 It is a November morning in Caperan, Austria, and passengers are boarding a funicular train to ascend up the mountain Kittsteinhorn. Those aboard are looking forward to the views and the slopes for skiing. What they don't know is just a few minutes after departure from the lower station that disaster would strike. Today I'm looking at the Caperan disaster. My name is John and welcome to Plainly Difficult. This disaster has been on my list for a number of years, but I haven't made a video on it until a recent event on the underground reminded me of it. That is the panic at Clapham Common Station, where passengers thought there was a fire on one of the northern line train carriages. Then that reminded me of the time someone's electric drill batteries exploded on an overground train. And finally I thought I would do a video on this subject. Especially when I saw someone charging their phone on the overgrounds do not use electrical sockets. You know these ones, which are meant for the cleaners to use and could potentially fry your phone. So what has this all got to do with a funicular railway disaster? Well the introduction of untested electronics can cause fires, which causes panic, which ultimately leads to a high death toll. Well it made sense in my head on an evening commute through South London. Our story starts 26 years before the fire, with the construction of a new funicular railway. It was intended to speed up access to the Kit Steinhorn ski resort. The project would involve the construction of a 3.29km long tunnel 3.5m wide. For context this is roughly about the same size as a deep level tube tunnel, but unlike LUL tunnels, the Capron had no cast iron or concrete tunnel linings, instead only requiring anchoring into the hard rock face. The track is a single line through the tunnel, apart from a passing loop where there is an escape tunnel placed. The tunnel is at an incline of nearly 43 degrees and during the systems design phase, little thought was given to the risks of fire. It was hauled up and down the line via a 5cm thick steel cable and the carriages ran on a narrow gauge of 946mm or 3ft 1.25. The system had no drivers, just attendants for opening and closing the train's hydraulically powered doors. Although manned, there was no way for passengers to communicate with the attendant if they weren't in the same carriage as them. Each train had 4 carriages and a cab at each end for the attendant. Hydraulics were also used for the train's braking system and this required tanks. The brakes were a standard train failsafe design, in that if hydraulic pressure was lost, the brakes would apply. The rest of the train ran on low voltage electronics, which was powered by a 16kV power line that ran along the side of the track. The system was opened in 1974, two years after construction and nearly 20 years later, it would undergo some modernisation in 1993. The electrics, hydraulics were upgraded and fan heaters were installed in the cabins. The pipework for the braking system was plastic and not fire resistant. I should say that the heaters were sourced from a supplier that usually sold them for home use. As such they weren't tested for commercial use and the more likely heavier and harder life that would come along with it. But there had never been a fire on such a system before. As such, the operators didn't really think about the risks of a fire in a tunnel over 3km long on a steep incline. But we know where this is going to go, don't we? The disaster. It's the morning of the 11th of November in the year 2000. The railway had been upgraded 70 years prior with no apparent issues. It was operating as intended through the 90s, whisking passengers up and down the mountain. Just before 9am, one of the railway's two trains is in the lower station, boarding 161 passengers. The train's conductor is in the leading cab, that is the cab facing the ascent towards the tunnel. As always, the opposite end cab is unattended. This is standard procedure, but unbeknownst to all those aboard, the cab's electric heater is faulty. The train departs to the lower station just after 9am and it begins its ascent. All aboard are looking forward to a day of views and skiing. As the train approaches the tunnel, a small fire breaks out in the rear cab's heater. It begins to melt through the plastic hydraulic pipes. The train carries on into the tunnel. The fire still unnoticed has now almost completely melted the pipework. The hydraulic fluid adds to the flames as the pressure is lost in the train's braking system. Eventually, brake pressure is reduced to the point that it can't hold the train's brakes off. And at roughly 600m into the tunnel, the train grinds to a halt. The unexpected stop prompts the conductor to look back. He sees fire. Immediately, he contacts the railway's control room. He next tries to operate the doors, but they won't open. It's the same hydraulics after all that work the brakes, but also work the doors. He tries to contact control again, but the line is dead. The fire, by now, has burnt through the power line that runs along the side of the track. The cutting power also plunged the train into darkness. Panicked passengers try to push open the doors, but they are unsuccessful. Some in the rear carriage managed to smash out the train's windows and escape. One of the escapees was a fireman and ordered those with him to go down the tunnel past the flames and behind the smoke. And this would save their lives. The smoke was now rising up the tunnel, acting like a chimney drawing the toxic fumes up. The conductor managed to manually release the doors and passengers started escaping. Trying to avoid the fire, they went up the tunnel. Many had already passed out on board the train due to lack of oxygen. As remaining passengers climbed up the tunnel stairs, they drew in more air contaminated with the fire's smoke. You see, no matter how far they went up the tunnel, the smoke continued to rob them of the precious oxygen they needed. Eventually, all who escaped and went up would be asphyxiated, including the conductor. A down-heading train only had a conductor on one passenger aboard. They had been driven into the smoke and would also succumb to the same fate. Eventually, the hot air, toxic fumes and smoke would bellow out the top end of the tunnel. The smoke blew into the upper station. Many were able to escape out into the cold fresh air, but sadly, three were caught inside and also passed away. The fire continued to intensify up to as much as a thousand degree centigrade as more air was drawn in from the lower tunnel opening. Firefighters would try but fail to recover anyone alive from the tunnel above the flames. One person was rescued from the mountain station and those who escaped below the fire also survived. Needless to say, the disaster was tragic. Not only that, it turned out to be an international disaster, with passengers from all around the world perishing on the train and in the tunnel. As such, the cause of the fire had to be found. Investigation and aftermath After the fire had been extinguished, some 200 rescue workers started to claw through the wreckage. Many of the victims could only be identified via their DNA. Any evidence was salvaged and the survivors were interviewed. It was quickly established where the fire had begun and it was the rear cab of the train. The train's design and refurbishment came under scrutiny as the use of household fan heaters in the train cabs was uncovered. The investigation concluded that a defect in the fan heater caused it to overheat and melt the casing that was holding the heating element in place. Once this had failed, it fell within the casing and caught fire, which in turn caused the plastic hydraulic pipework to melt. The layout and design of the safety systems on board also came into question. The only fire extinguishers were inside the cabs out of reach of passengers. The trains also lacked smoke detectors and intercoms for passengers to talk to the attendant and further inhibiting communication. Due to being in a tunnel, mobile phones didn't work. Fire suppression systems weren't employed due to there never being a fire on a similar railway before. However, the upgrades in 1993 which included the fan heaters weren't considered to need to reassess the fire risks. The railway never reopened and the track was removed. The tunnel ends were sealed, leaving only a gap in the trees as a hint of what once existed there. Which is a shame, officials were charged but unsurprisingly were cleared criminally. The ball was well and truly dropped at Capron as fire was just not considered. Which is no consolation for those on the 11th of November, 2000. This is a plain difficult production. All videos on the channel, creative commas, actuation, share are like licensed. Plain difficult videos are currently produced in a very wet and miserable corner of southern London UK. I like to thank my Patreons and YouTube members for your financial support as well as the rest of you for tuning in every week to have your weekly dose of me talking. I have Instagram and Twitter to check them out if you fancy looking at other bits and pieces that I post and all that's left to say is thank you for watching and Mr Music, play us out please.