Kaprun disaster

On 11 November 2000, a fire in the tunnel of Gletscherbahn Kaprun 2 funicular in Kaprun, Austria, killed 155 people. The cause was traced to a faulty fan heater. Most of the victims were skiers on their way to the Kitzsteinhorn glacier. To date, this incident remains the deadliest rail disaster in Austrian history.

Train

The Gletscherbahn Kaprun 2 funicular railway opened in 1974 and ran from Kaprun to the Kitzsteinhorn and was modernized in 1993. It had an unusual track gauge of Template:RailGauge, and a length of Template:Convert, Template:Convert of which was inside a tunnel. The train ascended and descended the 30 degree slope at Template:Cvt. Two trains ran simultaneously on a single track, with a section halfway allowing them to pass each other. The tunnel terminated at the main reception centre, the Alpincenter, where a motorized winch drove the trains. It was a low-voltage electrical system, with 160-litre hydraulic tanks on board for the brakes and doors, and a conductor. Each train had four passenger compartments giving a total capacity of 180 passengers, and a conductor's cab at each end; the conductor switched end as the train travelled up and down.

Fire

On 11 November 2000 shortly after 9:00 am, 161 passengers and one conductor boarded the funicular train for the slopes. At 9:02 am the train set off. The train unexpectedly halted 8 minutes later, Template:Convert into the tunnel and Template:Convert away from the lower station.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Some minutes later the conductor reported a fire to the control centre, and failed in an attempt to open the hydraulically operated doors. The conductor then lost contact with the control centre because the fire had burned through a 16kV power cable running alongside the track, causing a power blackout throughout the ski resort.

The passengers attempted to break the shatter-resistant acrylic windows. Twelve people from the rear of the train broke a window with a ski pole and, advised by an escapee who had been a volunteer fire fighter, escaped downwards past the fire and below the smoke.

Many of the trapped occupants lost consciousness due to toxic fumes. Eventually the conductor managed to unlock the doors, allowing them to be manually forced open. The conscious passengers fled up the tunnel away from the fire. The tunnel acted as a blast furnace, sucking oxygen in from below and sending poisonous fumes, heat and the fire itself upwards. The conductor and all the passengers ascending on foot died by asphyxiation and were burned.

The conductor and the sole passenger on the second train, which was descending in the same tunnel above the burning train, also died of smoke inhalation. The smoke rose into the Alpincenter Template:Convert above. Two fleeing workers in the Alpincenter alerted employees and customers and escaped via an emergency exit. They left the exit doors open, which contributed to the chimney effect. All except four people escaped the centre as it filled with smoke. Firefighters reached the centre and revived one of the four; the other three were asphyxiated.<ref name=":0" />

Investigation

On 6 September 2001, the official inquiry was released, determining that the cause was the failure, overheating and ignition of a fan heater in the conductor's compartments which was not designed for use in a moving vehicle. A design fault caused the unit to overheat, in turn causing the mount for the heating element to break off. The element jammed against its casing and caught fire. A slow leak of flammable hydraulic fluid was ignited which melted the fluid lines, further feeding the flames. The loss of hydraulic pressure applied the brakes (which are kept open by hydraulic pressure) and disabled the hydraulically operated doors.

The structural flaws of the funicular trains, especially the lack of safety mechanisms, were found to have played a role. Fire extinguishers in each funicular unit were in the sealed attendants' compartments out of the passengers' reach. There were no smoke detectors. There was no cellphone reception within the tunnels, meaning passengers had no way to contact the attendant. Funicular expert Professor Josef Nejez said the designers had a perception that fire could not occur in a funicular cabin because no fire had occurred previously. The train complied with area safety codes, which did not address the systems installed on the train during its 1993 upgrade. The onboard electric power, hydraulic braking systems, and fan heaters intended for domestic use increased the likelihood of fire.<ref name=":1" /><ref>"Fire on the Ski Slope." "Seconds From Disaster".</ref>

Casualties and aftermath

At 1 pm on the day of the disaster, Salzburg governor Franz Schausberger held a press conference, announcing that no survivors were expected, except for those who had already escaped on their own. Three days of national mourning were to be held.<ref name=":1" />

Five days later, on 16 November, recovery of all bodies was completed. On 30 January 2001, the wrecked train was retrieved from the tunnel.<ref name=":1" />

Nationality	Deaths
Austria	92
Germany	37
Japan	10
United States	8
Slovenia	4
Netherlands	2
United Kingdom	1
Czech Republic	1
155<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In addition to those who escaped from the Alpincenter and the person whom firefighters revived, 10 Germans and two Austrians escaped from the burning train by descending past the fire.

19-year-old German freestyle skier Sandra Schmitt was one of the victims, at the time the reigning Women's Dual Moguls World Champion.<ref name=guardian>Template:Cite news</ref> Josef Schaupper, a seven-time Deaflympic medalist, was killed along with his fellow deaf skiers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The funicular was not reopened and was replaced the next year by a gondola lift, a 24-person Gletscherjet 1 funitel. The track remained in place until 2011, when the track and the supporting structure below the tunnel were removed and the tunnel entrance was sealed shut.<ref name=":1" />

The Gletscherbahn was never put into service again. The year following the disaster, it already had been replaced by a Gondola lift. The tunnel itself was closed in 2012 and by 2014 the lower valley station and parts of the bridge had been removed.<ref>Lisa Aeschlimann: "Vor 25 Jahren kommen in Österreich beim Brand einer Standseilbahn 155 Menschen ums Leben: Bis heute will niemand verantwortlich sein" Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 11 November 2025, retrieved 11 November 2025</ref>

Legal trial

The company operating the funicular, Kapruner Gletscherbahnen AG, rejected the blame and entered a legal dispute. A criminal trial started on 18 June 2002, involving 16 accused, including management of Kapruner Gletscherbahnen AG, Ministry of Transport officials and TÜV officials.<ref name=":1" />

On 19 February 2004, Judge Manfred Seiss acquitted all suspects, including company officials, technicians, and government inspectors, saying there was insufficient evidence to find them guilty of criminal negligence. In September 2007, the public prosecutor found the manufacturer of the electric heater was not responsible.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A 2007 class action lawsuit by American attorney Ed Fagan failed, ending in the attorney's personal bankruptcy.<ref name=":1" />

By 2008, a settlement with 451 claimants was reached, involving a sum of 13.9 million Euro.<ref name=":1" />

Memorial

Memorial at the base station of the Kitzsteinhorn with the decommissioned Gletscherbahn 2 in the background.

On 11 November 2004, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of the disaster, a memorial was inaugurated. It features a stone structure with 155 glass columns, each representing one of the victims who perished in the incident.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• "Flashback: Kaprun ski train fire." BBC. Thursday, 19 February 2004.
• "Alpine inferno suspects acquitted." CNN. Thursday, 19 February 2004.