The accident at the Baltic Station (St. Petersburg)

Electric train ER2-1280 (10 cars, weight 484 tons, built in May 1982, registration depot ТЧ-20 Saint-Petersburg-Finland ^[1] ) arrived at depot ТЧ-15 Saint-Petersburg-Baltic on September 24, 2002 for passing the current repair (TR-3). On October 10, the main works were completed, but due to the unavailability of separate intra-body equipment, the electric train was in a sludge. On November 11, a run-in of the composition was scheduled after repair. It was entrusted to the engineer N. A. Bugaev and assistant engineer O. S. Akimov , who entered work at 8 am, as well as the repair team. ER2-1280 at that moment was on the 2nd park track and was secured from leaving by one brake shoe under the first wheelset from the side of the station.

The mechanic N.S. Shapichev who entered the cabin , having exceeded his official duties, arbitrarily raised the current collectors and launched auxiliary machines , after which he began to repair the electric heating circuits. The driver Bugaev, who came up soon, climbed into the tail cabin (farthest from the station), where he found that the radio station blocks were not installed in it, and the brake line pressure gauge was faulty. Leaving the electric train, which continued to remain on, the driver headed for the depot. The repair team, having completed the repair of electrical circuits, also left the electric train. In the composition at that time there was only a locksmith S. A. Martynov , who checked the pneumatic equipment.

Suddenly at 10:15 the electric train spontaneously set in motion. The brakes at that moment were released, and one brake shoe was not enough to stop a train with a total capacity of traction electric motors of more than three and a half thousand kilowatts. The electric train drove about a dozen meters to the turnout No. 117, where on the crosspiece the brake shoe was thrown out from under the wheelset. Now unchecked by nothing, an uncontrolled electric train cut the turnout No. 120, and then the turnouts No. 54 and 53, after which he left on the 1st park track. The fitter Martynov, who was in one of the cars, panicked, and then, instead of tearing off the stop-crane , he ran into the tail cabin. In the meantime, the ER2-1280 drove a shunting traffic light with a prohibitory indication, cut off the turnout switch and took the route prepared for the local train number 6326 and leading to the 2nd track of the Baltic Station. Train 6326 arriving at the station ( Gatchina - St. Petersburg managed to stop in front of a suddenly blocked traffic light, thereby avoiding a collision with an uncontrolled train, which was now heading straight to the station. Passengers on the platform, seeing an electric train coming into line 2, not suspecting about danger, went to the route board in front of him, hoping to find out about the destination station where the train was supposed to go soon after arriving. A minute earlier, the Kalishche - St. Petersburg suburban train arrived from and from it At 10:17, an uncontrolled ER2-1280 at a speed of 41 km / h crashed into an earthen dead end prism , destroying it, knocked down a contact network support and a route display, and then drove onto the platform directly to people who were there at that time. two wagons drove onto the platform, which stopped literally 15 meters from the building that had been restored shortly before the 300th anniversary of the city.

As a result of the tragedy, 4 people were killed under the wheels of an electric train (a girl of 16 years old, a woman of 55 years old and two men of 69 and 27 years old) and 9 were injured ^[2] . Until the consequences of the accident were eliminated, the station was closed, and electric trains departed from the Bronevaya station and the Leninsky Prospekt bus stop. By evening, repair work at the station was completed, at 16:40 the movement of electric trains to the station was restored. The Railway Association of Insurance Societies (ZHASO) paid compensation to the wounded 15 thousand rubles, and to the families of the victims 25 thousand rubles. The total amount of compensation amounted to 235 thousand rubles ^[3] .

Soon, the park paths of all the stations of St. Petersburg were equipped with special dropping wits, which prevented unauthorized trains from leaving on the platform, and a number of railway managers were significantly demoted. In particular, A.D. Nikanorov , who previously served as the head of the locomotive service of the road, became the head of the depot ТЧ-15 St. Petersburg-Baltic. On December 19, 2002, a month after the incident at the Baltic Station, at the nearby Warsaw Station (the distance between them was only about half a kilometer), the first tests of the track energy-absorbing stop were carried out, which serves to prevent the trains from leaving the platform in a collision with a dead end prism ^[4] .

During the investigation, the commission made 155 comments on the quality of repair of the electric train. The direct reasons that led to the unauthorized start of the electric train, the commission named the following:

• in car 128009, in the control cabinet of the driver’s cab on the rail with wires, there was a jumper between the wires 15 ( + battery) and 2 (power supply for linear contactors ) that was not provided for by the circuit.
• in the control panel, wire 15YU ( + signal lights) uninsulated freely lay on the body.
• on one of the motor cars, wire 12A (the power supply circuit of the electro-pneumatic valve of the reverser of the position “Back” position) insulation was damaged, and he himself touched the frame.
• wire 9 ( - traction control circuits) due to poor attachment touched the cover of the valve body of the reverser valve position "Back".
• wire 30 (general - ) touched the pipe in which the lighting wires of the first carriage of the car passed.

As a result, 9 and 30 wires were electrically connected through the housing, thereby collecting the negative circuit bypassing the driver’s controller . It is most likely that the next time the motor-compressors are turned on due to pressure drop in the pressure line when checking pneumatic equipment, as well as due to various leaks, the 15W wire in the remote control touched the housing tip with its tip, thereby through the housing, despite some shorting with wire 30, giving power to wire 12A. Thus, a circuit for switching on the “Back” valve was assembled, which led to the inclusion of a reverser in the corresponding position. Ironically, this motor car was the rear end to the station. Translation of the “Back” reverser with linear contactors and a high-speed circuit breaker already closed due to the jumper between the wires 2 and 15 led to the closure of the bridge contactors and the assembly of the power circuit into a “shunting” position, which led to the movement of the electric train.

On January 19, 2004, the city ​​court of St. Petersburg began consideration of the accident at the Baltic Station, but due to the failure of one of the accused to appear, it was postponed to February 2 ^{[3] [5]} . The accused considered the driver Nikolai Bugaev (46 years old) and the mechanic of the 6th category Nikolai Shapichev (43 years old). The criminal case was instituted under Article 263, Part 3, “Violation of the safety rules for the operation and operation of railway transport, resulting in the death of two or more persons,” the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (arrest from 6 months to 7 years). Prosecutor Alexei Bundin insisted on a term of 5 years for Bugaev and 4 years for Shapichev. The defense of the accused insisted on an additional examination, indicating that their clients became hostages of the current system. In particular, Shapichev’s lawyer Boris Kirichenko said:

A lot of questions are caused by the conclusion of technical expertise, in addition, it is only speculative. It has not been proved that there is a causal link between the violations committed by Shapichev and Bugaev and the consequences that have come ... There is a whole bunch of violations. The whole system works with violations. After all, Shapichev was forced to connect the circuit directly, because there were not enough spare parts.

Shapichev himself partially admitted his guilt, pointing to the jumper forgotten by him in the closet. But Bugaev refused to admit blame, saying:

My actions were not dangerous, as I warned Shapichev about leaving, closed the cab and braked the train.

On December 19, 2005, the court found Shapichev and Bugaev guilty, sentencing the first to 2 years in prison and the second to 3. Bugaev was taken into custody right in the courthouse, and Shapichev, due to a number of delays, was arrested on December 7 of the same year. at the previous court hearing ^{[6] [7]} .

In the accident, 2 cars were damaged: the head trailer 128001 and the intermediate engine 128010. They were restored as part of the current repair, after which the electric train was transferred back to the St. Petersburg-Finland depot, where he worked in the directions from the Finland Station . Due to the incident, the squad was unofficially called the “Death Machine” in the depot. On June 25, 2007, ER2-1280 took part in another incident when a Zhiguli car crashed into its 6th car at a crossing near the Vaskelovo station. As a result of this accident, the driver died on the spot, and the passenger received moderate injuries ^[8] . In November 2010 , that is, exactly 8 years after the accident, ER2-1280 was laid off and decommissioned (head cars were decommissioned in June 2011 ) ^[1] .

• V.A. Ermishin. Likhodey (Russian) // Lokomotiv . - 2002.

• The case of the disaster at the Baltic Station reached the court (neopr.) (Inaccessible link - history ) . Date of appeal September 11, 2012. (unavailable link)