 Railways are arguably one of the most safest and environmentally friendly modes of transport. High speed rail for me personally jumps flying in terms of comfort, view and ease of use. Although take that term of high speed rail the pinch of salt as I'm mainly talking about UK railways. However nothing is perfect and as we've seen on this channel before disastrous events can most definitely happen. For the most part I've covered UK and US rail disasters. But today's subject shows any country is vulnerable. Today I'm looking at one of Germany's worst rail incidents. My name is John and welcome to Plainly Difficult. Background. Our story starts not in Germany but Japan. 1959 would be the genesis of modern high speed rail. Japan had a narrow gauge interconnected rail network. Due to the terrain lines were intertwined with hills although making for beautiful scenery journeys were hardly swift. As part of economic development for the country a new more direct form of rail transport was devised and it would run on the larger standard gauge. The same that we have here in the UK. Right back to 1959 the Shinkansen project or known internationally as the bullet train had begun starting the world's first high speed rail service. Passenger running began on the 1st October 1964 and it became an immediate success making the island of Honshu feel ever smaller. The almost overnight triumph of high speed rail didn't go unnoticed outside of Japan's borders. One of the countries who saw the concept as an ideal addition to their rail network was that of France. And this would result in the 1970s with a TGV. At a similar time across the border in Germany they were also planning a high speed rail network. Beginning in 1968 the Deutsche Bundesbahn began planning the initial concept which would develop into trial runs in 1985. The trial set called the intercity experimental would set the world's speed record for a train in 1988 at a whopping 253 miles per hour or 406.9 kilometers per hour. Clearly the concept worked as such the first generation of high speed trains were ordered from a consortium of manufacturers with the first deliveries taking place in 1989. This new class of train was named the ICE-1. ICE-1 a modern train so Germany's first iteration of their standard high speed train was called the ICE-1. The formations of ICE-1 trains consisted of two power cars one at each end and either nine or twelve intermediate cars. The intermediate cars are for passengers and are made up of first and second class accommodation with an addition to a buffet car. Each power car had attractive possibility of over 200 kilonewtons or 44,962 foot pounds of torque with a power output of 4,800 kilowatts or just under 6,500 horsepower. There were some cars with a lower power output of 3,800 kilowatts an hour or just over 5,000 horsepower which had more conventional iGBT power converters. Upon beginning revenue service the ICE-1 set could reach a operating speed of 250 kilometers an hour 155.3 miles per hour and a few years later in 1995 this was increased to 280 kilometers an hour or 174 miles an hour. At the time in the early 90s the ICE-1 was one of the most advanced trains in the world boasting 10 computers per power car. This allowed the driver to interrogate and monitor many of the power and control systems aboard the train. Thoughts can be reported automatically via radio to the depot for future maintenance and in total 120 power cars were produced. Now the intermediate passenger cars were constructed of a lightweight aluminium silicone alloy. Now though modern aerodynamic and fast the new trains weren't without issues. One more obvious to at least the passengers was an inability of the buffet car that allowed glasses to shuffle around the tables. A little disconcerting for your cold drink no doubt and it hinted at a greater issue than just a few spilt beverages. Wheels, wheels, wheels. When the first ICE-1 first entered service it was equipped with monoblock wheels. Essentially the wheel is cast as one piece which is then hardened. Monoblocks are beneficial, fair light for a train wheel, cost effective and robust. That is in comparison to the traditional wheel and tyre design. Yes she heard me right trains can have tyres but it's not exactly what you think. Bear with me, you see train wheels used to be very expensive but due to the friction between the wheel and the rail they are susceptible to wear. Because of this life expectancy could be extended by making the contact surface replaceable. This was another piece of metal mounted around the wheels perimeter and is known as the tyre. Wheel and tyre setups had been gradually phased out in preference for monoblock wheels although wear was still an issue. Monoblock wheels were much cheaper to cast which in combination with regular inspections and reprofiling with laves offered an overall cheaper option. So the ICE-1 had monoblock wheels and as predicted they wore down over their service life and gained flats. This is where the wheel gains flat spots. It's that whooshing or thumping sound you can sometimes hear on a train as it moves along the track. Nothing out of the ordinary but due to the highest speeds the worn down conditions would create a resonance and vibration which was the reason for the cups and glasses walking around the table tops when the train was at cruising speed. So how to fix this problem and increase comfort? Well the suspension could help somewhat but engineers looked at an alternative wheel design. They looked to the train's cousin, the tram. Tramways across the world still use a tyre on wheel design but with a soupy twist. Due to the tight corners trams are expected to endure they are equipped with a wheel profile that isn't ideal for higher speeds. To combat the overall rough ride they have a design called resilient wheels. They also helped with track wear something all too common on the short sections between stops generally experienced with trams where acceleration and deceleration are some of the biggest causes of track wear. You really want the track to last as long as possible especially if you have to dig up a whole road to get to it. And by the way I'm using Croydon tram footage here because it is one of the networks in the world that use this design. So resilience wheels have something a bit different than normal tyre on wheel design. They have rubber dampening rings between the main wheel and the tyre. So the steel tyre is still the point of contact with the rail but it does have additional dampening properties. The version employed on the ICE1 had a 20mm thick or 0.79 inch rubber damper with a relatively thin metal tyre attached on top. However during 1997 Hanover's transport operator began to report issues with their trams resilient wheels. Fatigue cracks were discovered rather worryingly on these wheel designs. Especially when the average speed was only around 10mph. Deutsche Bahn was informed of the fatigue cracks but replied they had not seen any issues with their ICE1 sets. So the trains were now vibration free. The new wheels proved to be quite effective. Nothing to worry about I suppose. Well until there was. The disaster. It is 10.30 in the morning of the 3rd of June 1998. And a 12 car and 2 power car ICE1 set are departing Hanover. The train is rather aptly named for this channel the Wilhelm Conrad Ronken. The train is working the Munich to Hamburg route. It had stopped that morning at Augsburg, Nürnberg, Wurzburg, Fulda, Kassel, Gottingen and Hanover. Before it is 10.30 departure for its final leg to Hamburg. At roughly 6km or 3.7 miles S shade. One of the trains wheels on the 3rd axle on the first car failed. The steel tyre separated from the wheel and was flung up into the floor of the passenger saloon. A passenger saw the floor be penetrated by the tyre. With the carriage now severely vibrating it took his wife and child to the 3rd car to inform the train manager. Also known as the guard. Upon reaching the train manager the passenger explained what he had seen. Rather than stopping the train via the emergency alarm and brakes, the manager insisted on personally inspecting the issue. This was in line with company rules but to me sounds absolutely insane. By now the train was vibrating and swaying. In the time it took for the manager to make their way to the first carriage, the train had travelled roughly 2 miles or 3km. This was along some plain track but points were coming up. Before the manager could inspect the damage, the train thundered over two sets of points. The damaged part of the wheel and embedded tyre ripped into the check rail part of the points. The carriage was lifted off the track and one of the derailed wheels hit the lever for the points. This caused the set of points to move out of position, which then switched the 2nd bogey of the 3rd carriage onto another track that ran parallel to the main line. The 3rd coach, now with each set of wheels on a different track was twisted. As a result it was thrown into a pile on the bridge which spanned the railway. Coach 4 left the track and hit the embankment near the bridge, killing 3 railway workers instantly. By the time coach 5 had got to the bridge it had begun to collapse, pummeling the carriage with nearly 300 metric tons of material. The remaining coaches jackknifed into the collapsing bridge in a zigzag pattern. The front power car coasted to a stop nearly 3km or 2 miles past Esked station. The train had finally come to a rest, a little over 30 minutes after it had departed Hanover. The enormous crash elicited a sound like nothing else. Needless to say, this drew many local residents to the disaster site. Local emergency workers declared an emergency at 1102, elevating it to a major emergency just 5 minutes later. Over a thousand workers assisted in the treating of the wounded. When it came to casualties there was a clear divide between who survived and who didn't. Pretty much if you were past this point it wouldn't have been a good day. Some carriages had crashed into the bridge at speeds up to 120mph or 200kmph. This resulted in 8 of the carriages being roughly the same length of just 1. Yes, it really was that bad. By the afternoon 88 had been given emergency treatment, 27 of which had been airlifted to hospital. Access to some of the wounded and victims was hindered by the pressure resistant windows which required specialist cutting tools to remove. In total, 101 people lost their lives, with 88 severely injured and another 100 or so having minor injuries. It would take many days for the victims to be recovered, any intact bodies were autopsyed and the less than whole remains of many others hindered identification. By the 8th of June recovery crews started removing the train from the site of the accident transporting it to Aachen University. Now with Germany's second worst rail crash the cause had to be found and spoiler alert it might have had something to do with those new designed wheels. The investigation. The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany was tasked with finding the cause of the derailment and after conducting interviews with witnesses and examining the accident site they began to zero in on a failure point. Initially a collision with a road vehicle was suspected due to the wreckage of a car on the track but it would later be discovered to have likely been parked on the bridge. The Mark III VW Golf was linked to a railway worker, one of those on the track who had been a victim. Inspection of the leading power car saw no impact damage either, ruling out some kind of deliberate attack on the train. Inspection of the track on the approach to the bridge and points found scratches and chunks taken out of the concrete sleepers. This is around three miles or six kilometers south from the crash site. This hinted at some kind of debris hitting the ground. Metal was found embedded in car one and this looks suspiciously like a stripped wheel tyre. Eventually investigators managed to piece together the cause of the derailment. It was discovered that train inspections a day before had noted the failed wheel to have a flat spot. In the weeks leading up to the disaster eight reports of flat spots had been logged on the train's digital logbook but Deutsche Bahn had deemed them not serious enough to warrant replacement. Inspections on the wheels had only been done using handheld lamps in the depot as the more complex computerised inspection setups gave too many false positive warnings. Investigators soon discovered that the new wheels although used on trams hadn't actually been tested at high speeds. Instead, having engineers rely on theoretical and mathematical predictions of wear patterns. At the time, Germany didn't have sufficient test facilities to properly hash out the issues on high speed rail wheels. They found key issues in the use of the tired wheels. The tyres were flattened into an oval shape each time the wheel rotated which in regular service was as many as 500,000 times per day and each rotation caused a little bit of fatigue on the thin steel tyre. When compared to the monoblock wheel design cracks could form on both sides of the tyre. As the tyre became thinner due to wear the wear was exaggerated resulting in those fatigue areas turning into cracks. The investigation would lead to criminal proceedings against key members in Deutsche Bahn. Pretty soon after the disaster, DB paid out roughly 30,000 Deutsche Marks around $19,000 in the late 90s money to each victim's family as an initial form of compensation but needless to say this figure would increase over the years. The wheels of the tyre design were changed back to monoblock and points where near potential obstructions were better risk assessed. In 2002, two Deutsche Bahn officials and one engineer were charged with manslaughter which would result in a quite long 53 day trial. The trial ended in April 2003 with a plea bargain and a 10,000 euro fine for each person. The train manager did have to defend his actions of not stopping the train upon reports of damage but as DB's policy was to check before stopping the train it was absolved of any blame. Sadly stopping the train there and then could have averted disaster. So I'm going to rate this video as a bad day in the office and an 8 on my legacy scale. This is a plain difficult production. All videos on the channel are creative commons attribution share alike license. Plain difficult videos are produced by me in the currently dry but very cold corner of southern London UK. I've got instagram and twitter so check them out if you fancy seeing random photographs and I'd like to thank all my patreons and youtube members for your financial support as well as the rest of you for tuning in every week. I have a second channel which is where you can listen to this outro song in full and all that's left to say is Mr Music, play us out please and thank you for watching.