RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted August 18, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 18, 2023 Couple more photos here, you can select German, French or Italian. https://news.sbb.ch/medien/artikel/124073/90-gueterzuege-pro-tag-verkehren-ab-23-august-durch-gotthard-basistunnel The photo I posted above is captioned "The derailed and completely destroyed freight wagon rams into and damages the yellow gauge change gate." Message from the SBB CEO, Vincent Ducrot, on LinkedIn: "Today I visited the site of the derailment in the heart of the Gotthard tunnel. The teams that have been deployed are doing an excellent job, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to them and I am completely admired by all that has already been achieved to put things right. The working conditions, as these pictures can show, are extremely difficult and most operations have to be carried out by hand. I am especially proud of all of you. Merci. And thank you to our customers for their patience and understanding." Photos from the same LinkedIn post https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vincentducrot_sbbcffffs-activity-7098330113385078784-PXCy?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop M. Ducrot has had a tough few weeks, only a few weeks ago massive thunderstorm and tornado hit the Neuchatel area and flattened a lot of the rail infrastructure, lines have been suspended due to mountain sides slipping and now this. Good luck to him and his teams repairing it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 Looking at the pictures, it would appear that the "gauge change gate" is at the equivalent of the channel tunnels crossover cavern. It would appear that the train derailed, but on plain track the wagons stayed reasonably in line. When they hit the crossovers at the "gauge change gate" they split the points and all hell broke loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 6 hours ago, Oldddudders said: ISTR bumping into Richard Bonham-Carter there, who was investigating the causes, (certainly more than one, he said) on behalf of Railtrack. Yes - I had a "you really do have inadequately repaired twist fault and here's the HSTRC trace to prove it" conversation with the BBRM Contract Manager - God I hated that period of our railway management - everyone hiding behind Contract Managers and the real people trying to get a job done. Topic drift - Sorry 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 9 hours ago, St. Simon said: I think the door is a longitudinal one separating the two bores, and is only opened when they want to cross trains between the bores. Simon This pic helped me understand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted August 18, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 18, 2023 I think that this is one of the tunnel rescue units, taken at Arth Goldau, May 2022. Jamie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingUnderground Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 (edited) 17 hours ago, Titan said: Looking at the pictures, it would appear that the "gauge change gate" is at the equivalent of the channel tunnels crossover cavern. It would appear that the train derailed, but on plain track the wagons stayed reasonably in line. When they hit the crossovers at the "gauge change gate" they split the points and all hell broke loose. "Gauge change gate is a word for word translation of the announcement in German "Spurwechseltor" Spur = Gauge, Wechsel = Change, Tor = Gate or Door. It does not refer to the crossover itself, but the the yellow door that was shown in an earlier photo which in normal use closed off the crossover tunnel. The French version, referring to "La porte de la diagonale", crossover door, makes this clearer. The vertical yellow line in the picture posted by Ruggedpeak looks to refer to the location of the crossover door, whilst the red line drawn perpendicularly across the crossover to the to the left and slightly above the yellow line I take to show the very approximate positioning of the mobile door. The yellow line is not perpendicular to the crossover tunnel but angled in relation to the crossover tunnel suggesting that reflects its actual positioning. If that were the case then any wagon or loco running into the door from either side would tend to be pushed into the tunnel wall which would transfer some of the kinetic energy into the tunnel wall rather than relying solely on the strength and retaining fixings of the door. Were it not for the crossover door, the derailed wagons could have entered and obstructed the other running tunnel. Hence the need to restore some form of barrier, the "mobile door", to protect the other running tunnel from physical ingress from the crossover tunnel, including smoke, and making appropriate adaptations to the signalling systems before running can restart in the other bore. There are pictures on the internet of similar doors which, according to one of the file's name, are in one of the scissors crossovers in the Channel Tunnel. https://www.ilf.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/pic_slider5_03_channel_tunnel_web.jpg and https://l450v.alamy.com/450v/b8j4cr/installation-of-massive-steel-sliding-doors-used-to-separate-rail-b8j4cr.jpg Edited August 19, 2023 by GoingUnderground 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted August 19, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 19, 2023 More info and photos here, 16 wagons still in the tunnel. https://www.railjournal.com/infrastructure/sbb-says-gotthard-base-tunnel-repairs-will-take-months/ Some info on the doors https://www.railjournal.com/infrastructure/freight-train-derailment-closes-gotthard-base-tunnel/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovenor Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 If we are prepared to subscribe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted August 19, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 19, 2023 Ah, apols. I have a javascript blocker on my browser so got the full articles........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foulounoux Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 (edited) And now Frejus blocked https://www.railfreight.com/corridors/2023/08/28/traffic-along-frejus-railway-halted-after-a-landslide/ Apologies didn't realise already posted more appropriately elsewhere See thread in French section Edited August 28, 2023 by Foulounoux Acknowledge duplicate 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ruggedpeak Posted November 9, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 9, 2023 Now September 2024 to reopen fully. The track slab is having to be replaced as well. https://www.iamexpat.ch/expat-info/swiss-expat-news/gotthard-derailment-normal-services-will-not-resume-until-september-2024 https://www.railwaygazette.com/infrastructure/gotthard-base-tunnel-repairs-could-take-until-september-2024/65265.article Perhaps VTG's trials in the UK of a 'digital' wagon might be timely for future freight in the tunnel? Wagon monitors itself rather than relying on trackside sensors. https://www.railtech.com/digitalisation/2023/10/12/digital-freight-wagon-by-vtg-and-knorr-bremse-sets-out-on-uk-trial/ 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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