Hochfelden English Summary

Technical inquiry report on the collision of a heavy goods vehicle with a passenger train on level crossing No. 22 at Hochfelden on February 24, 2022

On Thursday February 24, 2022, at around 10:30 a.m., regional express train no. 835 016, carrying around 60 passengers from Strasbourg to Nancy, collided with a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) and its trailer, immobilized on level crossing (LC) no. 22 in the commune of Hochfelden, Bas-Rhin.
The train, travelling at 143 km/h at the time of impact, came to a halt 950 m beyond LC 22 after emergency braking. The first bogie derailed. The train driver was able to sound the alarm to stop all other rail traffic.
The trailer, the truck and the two metal skips were damaged. The truck driver, who had evacuated the scene before the collision, was uninjured.
The railway infrastructure was heavily damaged at the level of the level crossing and over several hundred metres. Signalling, track and power supply equipment were destroyed, bringing rail traffic to a standstill for around ten days. A house was hit by a skip and its structure weakened.

The direct cause of the accident was the immobilization of the truck on the tracks shortly before the arrival of the train.
The vehicle was travelling smoothly until it reached the level crossing. After coming to a halt, probably to let another HGV pass, the driver restarted his vehicle with difficulty, according to his testimony, and at low speed. The vehicle came to a halt after 10 seconds, without having completely crossed the tracks. It was then unable to move until the collision. The technical investigation was unable to determine the causes of these restarting difficulties.
No element in the train’s operation appeared to be a cause or contributory factor in the accident.
The level crossing installations functioned correctly.
One of the train’s passengers, seriously injured in the accident, died a few days later. Five other passengers were injured, one of them seriously.

The BEA-TT formulates recommendations and invitations in the following themes :
-  HGV drivers’ control of their vehicles, and their knowledge of the risk of becoming immobilized on an level crossing ;
-  how to detect a vehicle immobilized on the planking of a level crossing ;
-  the lateral displacement of catenary poles located as close as possible to an level crossing ;
-  the consequences of a major impact on the train’s automatic coupler ;
-  maintaining the train’s ability to record events after a collision ;
-  the association of the train whistle with emergency braking.