Report on railway accident at Dombås Station 13 January 2012, train 5701

Prior to the derailment, there had been other problems with locomotive 2, registration number 119-003. This locomotive had been pulling wagons from Alnabru to Dovre, where it stopped because of a fault message. The driver explained that there had been some vibration in the locomotive at speeds over 60 km/h. The first fault message was noted at 17:02, and the train stopped at Dovre at approximately 17:06. The fault message in the locomotive indicated that there were problems with bogie no 1, which was the rearmost bogie in the direction of travel. The problem was that this bogie was not receiving tractive power, and the train had to remain stationary, blocking any traffic past Dovre. With the assistance of the duty officer at CargoNet AS, the driver attempted to find the fault on the locomotive, but they gave up after a while. Locomotive number 119-003 still had tractive power to bogie 2, but was not capable of moving under its own steam. Heavy snow was falling that day, and this contributed to making the driving conditions difficult. The traffic controller agreed to allow passenger train 45 to help push freight train 5701 onto track 2 at Dovre. When train 5701 had been pushed onto track 2 at Dovre, the driver was relieved at about 19:00.

At about 21:35, an extra locomotive, number 119-004, arrived at Dovre, in order to pull the train to Trondheim. After the train was connected and the brakes tested, it was given clearance from the traffic controller to proceed north towards Trondheim. Shortly after the train left Dovre, the driver was contacted by the traffic controller, who reported an alarm signal from points 2 after the train had passed. The ‘fault in points’ alarm message can indicate a derailment, and the train was stopped immediately. The driver then made an external examination of the train in deep snow, but could not find any kind of irregularities. The driver contacted the traffic controller and reported the results of the investigation, and was given the go-ahead to continue.

At 22:44, the train arrived at Dombås Station, and just as the train passed points no. 3, the drivers felt the locomotive jerk, and heard a bang. At that point, the train had separated between locomotive 119-004 and locomotive 119-003, and the derailment had occurred.

Photo: AIBN