The 2025 Gothenburg tram derailment occurred in the early hours of Midsummer Eve, on 20 June 2025 at 00:47, when a tram derailed at high speed and crashed into a snack bar at Kungsportsavenyen, Gothenburg, Sweden. Eight people were injured, three of them seriously. The excessive speed was caused by the driver suddenly falling ill and losing consciousness.

Sequence of events Earlier

It is about forty-five minutes past midnight on a clear, starry night before Midsummer Eve, with the temperature at 12 °C. Tram 379, class M31, operating on Line 3, is travelling its final service of the day towards Drottningtorget before returning to Rantorget Depot.

The driver, a 59-year-old man, was a qualified tram driver with seven years of experience, having previously, among other, worked as a bus driver since the mid-1990s. He worked a rotating schedule consisting mainly of afternoon and evening shifts. On the day of the accident he had started work around 16 o'clock, he felt completely well, ate and drank as usual, and did not feel tired. He had just come off an extended break, and there was also nothing else in his daily routine that reportedly differed from normal. Toxicological tests carried out at the hospital later that morning were negative for both alcohol and drugs.

Vasaplatsen

In connection with the arrival at Vasaplatsen at 00:46, the driver's health deteriorated, as there were several irregularities in connection with the stop.

During the arrival, the tram overshot the stopping marker by , came to a stop with a jerk, and the doors opened immediately. The tachograph recorded an abnormal and somewhat prolonged braking during which no signal to the service brake appeared to originate from the driving control. Instead, it appears that the door-open button was used to brake the tram.

At the stop an average passenger exchange took place, four passengers alighted and one boarded over a period of 14 seconds, but the doors remained open for a total of 33 seconds. By comparison, the previous longest passenger exchange had been at the larger stop Järntorget with 22 seconds.

Vasagatan

The driver was most likely unaware of his condition, or of how quickly it would deteriorate, as the tram departed Vasaplatsen under full power. At some point in connection with this, he lost consciousness, although the exact time is unknown. As both his hand and foot remained on their respective vigilance controls, which require only minimal pressure and constitute the only installed system for monitoring the driver's level of consciousness, the tram continued forward.

This section of Vasagatan has a slight downhill gradient, which further increased the acceleration, and the tram quickly reached . The speed thereafter remained largely constant until the derailment, as built-in technical systems attempted to prevent the tram from exceeding its maximum permitted speed of .

Further down Vasagatan, a taxi turned onto Teatergatan and avoided the tram with literally a second to spare. Three seconds later, the tram passed the Valand stop and reached the three-way junction at Kungsportsavenyen.

Kungsportsavenyen

At Kungsportsavenyen, along the pedestrian walkway in the centre of Vasagatan, is the snackbar Sannegårdens Kebab. One employee is working in the kitchen while the colleagues are taking out the rubbish. Inside the dining area, three customers are seated and a further two are standing at the outside ordering window. The outdoor seating area is empty.

The points from Vasagatan onto Kungsportsavenyen were set to the left, towards Kungsportsplatsen. The front section of the tram attempts to follow the curve, but the wheel flanges climb over the rails and the tram derails. The strong lateral force throws both the passengers and the unconscious driver to the right. As a result, the driver's body also moves the driving control into the emergency brake position, simultaneously activating the warning bell.

A passer-by crossing the path of the derailed tram manages to run aside at the last second before it continues towards the snackbar. The two customers at the ordering window also manage to get out of the way at the last second, but the employee in the kitchen and the three customers in the dining area remain inside the building.

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Evacuation

As Kungsportsavenyen is a central hub for much of Gothenburg's nightlife, there were several witnesses to the accident. At 00:48:12, twenty-four seconds after the crash, the first emergency call was received by SOS Alarm, and nearby members of the public quickly arrived to assist with the evacuation.

The third pair of doors, in the middle section of the tram, was emergency-opened immediately after the accident, but after only two passengers had managed to evacuate, the doors closed and could not be opened again. While people outside attempted to reopen the third pair of doors, the passengers in the front section of the tram evacuated through the second pair of doors. After approximately 40 seconds, they succeeded in reopening the third pair of doors, and all passengers had evacuated by 00:48:52, approximately one minute after the crash. A later technical investigation by the Accident Investigation Authority showed that the emergency door release handle returns to its original position if it is operated too quickly and without sufficient care.