Train disaster Harmelen

It is a pitch-black day in the history of the railway. On the foggy morning of January 8, 1962, two trains collided near Harmelen. The train disaster had a huge impact. 93 people lost their lives, including the father of Robert Tiggelman, who was 9 at the time: "I remember my mother noticing that something was wrong. A combination of the phone call that my father had not shown up for work and the announcement in the news that a train accident had occurred." He continues: "It was very foggy that morning. A signal was not seen; it was a human error." After the train disaster, it was decided that the safety system meant to prevent such accidents needed to be implemented more quickly. This train safety system is the automatic train control, or ATB/ATB First Generation. ATB is a system that monitors maximum speeds and brings a train to a stop if the driver does not brake in time.

Monument for the victims

On January 8, 2012, Pieter van Vollenhoven unveiled a monument for the victims of the disaster, which had occurred exactly fifty years earlier on that day. Ries van Leeuwen was the coordinator for placing the monument. The organization of the unveiling was in the hands of the Village Platform Harmelen.

The monument is a design by the artist Taeke de Jong from Kamerik and the stone mason was Maurice van Dam from Woerden. Taeke de Jong's father was involved in identifying the victims as the municipal doctor of Harmelen.

The design consists of two hard stone slabs, each 2 meters high, which are positioned at an angle to each other and upon which the 93 names of the deceased are inscribed. Between the slabs, the site of the tragedy can be seen. A red hard stone pedestal, featuring a body without a head, without arms, and with half legs, representing the victims, stands slightly in front of the slabs in the middle. On the front of the monument is a plaque with the date of the disaster and the number of victims.

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