On Thursday afternoon there was a train derailment between Bjerka and Finneidfjord in Hemnes municipality. Locomotive driver Rolf Henry Ankersen (60) died in the accident. It is not the first time that there has been a landslide on the stretch between Mo and Bjerka: on 20 June 1996, four people, one million cubic meters of clay mass, two residential buildings and 300 meters of the E6 were swept into the sea in Finneidfjord. One person was never found. On 13 May 2014, there was a slide across the rail corridor on the Nordlandsbanen just south of Finneidfjord. The cause of the collapse is still unclear. On 3 October 2016, two people were slightly injured when the train derailed north of Bjerka after running into a boulder, i.e. on the section between Bjerka and Finneidfjord. The collapse happened because masses of earth and rock had come loose from the slope opposite the track and tumbled down. Large stones lie on the Nordlandsbanen after the landslide in 2016. Photo: Screenshot from the National Accident Investigation Board’s report / NSB Engineering, Salvage and Emergency Preparedness At the time, the National Accident Investigation Agency wrote that the area was checked and made safe by Bane Nor and was to carry out the next inspection in 2023. The commission concluded that a triggering factor for the landslide may have been a lot of rainfall. Furthermore, the commission recommended that the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate ensure that Bane Nor “develops adequate routines and methods to monitor slope stability as a result of changes in the climate and weather situation”. Photo: news There have also been several accidents caused by weather on the stretch. Wanted a warning system During the extreme weather Ylva in November 2017, a container blew off a freight train at Finned bridge just south of Fauske on the Nordlandsbanen. The container landed between the railway line and the E6, but no one was injured. The wind was so strong that he lifted the container off the cart without the cart tipping over or derailing. In the report to the National Accident Investigation Board, it is stated that wind strength of over 33 meters per second and failing safety mechanisms were decisive factors in the accident. The Accident Investigation Board then recommended that Bane Nord review weather preparedness and consider establishing a system that notifies railway undertakings of strong winds. High risk of landslides In 2009, there was a survey carried out by Norway’s Geotechnical Institute, which showed that several areas in Hemnes municipality are highly exposed to landslides. The councilor then wanted a thorough review to prevent more accidents from happening. In 2022, Norway’s Directorate of Water Resources and Energy (NVE) came up with a risk zone analysis for landslides in steep terrain for Hemnes municipality. The aim of the mapping is to create a better basis for assessing avalanche danger when planning land, preparedness against avalanches and any need for safety measures. The mapping dealt with avalanches, slush avalanches, rockfalls, rockfalls, landslides and mudslides. According to this, Hemnes municipality has: 9 residential buildings with a greater than 1 percent chance of being hit by an avalanche each year. It is a relatively high risk. 23 dwellings are assessed to have a 0.1 percent chance of being hit by an avalanche each year. It is a lower but real risk. In the mapped areas in Hemnes, there is great variation in the type of landslide that constitutes the danger and the size of the area that is considered to be exposed to landslides, says the report from NVE. – Would have been disrespectful When the managing director of Bane Nor, Thor Gjermund Eriksen, spoke earlier today, he said that this is one of the areas known to be prone to landslides. According to Eriksen, extensive breed protection has been carried out in the last ten years. – Is it sufficient? – Today, when we stand here, both you and I know that there was a landslide there yesterday. Stating that it is sufficient would almost be disrespectful, says Eriksen. – This is very sad and tragic with the worst imaginable outcome, Eriksen said when he visited the accident site. Photo: Frank Nygård / news A demanding section Managing director of SJ, Rikke Lind, says that the section is demanding for locomotive drivers because risks can arise, and that they were told that the section was safe when they drove into it. Bane Nor replies to news that a freight train passed by about two hours before the accident yesterday. Bane Nor’s press officer, Anne Kirkhusmo, also emphasizes that work has been done on avalanche protection in this area several times. – A terrain trench was established in connection with a landslide in 2015, and in the autumn of 2016 measures were initiated to clear the terrain and improve the trench. It was after a derailment a little further south, she says. – In 2018, we did extensive security work with netting and bolting at the same place where the derailment happened yesterday. In 2021, we carried out a geological assessment where minor measures were carried out. – Bane Nor’s system for weather preparedness is also in continuous development. Photo: Baard Brinchmann Kirkhusmo points out that in 2022 the Geological Institute of Norway carried out a landslide survey of the entire Nordlandsbanen. – There was no assessment of the need for measures at this location because a number of measures had already been taken here. In addition, we have periodic checks of gutters and lateral terrain. The side terrain was last checked this year and there was no stated need for follow-up at any point, according to Kirkhusmo. The National Accident Investigation Board will make an assessment Lars Fredrik Andersen, accident inspector in the National Accident Investigation Board, says that they must now first obtain an overview of the accident site and document what they see. – So far we have got a rough overview, and now we are waiting to gain access to the area further up. There have been reports of landslides in the area, so we are waiting for experts who can tell us if we can go further in and study the accident more closely. He points out that in 2016 they issued a report about a train that ran into a landslide. Lars Fredrik Andersen in the National Accident Investigation Board: – There have been reports of landslides in the area, so we are waiting for experts. – That report will of course be part of the investigation. But here today I cannot say anything about whether it has a connection with the findings that were made that time, with what happened yesterday, Andersen says. – Do you know if anything has been done in connection with that? – I know that I have done something, but I cannot comment or assess anything about it. – What happens when they have collected the material and the work they are doing now? – The National Accident Investigation Board will then carry out a safety investigation. We interview people, we go through documents and we have our own investigation methodology that is used. After that, there will be a report with the facts, and the commission’s assessment of these. This will count as a call to the authorities to take a closer look at the problem. They must then consider whether they want, or whether it is possible, to introduce measures to prevent the same thing from happening again. These are requests, and not orders, from the Accident Investigation Board. Published 25.10.2024, at 14.56 Updated 25/10/2024, at 15.11
ttn-69
A very vulnerable area – news Nordland
