Report on derailment near Nykirke station, the Vestfold line, on 15 February 2012, train 12926
Railway report 2013/02 eng
On Wednesday 15 February 2012 at 10.30, northbound train 12926 derailed at Nykirke station on the Vestfold line. The train was an NSB Type 74 train that was being handed over to NSB AS by the Swiss manufacturer Stadler Bussnang AG. There were five people on board the train. One person was seriously injured, while three people suffered minor injuries. All five carriages in the train were completely destroyed. Based on the Accident Investigation Board Norway's (AIBN) investigations, the immediate cause of the accident is deemed to be that the train was travelling too fast on the section of track in question. The driver had overlooked a sign notifying of a speed reduction from 130 to 70 km/h, and initiated braking too late. The AIBN has considered potential sources of distraction, but found none that can with certainty be linked to the driver overlooking the sign. The new Train Driver Regulations introduced new requirements for follow-up and control of personnel's knowledge of the line. The AIBN expects the change in requirements to have an effect. It has therefore chosen not to propose a safety recommendation relating to knowledge of the line so soon after the regulations were amended. NSB AS's restructuring in 2011 had not been implemented into the organisation's operational entities. However, it is the AIBN's opinion that this has no effect on the final outcome of the investigation. Most of the Norwegian railway network is not equipped with any type of speed monitoring capable of preventing a train from exceeding the line speed. It is the AIBN's opinion that, in the absence of Full Automatic Train Control (FATC), the NNRA must look into the possibility of introducing sufficient barriers to prevent such railway accidents, and the AIBN proposes a safety recommendation about this. The recommendation aims to identify the places where a rapid reduction of speed could represent a hazard, and implement barriers to identify such hazards and prevent accidents.
Safety recommendation
Safety recommendation RW no 2013/02T
At the end of the passing tracks at Nykirke station, the line speed is reduced from 130 km/h to 70 km/h before a curved section. The speed at which the train was travelling was too high to manage the curve, and all the train's five carriages derailed and hit the cliff on the left-hand side of the tracks. Most of the Norwegian railway network is not equipped with a speed monitoring system capable of intervening if a train exceeds the line speed.
The Accident Investigation Board Norway recommends that the Norwegian Railway Authority instruct the National Rail Administration to identify the places where large reductions in speed could pose a danger in connection with curves, and to implement sufficient barriers to improve safety in connection with large reductions in speed.
Facts
| Location | Nykirke station |
| Occurrence date | 15.02.2012 |
| Train No | 12926 |
| Type of Transportation | Passenger train |
| Type of occurrence | Derailment |
| Rolling Stock | Multippel Unit (MU) |