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The Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne derailment of December 12, 1917 was a railway accident involving a troop train carrying at least 1,000 French soldiers on their way home for leave from the Italian front in World War I. A derailment as the train descended the Maurienne valley rail line caused a catastrophic crash and subsequent fire in which approximately 700 died.〔'Catastrophe ferroviaire de Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne,' http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophe_ferroviaire_de_Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne〕 France's deadliest rail accident, it occurred on the Culoz–Modane railway line, part of the ''Fréjus Railway''. Due to a shortage of locomotives in the area during World War I, the local commanding officer for rail traffic chose to couple two trains of 19 coaches to carry troops, to a single 4-6-0 engine. Of those coaches, only the first three had air brakes, the remaining coaches had only hand brakes or no brakes at all. The driver initially refused to drive the engine of such an overloaded train, which was now four times the safety limit for the engine, but was threatened with military discipline and forced to proceed. On leaving Modane, the train descended into a valley; the driver applied the brakes to no effect, owing to the heavy load. After continuing at a dangerous and uncontrolled rate of speed into the valley for nearly at speeds of up to , the first coach derailed at Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, causing a pile-up and resultant fire. Because of the fire and impact, only 425 of some 700 troops killed could be identified.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher=Danger Ahead )〕 ==Background of the accident== On the night of December 12/13, 1917, military train number 612 was returning from Italy filled with French soldiers who had spent a month helping Italian troops recapture ground lost during the October 24 Battle of Caporetto. After passing through the Mont Cenis Tunnel the train reached Modane station, where two additional cars were coupled to the train before the journey onward to Chambéry. From there they were to disperse to join their families throughout France for 15 days of leave covering the year-end holidays. The train stopped at Modane for 1 hour to allow other trains to pass. Most of the officers left the train during this stop, to take the Modane-Paris express. The train consisted of 19 cars of Italian construction: one baggage van at each end, 15 cars with bogies, and two fixed-axle cars added at Modane, for a total length of 350 metres and total weight of 526 tonnes. By official count it was carrying 982 enlisted men. The cars were of wooden construction with metal chassis. The train departed from Modane station at 11:15 pm. The downhill descent started normally, but from Freney onwards, a short distance from Modane, the train began accelerating to an eventual uncontrollable speed of 135 km/h (84 mph) as measured by the locomotive’s speed indicator. Lacking sufficient braking for the steep downgrade of 3.3%, it derailed shortly before the Saint Michel de Maurienne station at 102 km/h (60 mph) and its cars caught fire as they telescoped into one another. The authorized speed for the section of the line was 40 km/h (25 mph). The train may have been carrying more than the official number of soldiers, and was overloaded for operation on the steep 3.3% grade between Modane (elevation 1040 metres) and Saint Michel de Maurienne (elevation 710 metres), with too many cars relative to the braking power of the single locomotive. Such a train normally would have had two engines. However, the second assigned locomotive had been requisitioned for a munitions train by the officer in charge of dispatching. The driver (engineer), Adjudant Girard, who knew the route well had refused to let the train depart on account of the risks involved, but acquiesced after being threatened with reprisals by the commanding officer for rail traffic, Captain Fayolle. The compressed-air brakes worked on only the first three cars of the train, and seven brakemen (two of whom died in the accident) had been distributed throughout the train, to set the brakes when signalled to do so by the locomotive whistle. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne derailment」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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