SL oversees a network that includes the Stockholm Metro, ''Tunnelbana'' metro, Stock ...
and operator
Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...
spokespeople later apologised for this explanation and suggested that it was only ever an initial hypothesis, which they should not have shared with the media in such a way. , the cleaner's union,
SEKO Seko may refer to: * Seko language, a language of Sulawesi, Indonesia *Seko, Indonesia, a district in South Sulawesi, Indonesia * Seko Rural LLG in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea People with the given name *Seko Fofana (born 1995), Ivorian foot ...
, was reportedly considering legal action for defamation on her behalf. Two weeks after the accident the cleaner claimed not to remember anything about the incident. The cleaner was cleared of all suspicion by the
prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...
's office on 18 January 2013. The prosecutor alleged that a number of "unfortunate circumstances" and "a number of serious safety breaches on the train and where it was parked" had led to the crash. The investigation was reported to be considering whether or not any laws had been broken in the accident. The remaining train car was removed from the house on 28 January, nearly two weeks after the crash occurred. The stretch of the railway between Neglinge and
Saltsjöbaden Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago. History Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon W ...
was closed for maintenance work until mid-September 2013. On 5 May 2014 the
Swedish Accident Investigation Authority The Swedish Accident Investigation Authority (, SHK), formerly the Swedish Accident Investigation Board in English, is a Swedish government agency tasked with investigating all types of serious civil or military accidents that can occur on land, ...
published its final report absolving the injured woman of all responsibility. The report states that a
switchman A switchman (North America) also known as pointsman (British Isles) or yardman (Commonwealth) is a rail transport worker whose original job was to operate various railway switches or points on a railroad. It also refers to a person who assist ...
had secured the "
dead man's switch A dead man's switch is a switch that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. Originally applied to switches on a ...
" in its depressed position with a foreign object, leaving the train stationary with brakes released and the power control lever in full forward power. Only the open doors caused the power to be cut off. After finishing her work, the cleaner entered the motorman's cabin as instructed to close the passenger-doors and exit through the cab door. When she closed the doors, the power to the traction switched in and the train took off. Lacking training, the cleaner could find no way to stop the train. Failure to set points to prevent the train entering the main line made the accident more serious than it would otherwise have been. Arriva was eventually fined SEK 500,000 for workplace safety violations, and ordered to pay the cleaner SEK 20,000 in compensation.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:2013 Saltsjobanan train crash Railway accidents in 2013 2013 in Sweden January 2013 in Sweden Saltsjöbaden 2013 disasters in Europe 21st-century disasters in Sweden Derailments in Sweden 21st century in Stockholm County