1981 Chengdu–Kunming rail crash

The 1981 Chengdu–Kunming rail crash occurred on July 9, 1981, when train number 442 passed the failed Liziyida bridge near Ganluo County, Sichuan province. More than 200 died in the accident while 146 were injured. It is the worst train disaster in the history of the People's Republic of China.^[1]

1981 Chengdu–Kunming railway crash
The ruin of Liziyida bridge, near Ganluo County
Details
Date	July 9, 1981 01:47 CST 17:47 UTC
Location	Liziyida bridge near Ganluo County, Sichuan province
Country	People's Republic of China
Line	Chengdu–Kunming Railway
Operator	China Railways, Sichuan Railway Group
Incident type	Bridge failure
Cause	Mudslide
Statistics
Trains	1
Deaths	240, 275 or 360
Injured	146
Legend km Baocheng Railway to Baoji Chengdu 0.0 Wusihe (now Hanyuan) 1.6 Dadu River Ya'an Liangshan border section built after accident Liziyida Tunnel (built after accident) 2.5 Liziyida Bridge (destroyed) 2.7 Nainaibao Tunnel (abandoned) Direction of train 422 6.5 Niri Dukou Railway Geliping Origin of train 442 Kunming Guikun Railway to Guiyang This diagram: view talk edit

Crash

At 1:30 a.m., a mudslide (Flow velocity up to 13.2m/s, bulk weight up to 2.32t/m3, contains a large number of boulders, include dozens with a diameter of over eight meters) occurred at the Liziyida gully, a tributary of the Dadu River, destroying the 17-metre-high (56 ft), 110-metre-long (360 ft) Liziyida bridge.^[2][3] When the train was dispatched from Ganluo Station at 1:35 a.m., the local dispatcher sent the notice of departure but electricity suddenly cut out before the train fully left the station. The driver noticed this, but decided to continue as usual.

At 1:41 a.m., the number 442 passenger train consisting of two China Railway DF3 pulling 13 cars from Geliping to Chengdu was dispatched from the Niri station after passing Route 221 (another train operated on the opposite direction, from Chengdu to Jinjiang). A minute later, staffs of Niri station discovered that they had lost phone contact to the next station Wusi River station when reporting the departure of route 442.

At 1:45 a.m., the train entered the Nainaibao tunnel at a speed of 40 km/h (25 mph).^[4] After passing the tunnel curve, the driver Wang Mingru discovered that the building near the tunnel exit had collapsed and the light reflections from the rails were missing from the Liziyida bridge. He tried to make an emergency stop, but failed due to steep gradients of the rail before the bridge (at 14‰). As a result, the two diesel locomotives, baggage car No. 13, post office van No. 12, and passenger car No. 11 fell into the river. Passenger cars No. 10 and No. 9 crashed into the river bank. Passenger car No. 8 derailed in the tunnel and overturned outside of the tunnel exit.

Effects

The new Liziyida tunnel under construction next to the abandoned Nainaibao tunnel

Depending on the source, there were 240,^[4] 275^[5] or 360 people killed, including four crew-members.^[1] The railway was blocked until a temporary bridge was completed on July 24. After the opening of the new Liziyida tunnel in May 1984 bypassing the gully, the temporary bridge was dismantled and the Nainaibao tunnel was abandoned. The bridge piers still stand today.

References

1. Distribution regularity of debris flow and its hazard in upper reaches of Yangtze River and other rivers of southwestern China, by Fangqiang Wei, Yuhong Jiang, Peng Cui and Mingtao Ding, published by Wuhan University Journal of Natural Sciences in 2007, Volume 12, Number 4, page 619–626
2. Sediment studies and management strategies in China by Zhao-Yin Wang and Bingnan Lin, published by International Journal of River Basin Management in March 2004, Volume 2, Issue 1, pages 39–50
3. "中国水利网站 ->专题关注 ->新闻专题 ->防洪重点薄弱环节建设 ->专家视点". chinawater.com.cn. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
4. "历史上的今天:成昆铁路发生列车坠桥事故" [Today in history: train falls off bridge on Chengkun railway]. 看看新闻. July 9, 2013. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014.
5. "一次未经报道的铁路事故" [A never-previously released report on railway accident]. China Daily. September 30, 2013. Archived from the original on November 3, 2016.

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