Mammoet removes derailed train sections in the Netherlands

A train accident took place near Voorschoten in the province of Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands, on Tuesday morning, 4 April. Mammoet was hired to remove the derailed passenger train.

That morning, an overnight train and a goods train (carrying lime) collided with a crane on the track. The crane driver sadly didn’t survive the accident. The passenger train contained about 50 passengers, 30 of whom were injured. Investigations are under way to determine what caused both trains to collide with the crane.

In the meantime a plan was set up to clean up the location. Several factors had to be taken into consideration, such as access to the site, the presence of cables and pipes and the supply of large equipment. Mammoet was contracted to remove the passenger train sections.

A temporary road through a boggy meadow and a crane hardstand were build to remove the train sections. Two parts of the train are being removed via the temporary road, while the rest will go via the rail track.

Towing and salvage work could finally start on Monday afternoon. Mammoet uses a Liebherr LTM 1500 8.1  and a LTM 1400 7.1 crane. The work started with lifting the two train parts that lie half in the track and half in the meadow. These parts will first be placed entirely in the meadow. There, they will later be loaded onto an SPMT and transported to another location. There, they are transhipped onto low-loaders.

The third train section is first lifted so that a new bogie can be put under it. Then this section, together with the fourth train section, will be removed by rail.

After salvaging both trains, track repair can start. The damage to the track infrastructure is very extensive. Over a large section, sleepers, rails and overhead wires, among others, have been severely damaged. There is also damage to the platform of the nearby Voorschoten station.

Source news and photos: ProRail