Talk:Viareggio train derailment

Casualties
The two main italian newspapers (corriere and repubblica) both report 14 deaths, not 16. --Walkabout86 (talk) 21:54, 30 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The Italian article states 17 dead. I've seen a ref that says 14 dead and 3 missing, which would give 17. Best English ref we have at the moment states 16 dead. Total can be revised once it is confirmed. That is why there is a banner at the top of the article. Mjroots (talk) 07:37, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Two more children have died, so now 16 are dead and 3 missing. Mushroom (Talk) 07:45, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * If the death toll is confirmed at 18 or more, it will be the worst rail disaster in Italy since the Balvano train disaster in 1944. Mjroots (talk) 09:00, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Actually, the 1980 Lamezia Terme train crash took more lives ( 30 20 dead, ~100 injured). Mushroom (Talk) 09:26, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * No mention of it there. :-/ Mjroots (talk) 09:51, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * It's listed in the List of rail accidents (1950–1999), I'm looking for an English-language source. Mushroom (Talk) 10:07, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I cannot find it, but I have an Italian one: It says 20 dead and 112 injured. It happened in Curinga, near Lamezia Terme. Mushroom (Talk) 10:26, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Good work there, ok, will keep eye on death toll. Could touch 20 yet. Mjroots (talk) 11:07, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Due to injuries (third degree burn on 40% or more in the body) of some people, 20 is an optimistic prevision.--79.25.173.225 (talk) 08:14, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

(od) So, with 21 confirmed deaths, it is the worst since the Balvano disaster then? Mjroots (talk) 10:11, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Another train involved?
The Independent mentions a second oncoming train. Did this train collide with the derailed wagon, or did it stop before a collision occurred? Mjroots (talk) 07:37, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
 * this article is out of date: after the accident there were 16 victims (not 13), yesterday there were 17 victims (someone has reverted to 16). All the oncoming trains were stopped in an safety distance.--79.25.173.225 (talk) 08:12, 2 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I revert some Italian IPs changing 16 to 17 several times yesterday as any change requires a reliable source, else it's just rumour. This morning a source saying 18 deaths (albeit in Italian - there's no problem with this) as been added and I've updated the article. Agreed the deathtoll will raise over the next few days and weeks. Edgepedia (talk) 08:32, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Doh, i forgot to insert an source yesterday... source--79.25.173.225 (talk) 08:35, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Metal Fatigue
Axle breaks are commonly caused by fatigue, and some reference in the article would be relevant. Peterlewis (talk) 08:34, 2 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Whilst the photo shows evidence of metal fatigue, to claim that at this stage is WP:OR. Once a source states this, then we can add it in. We can state that the failure of an axle was the cause because the photograph has been published showing the failed wheel. Mjroots (talk) 09:07, 2 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm more cautious here. The photograph shows that an axle broke. It may not be the primary cause. Edgepedia (talk) 09:19, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Berlusconi
An IP editor removed the negative reaction to Berlusconi's visit (since reverted). It is important that Wikipedia accurately reports the facts, even if it does not show someone in a good light. Such reports to be reliably referenced per WP:BLP, as it is in this case. Mjroots (talk) 09:35, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

ADNKronos reference
This ref appears not to be a static link, and now says that there are 21 dead. Can we get a static link from this website? I've updated the article. Edgepedia (talk) 10:06, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

European Railway Agency material
There's some information about the accident additional to what's here already on two ERA pages. This is an English version of the initial Italian report to the ERA (dated 2 July, so the casualty figures are out of date). Among other things, it states:


 * that the gas involved was butane;
 * that the accident, or at least the initial derailment, occurred at 2348 local time;
 * that the train stopped about 500 metres after the point of derailment and 200 metres after the station platform, the first wagon having struck the platform in the process;
 * that the first five wagons overturned, the next two derailed but stayed upright, and the other seven remained on the rails.

This is the ERA's general page on Viareggio. It doesn't add much to what's either already in the article or contained in the above, but it does describe the axle failure as the suspected primary cause and specify the axle and bogie types (which are meaningless to me but might be significant) and the fact that the leading bogie of the first wagon was involved.

There's also a statement of what Europe's national rail safety agencies plan to do about wagon maintenance.

Assuming at least some of this is relevant, could someone with more experience than me try incorporating it into the article? Grover Snodd (talk) 11:54, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I've expanded the article a bit. Will be interesting to read the final report when it comes out. Mjroots (talk) 07:30, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Mistakes
After quickly reading the article, it seens that most data cited from the BBC article are wrong, according to the consensus of italian media in the immediate aftermath of the fact. I have little time now to look for a better source, but what was explained in detail was: --Andylong (talk) 00:47, 28 September 2009 (UTC)
 * the train was composed of 14 wagons, all of which were tanks containing 35,000 liters of LPG each
 * the train derailed while travelling south, exiting the station of Viareggio, where it had not stopped, for a mechanical problem on the first carriage (allegedly fatigue rupture of an axle)
 * there was a passenger train heading towards thie derailed train, but fortunately it was stopped at a safe distance by the station's personnel
 * as soon as the train had come to a stop, with the first carriages derailed and some overturned, the LPG had started leaking massively from the first carriage alone, as boiling fluid on the ground
 * the locomotive crew left the train carrying the transportation documents and took cover as quickly as possible, as they had been trained to do in such a case
 * within several seconds, the lowest part of the atmosphere had been saturated with LGP vapor in a wide area around the train, and then some cause, possibly the already-mentioned scooter, set it off and there was a fireball, setting tens of houses on fire in the nearby streets
 * fortunately none of the other 13 tanks ever leaked any gas during the accident, otherwise the fire could have been much more severe.

"Final" report
There's now a report, described in its filename as "final report", available here, albeit only in Italian. An English translation of the recommendations (in .doc format) is here. However, at least from what I can ascertain with my very limited Italian plus machine translation, the report only deals with events leading up to the breaking of the wagon axle; seemingly a second report will address the reasons why the wagon then overturned and ruptured. (Apparently the criminal investigation is also still ongoing.) Grover Snodd (talk) 17:27, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

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Proposed update of the "Cause" and "Prosecution" sections
Hi everyone, regarding the trial, I noticed that the information in the article is not up to date at the latest degrees of judgement. Working in FS Italiane, I have followed the events closely.

Find below how I think it can be updated. I have highlighted in yellow the informations added and parts that I have rephrased in order to make the text clearer. I have also corrected a few inaccuracies (always in yellow), justifying everything with the necessary sources.

Let me know your thoughts and thank you for your kind support. --Claudia Frattini (talk) 09:13, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

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 * Proposed update of the "Cause" and "Prosecution" sections


 * Body text line 1 Body text line 2
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Cause
The Direzione Generale per le Investigazioni Ferroviarie, a section of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) the Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport opened an investigation into the cause of the accident. Italian police said that the accident may have been caused by damaged tracks or a problem with the brakes on the train. Italian union CGIL is reported to have blamed the decrepit state of the rolling stock; the maintenance of the wagon was the responsibility of GATX. The failure of an axle on the wagon that derailed is being investigated as a possible cause. Pending the official conclusions of the commissions of inquiry the probable cause of the accident is attributable to structural failure of an axle of the carriage of the first tank wagon derailed. Italian Transport Minister Altero Matteoli informed the Italian Parliament on 1 July that a defective axle may have caused the accident.

On 29 July 2009, an Extraordinary Network Meeting of the Network of National Safety Authorities was held. It invited members to disseminate information related to problems related to Type A Axles to railway operators, owners and keepers of freight wagons.

Prosecution
In 2017, the Court of Lucca tried thirty three people were tried in Lucca in connection with the derailment. The first instance trial ended with ten accused Ten were acquitted and the conviction of the others, including the former Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) and current Leonardo CEOs Mauro Moretti and former RFI CEO Michele Mario Elia. , were convicted. Moretti was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role as CEO of RFI (2001-2006) but acquitted as CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) (2006-2014), while Elia was sentenced to seven and a half years. However, the Court of Lucca imposed the highest penalties (from six to eight years) on the defendants of the companies Gatx Rail and Jungenthal, responsible for the mechanical problems that caused the accident.

The first instance ruling was partially confirmed by the Florence Court of Appeal with the ruling of 20 June 2019, which also ordered the acquittal of further positions referable to the RFI Company and confirmed the acquittal of Ferrovie dello Stato and FS Logistics from administrative responsibility. During 2020, all the convicts filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.

With sentence of 8 January 2021, the Supreme Court confirmed the criminal responsibility for the crime of culpable railway disaster of 11 people (of which 9 belonging - at the time of the facts - to the companies responsible for maintenance activities / revision, Gatx Rail Germany, Gatx Rail Austria, Jungenthal, Cima Riparazioni; one belonging to Trenitalia and one to FS Logistica); the Court also annulled the sentence pronounced by the Court of Appeal against the positions of the former CEOs of RFI (Michele Mario Elia and Mauro Moretti, the latter also former CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato) and 3 other people, deferring all to a new appeal judgment. Upon the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment, all the companies originally blamed for administrative liability were definitively acquitted.

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 * ✅ Djm-leighpark (talk) 22:24, 10 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi thank you very much for your availability and your precious help :) --Claudia Frattini (talk) 08:04, 12 October 2021 (UTC)