2013 Saltsjöbanan train crash

The 2013 Saltsjöbanan train crash occurred in the early morning hours of 15 January 2013.[2] A passenger train started to move without authorization, with only a cleaning lady on board. It overran a set of buffer stops and crashed into a block of flats in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden.[3] The cleaning lady was at first suspected of having "stolen" the train,[4] but was later cleared of blame, as the train was found to have started moving because of violation of safety procedures.[5][6]

2013 Saltsjöbanan train crash
Details
Date15 January 2013
LocationSaltsjöbaden
Coordinates59°16′44″N 18°18′50″E
CountrySweden
LineSaltsjöbanan
OperatorArriva
Incident typeTrain runaway
CauseHuman error
Statistics
Trains1
Passengers1 (a cleaning lady)
Deaths0
Injured1
DamageOne carriage written off.[1]

Incident

On 15 January 2013, a Saltsjöbanan commuter train crashed into a residential building in the Stockholm suburb of Saltsjöbaden, seriously injuring a cleaning lady who was in the train at the time.[7][8][9] Travelling through two stations at 50 mph (80 km/h),[10] the train derailed, running into the ground-floor kitchen of a house.[11] The woman's condition was described as "serious but stable" in hospital.[12] None of the five people who were inside the house at the time of the crash were hurt.[13]

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".[14]

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".[15]

Investigation and aftermath
View from the other side of tracks.

Initially media reports suggested the train had been stolen by a 20-year-old cleaning woman;[16][17] however, the train owner Storstockholms Lokaltrafik and operator Arriva 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.[6] As of 20 January 2013, the cleaner's union, SEKO, was reportedly considering legal action for defamation on her behalf.[18]

Two weeks after the accident the cleaner claimed not to remember anything about the incident.[19] The cleaner was cleared of all suspicion by the prosecutor's office on 18 January 2013.[5] 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.[5][20] The investigation was reported to be considering whether or not any laws had been broken in the accident.[18]

The remaining train car was removed from the house on 28 January, nearly two weeks after the crash occurred.[21] The stretch of the railway between Neglinge and Saltsjöbaden was closed for maintenance work until mid-September 2013.

On 5 May 2014 the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority published its final report absolving the injured woman of all responsibility. The report states that the "dead man's switch" had been secured 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. As the cleaner had finished, she entered the motorman's cabin as instructed to close the passenger-doors and exit through the cab-door. Upon closing 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.[1]

References
  1. "Swedish Accident Investigation Authority final report" (PDF). 5 May 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2014.
  2. "Cleaning lady steals train and crashes into house". The Local. 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013.
  3. "Stockholm train crashed into apartments 'by cleaner'". BBC News. 15 January 2013.
  4. "Cleaning lady steals train and crashes into house". Herald Sun. 15 January 2013.
  5. "Cleaner in train crash cleared of suspicion". The Local. 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013.
  6. "Swedish cleaner not to blame for train crash". BBC News. 18 January 2013.
  7. "Tåg rände in i bostadshus – en skada" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013.
  8. "Cleaning Woman Steals Train, Crashes It Into House". Time. 15 January 2013.
  9. "Train cleaner on the road to recovery". thelocal.se. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  10. "Cleaning lady steals train and crashes into house". News.com.au. 15 January 2013.
  11. "Train stolen by cleaning lady crashes into a house". New York Post. 15 January 2013.
  12. "Cleaner steals, crashes train in Sweden". The New Zealand Herald. 15 January 2013.
  13. "Swedish train hijacker hospitalized". Voice of Russia. 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  14. "Woman Steals Train, Crashes It Into A Building". Gizmodo. 16 January 2013.
  15. "Cleaning Lady Steals Train, Crashes Into House". Malaysian Digest. 16 January 2013. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014.
  16. "Stolen train crashes into building in Sweden". AP via USA Today. 15 January 2013.
  17. "Cleaning Woman Crashes Train Into Building". ABC News. 15 January 2013.
  18. "Union mulls suing train operator over crash". The Local. 20 January 2013. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013.
  19. "Cleaner in train crash 'remembers nothing'". The Local. 24 January 2013. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013.
  20. "SL ber om ursäkt" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. 18 January 2013.
  21. "Crashed train removed from Stockholm house". The Local. 28 January 2013. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013.

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