Queronque rail accident

Queronque rail disaster
Date February 17, 1986
Time 19:45
Location Limache, Marga Marga Province
Country Chile
Rail line Santiago - Valparaíso
Operator Ferrocarril del Norte
Type of incident head-on collision
Cause human error
Statistics
Trains 2
Passengers 1000
Deaths 58+
Injuries 510, 111 serious

The Queronque rail accident was a head-on train collision that happened on February 17, 1986, on the line between Santiago and Valparaíso in Chile. It is the worst in Chilean history, killing at least 58 people.[1]

Collision

The accident happened in the Marga Marga Province of Valparaíso Region, between Peñablanca and Limache stations on a sharp curve. Both of the trains involved were three-carriage electric AES units and were carrying around a thousand people in total. The accident happened at 19:45 when the 17:30 from Los Andes to Valparaiso collided head on with a train travelling from Valparaiso to Mapocho Station in Santiago.[2] The front carriages embedded themselves in each other for a distance of five metres, killing those at the front of both trains.[3]

Cause

Repair work to a bridge damaged in a terrorist attack by the FPMR[4] six months previously meant that a single line was used for trains travelling in both directions.[5] In addition, the signalling on the line dated from 1928 and had developed a fault a few days before the accident.[3] But the accident was primarily blamed on the stationmaster at Limache, who should have held the train from Los Andes until the train from Valparaiso had passed.[6] Theft of telephone cabling meant that the phone link between stations was not working,[7] and it was over an hour before rescue teams arrived at the scene of the accident.[4] The rescue efforts continued until 11:30 the following morning; an emergency hospital room was set up on the platform at Limache station; its speakers were used to ask for blood donors to come forward.[3]

Death toll

The official figures state that 58 people were killed and 510 injured, 111 of them seriously.[6] However, some sources state the fatality figure to be much higher, 110[5] and a recent video documentary puts it at 200.[8]

Response

Dictator Augusto Pinochet visited the injured in hospital shortly after the incident and pledged compensation to those affected similar to that in place for road accident victims.[3]

As a result of the tragedy, the train service between Santiago and Valparaiso was suspended, only resuming in 1992 with the installation of radio communications in the trains.[3] The line is now operated by MERVAL, the Valparaiso region metro system.

References

Coordinates: 32°59′14″S 71°20′39″W / 32.98722°S 71.34417°W / -32.98722; -71.34417

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