The Kütahya train derailment was a fatal railway accident, which occurred in 2008 near Çöğürler village of Kütahya in western Turkey, when an express train derailed, killing 9 and injuring 30 passengers.

Accident

The Pamukkale Express, train number 71322, departed from

Haydarpaşa railway station Haydarpaşa station ( tr, Haydarpaşa Garı) is a railway station in Istanbul, that was, until 2012 the main city terminal for trains travelling to and from the Anatolian side of Turkey. It used to be Turkey's busiest railway station. (Its counte ...

in Istanbul for

Denizli Denizli is an industrial city in the southwestern part of Turkey and the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about . Denizli is located in the country's Aegean Region. ...

with 298 people on board at 17:35 local time (15:35 UTC) on 26 January 2008. At around 02:00 local time on 27 January, five cars of the night express train derailed and overturned about after departure from Çöğürler railway station in

Kütahya Kütahya () (historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion, Ancient Greek, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is inhabited by some 578,640 people (2022 estimate) ...

. Of the 436 passengers, together with the people boarded in

Kütahya railway station Kütahya station is a station in the city of Kütahya, Turkey. The station is on the northern perimeter of the city and despite Kütahya having a population over 200,000, it is the only station in the city. Originally opened on 30 December 1894 by ...

, nine were killed and 30 injured.

Aftermath

Residents from the nearby Ahiler village were the first people at the accident site between Çöğürler and Değirmenözü railway station to help. Fire fighters, health care and rescue teams arrived at the accident site about one and half hours later. The injured people were hospitalized in

and Afyonkarahisar while other passengers were at first transported to Kütahya by bus. The

Turkish Red Crescent Turkish Red Crescent (Turkish: ''Türk Kızılay'' (official) or ''Kızılay'' (for short)) is the largest humanitarian organization in Turkey and is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The organization was founded i ...

and disaster management agencies sent in total 300 blankets and food for the relatives of the passengers, who came to the accident site. The railway line Kütajya-Afyonkarahisar remained blocked until the wreckage was removed and the railway track was repaired. Passengers of the trains, which use the line, were transported by until the line re-opened for traffic. After inspecting the accident scene, the Deputy governor of Kütahya Province stated that the cause of the derailment was rail fracture due to frost. The weather temperature in the region was . It was noted that another train accident had occurred at the same spot in 1990. It was a non-fatal accident with only injured passengers.

Accident investigation

A commission of experts from the Istanbul Technical University's Civil Engineering and Metallurgical and Materials Engineering faculties prepared a technical report for the cause of the accident. The report, delivered to the Chief prosecutor of Kütahya Province on 24 April 2008, stated that the rails were imported from the

Republic of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1987 satisfying the conditions prescribed by the TCDD. The fact that the rails at the accident site were broken up to 38 pieces showed that the rail material became brittle under extreme cold. The train derailed due to fractured rails. The report concluded further that the express train did not exceed the prescribed speed limit of at the accident site, and the

railroad engineer A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...

was so free of any gult.

References

{{Portal bar, Trains, Turkey 2008 in Turkey Accidents and incidents involving Turkish State Railways Derailments in Turkey History of Kütahya Province January 2008 events in Turkey Railway accidents in 2008 2008 disasters in Turkey

Accident

Aftermath

Accident investigation

See also

References