The Zagreb train disaster occurred on 30 August 1974 when an

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations alo ...

(number 10410) traveling from Belgrade,

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, to Dortmund,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, derailed before entering Zagreb Main Station (present-day

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

), killing 153 people. It was the worst rail accident in Yugoslavia's history to that date and remains one of the worst in Europe's history.

The accident

The accident occurred when all nine cars from a passenger express train derailed and rolled over at the entrance to Zagreb's main train station, from the entrance to Track IIa. At 22:33 hours the locomotive entered the station via Track IIa without any of its carriages. Many of the passengers died immediately; as many as 41 of whom could not be identified were buried in a common grave at the

Mirogoj Cemetery The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, hr, Gradsko groblje Mirogoj), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery ( hr, Groblje Mirogoj), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members o ...

. The surviving passengers reported that the train had not slowed while passing through the stations at Ludina and Novoselec, about an hour before reaching Zagreb Main Station, and that it had been leaning dangerously. The passengers were mainly

gastarbeiter (; both singular and plural; ) are foreign or migrant workers, particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program (). As a result, guestworkers are generally consider ...

s (guest workers) working in

and their families, which included many children. The driver and driver's assistant were uninjured, and the locomotive remained intact. The locomotive is now on display in the Croatian Railway Museum. The train was scheduled to arrive in Zagreb from

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city's registered population was 28,247 in the 2021 census, the total population of the city was 31,057, making it the largest town of the county. Surround ...

at 19:45 local time. The driver, Nikola Knežević, and his assistant, Stjepan Varga, were both exhausted, having worked for two full days. View to the east from the overpass Strojarska street

View to the east from the overpass Strojarska street

View to the west from the overpass Strojarska street

A subsequent investigation into the accident showed that the train exceeded the

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expre ...

by nearly at several points, so that instead of entering the station at the speed limit of , the train was traveling at a speed of . The crew also applied the brakes too late, so that the train quickly derailed into an unrecognizable wreck.

Aftermath

The engineer was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, and his assistant to 8 years. The court upheld their fatigue due to spending 52 hours working as a mitigating circumstance.

References

External links

This Day in History 1974: Train crashes into station in Yugoslavia
(History Channel)

Search For Bodies Continues Following Yugoslavia's Worst Rail Disaster
(31 August 1974, British Pathé TV) {{History of Zagreb Railway accidents in 1974 Derailments in Croatia 1970s in Zagreb 1974 in Croatia August 1974 events in Europe Derailments in Yugoslavia