Risk Management in Engineering: Münchenstein Rail Disaster Case Study

This case study analyzes the Münchenstein rail disaster of 1891, a significant event in Swiss history where a bridge collapse caused numerous fatalities. The assignment delves into the background of the disaster, identifying the risks associated with the bridge's construction, including poor material quality and inadequate design. It examines the risk assessment process, highlighting the role of the CLD (casual loop diagram), and discusses the lessons learned from the event. The study emphasizes the importance of adherence to engineering standards, proper material testing, and regular maintenance to prevent similar disasters. It also explores the obstructions that could have prevented the failure and proposes new changes and improvements, such as stricter industrial standards, regular material testing, and governmental oversight, to enhance safety in civil engineering projects. The document references relevant sources and includes an appendix with supporting information.

Risk Management in
Engineering

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CASE: Medium and Widespread failure (Münchenstein rail disaster)...........................................1
Background.............................................................................................................................1
Risk Identification..................................................................................................................1
Risk Assessment:....................................................................................................................2
Lessons Learnt:................................................................................................................................3
Things that are required to be done differently:.....................................................................3
Obstruction that could have prohibit the failure:....................................................................3
Lessons...................................................................................................................................3
New changes and improvement..............................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................6

CASE: Medium and Widespread failure (Münchenstein rail disaster).
The case study is for medium and widespread involves the event that occurred in the year
1891 and previously, there were more than thousand’s deaths due to bridge failures and rail
accidents (New York Times, 2017).
Background
In the year 1891, among the worst accidents happened in the history of the Switzerland,
Münchenstein rail disaster. It was 14:15, the train left the Basel railway station and was moving
towards the Delémont. The crowded passenger train, took more than 70 lives and hundreds of the
injured people. Due to the poor construction of the bridge across the river Birs the train fell
through a girder bridge. The bridge was constructed by the Eiffel's engineering company who
has constructed the Eiffel Tower in 1889 (Hahn, 2016). They have previously built many bridges
and flyovers in France. The size of the bridge was around 42 meters, built in the year 1975 and
was above 5 m of the river. Due to the heavy rainfall and serious local floods the bridge got
damaged and was repaired. As it lies on the 4 piers, after the serious damage of the abutments it
was left on the three. All the structure requires proper base in order to stand same happened with
this too, as the abutments was destroyed, the 3 pillars were unable to support the loads exerted by
the moving overloaded trains. As a result, there were serious cracks that were replaced by the
engineers. In 1890’s locomotives were getting popular so strengthening was provided to the
bridge. The disaster took place as the driver of the train has applied the brakes before and at the
bridge as stated by the eyewitnesses. The train too had load of itself, the passengers, carriages, a
postal-carriage, express-carriage and two further passenger-carriages. They all collectively fall in
the river. Due to the disaster there were more than 73 deaths and 171 people seriously injured. It
was one of the serious cases as the carelessness in the Engineering field had led to death of
innocent people (PERESSUT, 2014). The fall of the train through the centre of the bridge was
only as there was no assessment done earlier. Moreover, there are many cases where bridge
failure had caused many casualties. It was the first of such cases that happened in the
Switzerland.
Risk Identification
The subsequent inquiry was developed to identify the main cause behind the failure. They found
that the quality of the ironwork and the design was not the standards and there was damage due
1

to the continuous water. Lack in the quality testing and building structure and material
knowledge has made these people death. The bridge was constructed with the wrought iron
lattice girders. The quality of the bridge was checked and qualified by the Empa (Swiss Federal
Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) that was constructed after the 1880. There
was wide role of the society such as in order to check the engineering material, building and
structural materials for the industries. Prof. Ludwig von Tetmajer, co-founder and first director,
have made books related to the Engineering testing and standardisation of building materials and
metals (Hänggi and Straub, 2016). Münchenstein railway bridge collapse case was provided to
the Tetmajer and they have to commissioned the main reason due to which the accident
happened and led to death of so many people. Though it was the medium accidents as previously
there were cases where bridge fall has caused 1000 of deaths. He was responsible for finding the
main reason as it was the worst railway disaster of that time that have occurred in Europe.
According to his finding and the investigation he made he concluded that the main reason behind
the collapse was the Euler's formula for buckling, which had hitherto been used to calculate
design loads in such structures, needed to be corrected for slender bars. The article was
mentioned in the New York Times as “Sixty persons killed.; and hundreds hurt in a swiss
railway accident”. The damage in the Wrought iron truss had led to death of so many people.
After that also there were many cases of bridge failure which has led to deaths of several
people. Along with this, profit earning business organization have made poor design and faulty
products where can easily broke leading to casualties. Engineering standards and poor material
used for the construction has caused the deaths.
Risk Assessment:
The risk assessment is carried out through the CLD (casual loop diagram). It is included
in the appendices part and is explained in the area...
The cited risk-assessment is used to show that if proper monitoring was done on the
Engineering standards due to which to bridge failures and rail accidents in Münchenstein,
Switzerland. Further, companies should have follow the standards and proper testing so that
these things do not affect the life of the people. Testing at the regular basis can help to prevent all
such cases and accompanying the industrial standards can reduce the such cases. There should be
no compromise on the standards. The regular testing should be taking place on regular intervals
2

to check the correctness of the equipment. All the things are mentioned in the table and possible
action must be taken if such cases occur.
Lessons Learnt:
Things that are required to be done differently:
According to my views, effectively and efficiently thinking about the standards can save
the lives of many people. For this standards and risk assessment are the better and best possible
aspect that can help the people and others to save their lives. Moreover, if such issues or hazards
is overviewed then mandatory requirements related to safety must be mentioned and warning
sign should be shown. I will do all the test that are required to maintain the follow the guidelines
and should construct effective and better bridge material. Torque, tension, seam strength, drop,
impact and compression tests must be carried out so that safety can be maintained and bridge life
can be elongated. Proper and regular maintenance of the bridge with strict checking for the
material would reduce such cases. At that time, there were no liability rules. After this incident
standards and investigation were formed and implemented. These standards could have been
formed before and the disaster could have been avoided. Government should fine to those
companies that provide the wrong devices.
Obstruction that could have prohibit the failure:
Due to misinterpretation of contractor about the bridge abutments which did not fit in and
caused the future breakage in the bridge. Monitoring should be done by the regulatory companies
so that quality can be assured. Companies should follow the guidelines and should use latest
technologies so that construction of the material can be as per the industrial norms. It is the role
of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology to assure that these
standards are meet and companies are using them for the any purpose. If the industrial test such
as is torque, tension, seam strength, drop, impact and compression tests would have done then
these situations would not have evolved. Complex structure and design altercations could
support these features.
Lessons
When a mistake occurs, it has negative impact on the society and others. From the
above understanding, it can be gained that more care must be taken by the standards of the
company and other construction industry. The material used for any construction must be
reviewed using proper Engineering tools so that such accidents and deaths can be prevented.
3

Companies need to follow the industrial standards and should make the material that can bear
such situation in easy ways. Moreover, new technologies must be used so that development can
be made in sustainable way. In order to check the mechanical properties of the material
following test must be carried out such as torque, tension, seam strength, drop, impact and
compression tests so that material can easily handle such load and pressure. Moreover, it is also
the role of the government and other societies to be more careful.
New changes and improvement
New industrial standards and testing of every material used by the companies should be
checked and should be certified. Moreover, the companies that have constructed it should
regularly review its structure so that such damages do not happen again. Warning and clear
instructions about the areas must be mentioned so that people can be careful about the cause. As
now technology has increased so new material and testing can be performed even at regular
interval. If any company that is lacking the industrial standards set or found that they have not
performed their duty would be jailed for certain period of time. International standards must be
followed by them so that lives of the people can be saved and no such casualties happen in
future. Under this risk assessment can better support and assist in maintaining the safety of the
bridges.
4

REFERENCES
New York Times, 2017. "Sixty persons killed.- and hundreds hurt in Swiss railway accident".
[Online]. Available through: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?
res=9C00E4DB173AE533A25756C1A9609C94609ED7CF&legacy=true>. [Accessed
on 29th September 2017].
Hahn, H. H., 2016. 15 Transportation Catastrophes and Travel Imaginaries in the French Mass
Illustrated Press, 1890–1914. Tourism Imaginaries at the Disciplinary Crossroads:
Place, Practice, Media., p.257.
Hänggi, A. and Straub, S., 2016. Storage buildings and greenhouses as stepping stones for non-
native, potentially invasive spiders (Araneae)–a baseline study in Basel, Switzerland.
Arachnologische Mitteilungen. 51. pp.1-8.
PERESSUT, L. B., 2014. Contemporary Museums between Theory and Practice. Advancing
Museum Practices. p.148.
5

APPENDIX
6