The accident in the Gotthard Base Tunnel, between Switzerland and Italy, which took place one year ago, has led the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) to introduce new recommendations for rail wheels. The first recommendation entails a different classification for wheel types identified as high risk, while the second one includes changes concerning wheel re-profiling.

The recommendations were developed by the ERA’s Joint Network Secretariat at the request of the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (FOT) and the Swiss Federal Railways. The new “recommendations complement or replace those already adopted by its Task Force «Broken Wheels» in 2017 and 2019”, the FOT said. This initiative started in response to the accident in the Gotthard Base Tunnel last year, which was caused by a faulty wheel, a problem that could have not been detected.

The changes in classification, more specifically, would concern the downgrading of wheel types such as the BA 390 (the type involved in the accident) and similar ones to ‘no longer thermostable’. This would mean stricter procedures in case of signs of thermal overload, such as after braking. The specifications for the introduction of a larger minimum diameter for final re-profiling and operation, on the other hand, were not further specified.