Elsterwerda train disaster

Elsterwerda station is in the town of Elsterwerda in the German state of Brandenburg. It lies on the Berlin–Dresden railway. The station is known for a train crash in 1997, when a freight train with 22 petrol tankers derailed and exploded on the station premises.

Friedrich Jage, a master mason and later an honorary citizen of Elsterwerda, built the then three-storey station building according to the specifications of the Berlin-Dresden Railway Company in "American"-style timber construction. The station was opened with the Berlin-Dresden railway on 17 June 1875 without a public opening ceremony. The first railway station master was a Mr Bruttloff. Excursion trains ran from Berlin to Dresden for an industrial exhibition on 10 and 17 July 1875. The 22 kilometre-long Riesa–Elsterwerda railway was opened on 15 October 1875.

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