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Twenty-one people were killed instantly. According to official reports, corroborated by Witte's memoirs, at the moment of the crash the royal family was in the dining car. Its roof collapsed in the crash, and
Alexander held the remains of the roof on his shoulders as the children fled outdoors. None
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at high speed. Twenty-one people died at the scene and two later, and many others were injured. According to the official version of events, Alexander held the collapsed roof of the royal car on his shoulders while his family escaped the crash site uninjured. The story of the miraculous escape became
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In the preceding years, Witte had been regularly involved in managing imperial train journeys across his railroad and was well known to the tsar. Two months before the crash, Alexander, upset about Witte's insistence on reducing train speed limits, had publicly chastised him and his railway,
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290:, a combination that caused dangerous vibrations that, according to Witte, directly caused the derailment. Technical flaws of the royal train were known in advance, yet it had operated for nearly a decade without incidents.
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Immediately after the crash, the Chief
Inspector of Railways, Baron Sherval, who had been travelling on the royal train and had broken his leg in the crash, summoned railway manager Witte and director of
341:, the old shrine of Orthodoxy, was perceived as the source of the miracle; a contemporary pamphlet declared that the "power that Moscow had professed and that had exalted her revoked these laws ".
392:, whilst Koni shifted the blame onto the railroad, exonerating state officials. Witte, in particular, maneuvered between blaming state officials and exonerating Minister of Communications
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The three investigators disagreed on the direct cause of the crash. Witte insisted that it was caused by speeding, exonerating railroad management; Kirpichev blamed rotten wooden
404:, who died two months before the crash, was posthumously linked to inferior construction quality of the railroad. The public particularly "credited" him with substandard gravel
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road". According to Witte, he had warned the government earlier of the deficiencies in train setup, notably using paired steam engines and faulty saloon cars.
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referring to its owners' ethnicity: "Nowhere else has my speed been reduced; your railroad is an impossible one because it is a
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of 1654–1655; the laity believed that prayers in front of these icons enabled the survival of the Tsar. A special icon of the
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Scenarios of power: myth and ceremony in
Russian monarchy from Peter the Great to the abdication of Nicholas II
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intervention by the
Sovereign. Pamphlets by clergymen linked the miraculous escape to the miracles of
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Witte, p. 205, mentions this version of
Alexander's illness as uncertain: "Many believed that..."
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part of contemporary lore and government propaganda. The investigation into the crash, led by
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Dilemmas of
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The Borki
Cathedral was built to commemorate the event. Its less ornate replicas include
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of the royal family initially appeared to be hurt, but the onset of
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was celebrated. When
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pads that failed to cushion track vibrations as they were supposed to.
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occurred on
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is one of many churches built to glorify God for the Tsar's survival.
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Count Sergei Witte and the twilight of imperial Russia: a biography
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Inconclusive: combination of speeding, overload and faulty track
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was later linked to the blunt trauma suffered in Borki.
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355:Church of the Epiphany (Saint Petersburg)
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775:Disasters in the Russian Empire
368:Kharkiv Polytechnical Institute
618:. Princeton University Press.
418:List of Russian rail accidents
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573:. Harvard University Press.
699:Orange County, Virginia, US
223:), 295 kilometers south of
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765:1888 in the Russian Empire
594:The memoirs of Count Witte
770:History of Kharkiv Oblast
760:Railway accidents in 1888
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705:Mud Run, Pennsylvania, US
679:Railway accidents in 1888
612:Wortman, Richard (2006).
359:Harbin Orthodox Cathedral
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48:49.6875833°N 36.1281944°E
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329:at the end of the great
319:the established religion
711:Borki, Russia (Ukraine)
567:Thomas C. Owen (2005).
236:Alexander III of Russia
87:October 29, 1888 (N.S.)
780:Derailments in Ukraine
467:"17 октября 1888 года"
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53:49.6875833; 36.1281944
755:Derailments in Russia
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306:The survival of the
238:and his family from
213:Birky, Chuhuiv Raion
201:Borki train disaster
95:Near Borki station,
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205:Kharkov Governorate
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692:Location and date
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604:978-0-87332-571-4
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749:Categories
424:References
169:Statistics
156:Derailment
701:(12 July)
302:Publicity
231:carrying
591:(1990).
471:narod.ru
412:See also
357:and the
308:Romanovs
247:derailed
193:14 to 35
148:Railroad
134:Operator
129:mainline
92:Location
681: (
540:Sources
406:ballast
221:Ukraine
207:of the
190:Injured
142:Kharkov
127:Kharkov
112:Ukraine
103:Country
79:Details
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383:Jewish
339:Moscow
331:plague
323:divine
280:Crimea
240:Crimea
182:Deaths
174:Trains
225:Kursk
161:Cause
138:Kursk
123:Kursk
736:1889
723:1887
683:1888
620:ISBN
599:ISBN
575:ISBN
554:ISBN
390:ties
270:The
233:Tsar
199:The
146:Azov
119:Line
84:Date
282:to
242:to
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