In memory of the victims of the Otłoczyn disaster – join us for the ceremony
‘On 19 August at 4.30 a.m., a tragic train crash occurred near Toruń’ – this was the announcement made by the Polish Press Agency forty-five years ago. As a result of the collision of speeding trains in Brzoza near Toruń, 67 people lost their lives. On Tuesday (19 August), ceremonies commemorating this event will be held.
‘At this time, as every year, we return in our thoughts to the largest post-war train crash in Poland. We owe it to those who died, as well as to the dedicated rescuers,’ says Marshal Piotr Całbecki.
The celebrations will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a Holy Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Otłoczyn. After the service, in the forest between Brzoza and Otłoczyn, at the monument commemorating the disaster, those gathered will lay flowers.
The celebrations are organised by the regional government, the municipality of Wielka Nieszawka, the Regional Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Toruń, the Regional Police Headquarters in Bydgoszcz, the Bydgoszcz branch of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, Polregio SA Kujawsko-Pomorskie Plant in Bydgoszcz, the Gniewkowo Forest District, the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Otłoczyn, the Association of Friends of Railways and Technical Monuments, and the Railway Chamber of Tradition in Toruń.
On 19 August 1980, just before dawn, an express train from Kołobrzeg to Łódź departs from Toruń Główny station half an hour late, heading towards Włocławek. It is 4:18 a.m. Two minutes later, a freight train from Otłoczyn departs in the opposite direction. Its driver, tired after more than 20 hours on duty, ignores the ‘stop’ signal and, crossing the crossover, enters the left track against the flow of traffic, where a passenger train is approaching. The freight train driver’s error is signalled by automatic traffic control devices, and the traffic controllers in the area are immediately informed. However, nothing can be done, as the train drivers have no means of communication. At 4:30 a.m., in a ravine near the village of Brzoza, a collision occurs. Sixty-seven people are killed in the disaster: the train manager, the driver and two assistants, as well as 63 passengers.
Among the participants of the operation was Kazimierz Janicki, then head of the locomotive depot in Toruń and commander of one of the two rescue trains. It was Janicki who approached Marshal Piotr Całbecki with a request to organise ceremonies commemorating the 30th anniversary of the disaster. The Marshal of the Region took up this initiative without hesitation. Later that year, the regional government contacted the families of the victims, the rescuers, soldiers and firefighters who participated in the rescue operation, and invited them to a ceremony during which a commemorative plaque with the names of those who died tragically was unveiled.
Beata Krzemińska
Press spokesperson of the Marshal’s Office
14 August 2025