The breakage of a wheel of a wagon of a convoy formed by two locomotives and 30 rail freight wagons caused 10 August 2023 the accident in the Gotthard Base Tunnel that caused the interruption of the circulation of trains in both the tunnel tubes. Traffic was partially restored the following 23 August with the commissioning of the east tube, with transits at reduced speed. The reopening completed of the gallery only took place on September 2, 2024.

The cause of the accident was confirmed by the report final on the derailment of the freight train published yesterday by the Swiss Safety Investigation Service (SISI), which has forwarded recommendations to the European Union Agency for Security (ERA) and the Swiss Federal Office of Transport FOT. The report specifies that a fragment of the wheel has detached ten kilometers after entering the train tunnel who then traveled another seven kilometers to the station multifunctional of Faido where it destroyed the mechanisms of operation of railway switches, causing considerable damage infrastructure and rolling stock.

In light of the report's findings, today the Group Swiss railway company SBB CFF FFS highlighted the high risk of the recurrence of accidents in rail freight traffic and has called for the swift implementation of the SISI recommendations. The company has announced that, in any case, until the adoption of incisive official measures, the group will gradually abandon and as soon as possible quickly possible the transport of freight wagons equipped with soles of the low-noise-low-friction (LL) type brakes, soles compared to to which the SISI report recommends that the ERA promote a Study on the influence of brake blocks on the heat load of the brake blocks wheels.

Specifying that they do not have wagons of this type in the fleet owned having long opted for brake pads in composite material (K soles), the Swiss railway group has highlighted that freight wagons equipped with wheels with LL brake pads belong to companies that are active internationally and that both SBB CFF FFS and other railway companies transport them by Switzerland and Europe. In addition, the group stressed that The Swiss railway company has no influence on the construction and maintenance of these wagons, while the risk and financial consequences of derailments are borne by the same SBB CFF SBB.

The railway group noted that the LL brake pads they involve a greater thermal stress on the wheels than to the previous grey cast iron brake blocks and which, nevertheless, according to the SISI report, the same maintenance methods. The group therefore urged both the FOT and the above all, the ERA to act quickly, arguing that, otherwise, in Switzerland and Europe, the use of freight wagons with brake pads LL should be restricted or even banned.

Remembering that on the Swiss railway network, the soles of the grey cast iron brakes (GG soles) have been banned since 2020 for reasons of sound protection and that today LL brake soles are used, the most common in Europe, or in composite material (K soles), SBB CFF FFS noted that there are numerous known events in which the LL brake soles caused the discs to overheat of the wheels and the formation of ice, with consequent possible damage to the wheel disc.