The Queronque rail accident was a head-on train collision that happened on February 17, 1986, on the line between
Santiago and
Valparaíso in
Chile. It is the worst in Chilean history, killing at least 58 people.
Collision
The accident happened in the
Marga Marga Province of
Valparaíso Region, between
Peñablanca
Peñablanca, officially the Municipality of Peñablanca ( ibg, Ili nat Peñablanca; ilo, Ili ti Peñablanca; tl, Bayan ng Peñablanca), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Cagayan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it ...
and
Limache stations on a sharp curve. Both of the trains involved were three-carriage electric
AES units and were carrying around a thousand people in total. The accident happened at 19:45 when the 17:30 from
Los Andes to Valparaiso collided head on with a train travelling from Valparaiso to
Mapocho Station in Santiago. The front carriages embedded themselves in each other for a distance of five metres, killing those at the front of both trains.
[Queronque: 20 años después]
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Cause
Repair work to a bridge damaged in an explosive attack by the FPMR[Reportajes 24 Horas]
/ref> six months previously meant that a single line was used for trains travelling in both directions.[http://www.elbombero.cl/foro/showthread.php?p=184913 A 24 Años de la Tragedia de Queronque] In addition, the signalling on the line dated from 1928 and had developed a fault a few days before the accident.[ But the accident was primarily blamed on the stationmaster at Limache, who should have held the train from Los Andes until the train from Valparaiso had passed.][http://ferrocarrillimache.blogspot.com/2009/06/tragedia-de-queronque.html Tragedia de Queronque] Theft of telephone cabling meant that the phone link between stations was not working, and it was over an hour before rescue teams arrived at the scene of the accident.[ The rescue efforts continued until 11:30 the following morning; an emergency hospital room was set up on the platform at Limache station; its speakers were used to ask for blood donors to come forward.][
]
Death toll
The official figures state that 58 people were killed and 510 injured, 111 of them seriously.[ However, some sources state the fatality figure to be much higher, 110][ and a recent video documentary puts it at 200.]
/ref>
Response
Dictator Augusto Pinochet visited the injured in hospital shortly after the incident and pledged compensation to those affected similar to that in place for road accident victims.[
As a result of the tragedy, the train service between Santiago and Valparaiso was suspended, only resuming in 1992 with the installation of radio communications in the trains.][ The line is now operated by MERVAL, the Valparaiso region metro system.
]
References
External links
Youtube: Accidente Ferroviario Queronque 1986
(in Spanish)
Youtube: Reportaje accidente de Queronque
(in Spanish)
{{coord, 32, 59, 14, S, 71, 20, 39, W, region:CL-VS_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title
Railway accidents in 1986
Train collisions in Chile
History of Valparaíso Region
1986 in Chile
February 1986 events in South America
1986 disasters in Chile