Report on derailment at Straumsnes station Ofotbanen on 9 December 2021
Railway report 2022/04
Thursday 9 December 2021 an iron ore wagon derailed approximately at 0400 hours at Straumsnes station while the train was travelling in direction of Sweden. The derailment was detected by one of Bane NOR’s detectors and the train was stopped and checked. The driver carried out a visual inspection of the train but did not find any derailed wagons. The train then continued for six kilometres to Rombak station where it was again alerted by a derailment detector. During the new inspection, it was found that wagon no. 12 had derailed. The derailed wagon had caused major damage to the infrastructure. The NSIA investigation has shown that the cause of the derailment was that the derailed wagon was unevenly loaded from side to side. This allowed a wheel to be lifted of the track in a curve and the wagon derailed.
In the time before the derailment the temperatures had been low, and this made the iron ore freeze to the inside of the wagon. The method used for unloading caused the iron ore to freeze high up on one of the insides of the car body. It was not identified the need for, nor established routines for visual inspection of the inside of the car bodies before departure from Narvik.
Bane NOR's detector system at Straumsnes station had detected and registered increasing uneven side-to-side loads in the train. However, this detector was not programmed to warn against dangerous faults of this type. Similarly, one of the Swedish Transport Administration's detectors in Sweden was set up to warn of the weight of the train, but not of uneven side-to-side loading. The dangerous condition was therefore allowed to develop further without anyone being aware of this and thus no measures were taken.
The NSIA makes a safety recommendation aimed at the use of detector data.
The train at Rombak. Photo: NSIA
Frozen iron ore in the derailed wagon. Photo: NSIA
Published 08.06.2022
Safety recommendation
Safety recommendation Rail no 2022/03T
On 9 December 2021 at 03:15, Railcare T’s train 42601 derailed at Straumsnes station on the Ofoten line. The cause of the derailment was an unevenly loaded ore wagon. The uneven load was registered by Bane NOR SF’s detector system, but the system was not configured to issue a warning.
The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority recommends that the Norwegian Railway Authority request Bane NOR SF to establish systems to ensure that the relevant railway undertaking and the traffic controllers are informed of dangerous situations identified by the detector systems on the Ofoten line.
Facts
| Location | Staumsnes station |
| Occurrence date | 09.12.2021 |
| Train No | 42601 |
| Type of Transportation | Freight train |
| Type of occurrence | Derailment |
| Rolling Stock | Freight wagon |
| Operator | Railcare Tåg AB |
| Section | Ofotbanen |