Livraga derailment

The Livraga derailment is the first and only railway accident that ever happened on the Italian high speed rail network.[1] It took place on 6 February 2020 when a high-speed train derailed at Livraga, Lombardy, Italy. Two people were killed and 31 were injured.

Livraga derailment
A Frecciarossa 1000 trainset
Details
Location	Livraga, Lombardy
Country	Italy
Line	Milan–Bologna high-speed railway
Operator	Trenitalia
Service	Milan-Salerno
Incident type	Derailment
Cause	Under investigation, incorrect detection of the lie of a set of points suspected.
Statistics
Trains	1
Passengers	28
Crew	5
Deaths	2
Injured	31

Accident

Train 9595 was the first southbound service of any day in Italy's high speed railways, scheduled to start from Milan at 5:10 and to arrive in Salerno at 11:27 local time.[2] On 6 February 2020 the train, run by Frecciarossa 1000 trainset no. 21, entered the Milan-Bologna high-speed railway and reached its top speed as usual. Not long after departure it reached the "posto di movimento Livraga", a site equipped with passing loops where RFI maintenance vehicles are parked, named after the nearby town of Livraga.

For reasons under investigation, on that morning point number 5 (which connects the main line to the passing loop) was in diverted position without anyone knowing.[3] At 05:34 local time (04:34 UTC),[4][5][6] upon passing on point number 5, the train was unexpectedly diverted to the passing loop; since the train was travelling at about 300 kilometres per hour (190 mph), while the point was designed to be traversed in diverted position at no more than 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph), the train suddenly derailed.

The hook that tied coach 1 and 2 broke; the first coach spinned 180 degrees, collided with some maintenance vehicles, and finally came to rest overturned near a railway building[7] (one of whose walls was destroyed by the coach's bogie, which had detached). The remaining seven coaches, instead, remained upright and kept going straight with their wheels on the track ballast, until they stopped after a few hundred meters.

Of the 33 people on the train – 5 staff and 28 passengers – both drivers were killed,[8][7] and all 31 survivors were injured.[9]

The injured were taken to hospitals in Castel San Giovanni, Codogno, Crema, Cremona, Humanitas, Lodi, Melegnano, Piacenza, and Pavia.[6] Two people were seriously injured.[10] Railway workers in Italy called a two-hour strike starting at midday, 7 February.[6]

Investigation

An investigation into the accident was opened.[7] The Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza delle Ferrovie is responsible for investigating railway accidents in Italy.

Point number five had been replaced the day before the accident.[6]

Investigators reported that the accident was caused by a set of junction points being in the reverse position, but were reported to the signalling system as in the normal - i.e. straight - position. Maintenance works occurred that night, and as a consequence of the inspection, points were found faulty.

Unable to replace them overnight, maintenance workers followed a temporary override procedure, which is allowed to take place in these exceptional circumstances.

Maintenance workers claimed that they manually placed the faulty point to the straight position, but disconnected its network connection and its link to the safety signalling system (ETCS L2) because of their faulty status.

As normal part of such procedure, workers reported (according to evidence) that the point had been forcibly put in the straight position and taken offline. The signalling system used this information to report no anomalies on the line, and as a consequence the train was not commanded to reduce speed.

Under normal circumstances (i.e. if the junction was really straight), all services on the line could have continued their journeys at full speed. In this case, the first train on schedule hit the junction at 292km/h causing the derailment.[11]

On February 13th the head of rail transport security agency ANSF stated that faulty cabling in switching equipment supplied by Alstom may have been a factor in the accident.[12] All 11 points owned by RFI and produced within the same lot were put out of order.[13]

References

1. "Treno deragliato a Lodi, in che stato di salute è l'alta velocità in Italia?". Open (in Italian). 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
2. "Orario treno FRECCIAROSSA 9595 di TRENITALIA Lunga Percorrenza da MILANO CENTRALE a SALERNO - www.e656.net". web.archive.org. 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
3. "Treno deragliato, polfer indaga su scambio trovato aperto". Adnkronos. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
4. "Deraglia un Frecciarossa nel lodigiano: centinaia i soccorritori sul posto" [A Frecciarossa in the Lodi area derails: hundreds of rescuers on site]. Ministero dell'interno (in Italian). 6 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
5. "Incidente sulla linea Alta Velocità Milano - Bologna" [Accident on the Milan - Bologna high-speed line] (in Italian). Gruppo FS Italiane. FS News. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
6. Pisa, Massimo; Rancati, Mauro; Visetti, Giampaolo. "Deraglia treno alta velocità a Lodi, morti i due macchinisti. Ci sono 31 feriti. Ieri sostituito un deviatoio" [High speed train derailment in Lodi, the two train drivers died. There are 31 injured. Yesterday replaced a turnout] (in Italian). La Repubblica. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
7. "Italy train crash: Two dead in high-speed derailment". BBC News Online. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
8. "Milan train crash: Two dead and more than 20 injured after high-speed train derails". The Independent. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
9. "High-speed train derails, drivers killed, 31 hurt". ANSA. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
10. "Two dead and 27 injured as high-speed train derails in Italy". Sky News. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
11. "Treno deragliato, le cause dell'incidente: «Uno scambio aperto per errore»" [Train derailed, the causes of the accident: «A set of points opened by mistake»] (in Italian). Corriere. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
12. "Alstom executive investigated over Italian train crash". Reuters World News. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
13. "Deragliamento di Lodi: ritrovato l'undicesimo scambio. Fa parte del lotto incriminato, ma mancava all'appello". la Repubblica (in Italian). 2020-02-15. Retrieved 2020-10-17.