The Swiss Council for Safety (SUST) has confirmed initial suspicions that the derailment of a freight train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel on August 10 was due to a faulty wheel, reports the railway portal Railway Supply, citing railtech.

Cracked Railway Wheel Leads to Train Derailment.

In SUST’s interim report, it is noted that ‘there is no evidence of any previously existing operational defects that could have led to the derailment.’

Furthermore, they claim that current technology could not have detected the crack and, thus, prevented the accident.

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The wheel was installed on a wagon belonging to Transwaggon AB, a subsidiary of the Swedish Transwaggon Group.

This solid wheel of type BA 390 was manufactured in 2008, as stated by SUST, and had traveled 140,000 km since its last technical maintenance.

Currently, SUST recommends that all BA 390 wheels be included in the so-called ‘broken wheels.’

The Joint Network Secretariat (JNS) is a working group established by the European Union in 2017 to investigate broken wheels after Belgium and Italy faced issues with wheel types BA 314 and BA 004.

‘There is a certain systemic problem with various broken wheels,’ emphasizes the SUST report.

Adding this wheel type to the JNS Broken Wheel would lead to a list of all currently in use and additional checks.

Currently, BA 390 wheelsets are used by various wagon owners in Europe, but it is impossible to determine exactly how many are in operation.

According to SRF, the country’s Federal Transport Authority will notify 125 companies using these types of wheelsets, prompting them to inspect their rolling stock.

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