Dahlerau train disaster
Accident site, showing the destroyed first car of the passenger train.
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| Date | 27 May 1971 |
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| Location | Dahlerau |
| Country | Germany |
| Rail line | Wupper Valley Railway |
| Operator | Deutsche Bundesbahn |
| Type of incident | Collision |
| Cause | Not determined |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 2 |
| Deaths | 46 |
| Injuries | 25 |
The Dahlerau train disaster was a railway accident that took place on May 27, 1971 in Dahlerau, a small town in Radevormwald, West Germany, in which a freight train and a passenger train collided head-on. Forty-six people perished in the accident; forty-one were senior year pupils of the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Radevormwald. It was the deadliest accident in West Germany since its foundation in 1949, surpassed after German reunification by the Eschede train disaster in 1998.
On the evening of May 27, 1971, shortly after 21:00, a train made up of two class VT 95 railbuses of the Deutsche Bundesbahn was running as special service Eto 42227 (units 795 375 + 995 325) on the single-track line between Wuppertal-Oberbarmen and Radevormwald, the Wupper Valley Railway. The train was occupied by senior year pupils of a Radevormwald middle school, their teachers and accompanying railway staff, on the return journey from a class outing in Bremen. The service was about 30 minutes delayed by the time it left the previous station at Wuppertal-Beyenburg. A regular local freight train, Ng 16856 (pulled by 212 030, a DB Class V 100 engine) was approaching Dahlerau station in the opposite direction at this time, so the dispatchers at Dahlerau and Beyenburg agreed that the freight should stop at Dahlerau station to let the delayed special pass. In normal operation, the freight train would not stop at Dahlerau.
Dahlerau station was equipped with entrance signals, which could show aspects Hp 0 (stop) or Hp 1 (proceed); but it lacked exit signals to control departing trains. In place of exit signals, 'stop' boards were provided at the end of the platform. In absence of any other signal, all trains were obliged to stop at the board to await instructions; the dispatcher, however, could show a green hand lamp to an approaching train, which allowed its crew to ignore the stop board. This is what would normally have happened to the freight train.
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