Lujerului tram accident
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| Lujerului tram accident | |
|---|---|
 Three RATB V3A trams, identical to this one were involved in the accident | |
| Details | |
| Date | 10 May 2012 7:11 AM |
| Location | Lujerului Underpass |
| Country | Romania |
| Line | 41 |
| Operator | RATB |
| Incident type | collision |
| Cause | human error |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 3 |
| Vehicles | V3A trams 110, 296 and 300 |
| Passengers | over 200 |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | ~100 |
| Damage | see below |
The Lujerului tram crash took place on 10 May 2012 in Militari, a neighborhood in Bucharest, Romania. During rush hour, a tram broke down and the driver of a third tram failed to stop, hitting a second tram that had stopped.
This was one of the two tram accidents that took place in Bucharest in the same year. Later on 18 July 2012, another less-serious accident took place in at the Rahova-Ferentari intersection.
The tram line
The tram line 41 is one of the most important and most busy tram lines in Bucharest. It began operation in 1984 and was completed in 1987, and was finally converted to a light rail line in 2002. Starting from Ghencea and going through Drumul Taberei, Militari, Crângași, Domenii towards the House of the Free Press, the important corridor serves people who go to the North of the city for work or people who often visit important markets along the line. Due to its status, trams often have to follow tight schedules, going at an average speed of 40 km/h (maximum allowed speeds are 55 km/h, in the underpass the limit would normally be 30 km/h), and during rush hour there is one tram per two minutes. When circulation on the line is disrupted due to various reasons, a replacement line (641) is made on the same route, using buses, which was the case after the crash, however it has a lower efficiency due to the traffic on the route, compared to the 41, which is (almost) fully grade-separated.
The trams
Line 41 of the tram network in Bucharest uses the V3A of the Bucharest Articulated Tramcar family, like most tram routes in the city. Served by the Bucureștii-Noi and Alexandria depots, it uses the 1993, FAUR, CH-PPC and M2000 variants. The last one was specifically made for the line - a subtype of the 1993 model, it features high-speed pantographs, plastic bumpers, round headlights and various other modifications for the line, being used mostly on line 41. Sometimes it is also used by lines 20 (which ceased to exist in 2015), 24, 42 and 45, served by the Bucureștii-Noi depot where they are stabled.
- 110 was made in 1976 as a V3A-71 tram, and modernized in 1997 to a V3A-93 tram. At the time of the accident, it had a RT1 (every 5000 km) revision on 30 April 2012, and with the last major repair in 2004.
- 300 was made in 1980 as a V3A-71 tram, and modernized in 2002 to a V3A-93 tram, subtype M2000. At the time of the accident, it had a RT1 revision on 4 May 2012, and was released from its last major repair on 2 April 2012. It had been involved in an accident just prior to its modernization, when it split into half at Piața Sudului in 2000.
- 296 was made in 1980 as a V3A-71 tram, and modernized in 1999 to a V3A-93 tram. At the time of the accident, it had a RT2 (every 20.000 km) revision on 8 May 2012, and with the last major repair in 2004.
All trams belonged to the Bucureștii-Noi depot, 110 has been since transferred to the Dudești depot.