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Two rolling freight cars collided with a third in the Sävenäs train yard in eastern Gothenburg during early morning shift work. The car hit contains ethylene oxide, which is a toxic and flammable gas. The carriage was damaged and people feared gas would leak. In that case, the risk of explosion would be high.
An area with a radius of 600 meters from the crash site was cordoned off early in the morning. Several buildings were evacuated, including a school and a preschool, the Western States Police Region.
At 11 o’clock it was better if the car was not leaking or fully loaded.
– It is, as it were, empty, but that means that there may still be two to three hundred kilos of product in the tank. So it’s not completely harmless, says operations manager Lars Magnusson.
Risky work
During the afternoon, the area of risk was reduced from a radius of 600 to 100 meters, which meant that the barriers outside the park rangers could be released. Around 8 p.m. the risky task of lifting and examining the damaged car began.
The elevator went well and there were no complications or leaks. Now there is the inspection to see if you can drive from there on your own machine or if the contents should be pumped into a wagon without damage.
– The rescue service will reduce resources now, but we will leave some material. The inspection is done tonight or tomorrow, says Lars Magnusson.
Train traffic resumes
The accident and rescue work brought most of the train traffic in Gothenburg to a halt for much of Tuesday. The train from Gothenburg to Alingsås, Skövde, Stockholm and vice versa passes right next to the train station. The affected trains were quickly stopped. Trains from Gothenburg to Trollhättan and Karlstad, as well as Uddevalla, were also stopped for safety reasons.
Shortly after 3 pm, when the rescue service reduced the risk zone, train traffic was able to resume. But it happened until after 6 pm before traffic returned to normal, due to subsequent delays after roadblocks.
Micke Larsson / TT
A large area was cordoned off after a collision with several freight cars involved in the Sävenäs sorting yard. Most of the train traffic to and from Gothenburg stopped. To the left of the image is the railway between Gothenburg and Stockholm. Image: Adam Ihse / TT
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