The Pamukova train derailment was a fatal railway accident which occurred in 2004 at
Pamukova
Pamukova is a town and district of Sakarya Province in the Marmara region of Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the ...
district of
Sakarya Province
Sakarya ( tr, ) is a province in Turkey, located on the coast of Black Sea. The Sakarya River creates a webbing of estuaries in the province, which is in the Marmara Region. The adjacent provinces are Kocaeli to the west, Bilecik to the south ...
in northwestern Turkey when a
higher speed train
Higher-speed rail (HrSR), also known as high-performance rail, higher-performance rail, semi-high-speed rail or almost-high-speed rail, is the jargon used to describe inter-city passenger rail services that have top speeds of more than convent ...
derailed, at which 41 passengers were killed and 80 injured.
Accident
In the early 2000s, a project was started to construct
higher-speed rail
Higher-speed rail (HrSR), also known as high-performance rail, higher-performance rail, semi-high-speed rail or almost-high-speed rail, is the jargon used to describe Inter-city rail, inter-city passenger rail services that have top speeds of m ...
lines in Turkey, at first between the highest-populated cities
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
and
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
. At 19:45
EEST
Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...
on July 22, 2004, a higher-speed train named after
Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu
Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu (also rendered Yakub Kadri; ; 27 March 1889 – 13 December 1974) was a Turkish novelist, journalist, diplomat, and member of parliament.Edebiyatogretmeni.net ''Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu'' Google translated'
Biograp ...
, heading to
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
from Haydarpaşa, Istanbul, derailed near Mekece village of Pamukova, Sakarya during one of its first journeys, away from Istanbul. Of the 234 passengers and nine crew on board, 41 were killed and 80 injured.
The accident investigation revealed that the train ran into a curve with a radius of near Mekece railway station with a speed of , where the speed limit was . The speeding caused the left wheel of the second passenger car to spring off the track. The train's balance quickly deteriorated, and two following cars coupled to the derailed car drifted sideways. Four cars were overturned, while two cars were damaged heavily, having crashed into each other. The locomotive and the first car remained undamaged on the track, and were taken to
Osmaneli
Osmaneli is a town in Bilecik Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. It is the seat of Osmaneli District.
Aftermath
An analysis carried out by the railway simulation software Adams/Rail showed that a train running at would derail at the curve, while one at a speed of would pass the spot without derailing.
There were no warning signs or signals available at the accident scene. The investigation commission reported that the total journey duration, which was 5 hours and 15 minutes, was too short for the route. The new suggested time was 6 hours. Finally, it was determined that the unsuitable railway infrastructure was one of the main factors that influenced the accident. At the time of the opening of the line one month before, experts had warned the government to modernize the infrastructure before putting higher-speed trains in service.
Immediately after the accident, Binali Yıldırım, the Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication, was criticized harshly in the public square, and his resignation was demanded. However, he rejected the demands and remained in his office.
Ten years after the accident, the court found the two engineers of the train guilty of negligence causing death. However, since the trial was ruled on over seven-and-half years following the date of the accident, the sentences could not be executed according to Turkish law.