In the course of planned maneuvering on a railway overpass, a collision of two freight trains occurred. The force of the kinetic impact turned out to be so high that one of the trains derailed, as a result of which two multi-ton cars overturned and plunged onto the roadway of Schleißheimer Straße from a five-meter height.
Municipal services of Munich immediately put into effect a plan for the elimination of the consequences of the emergency incident. The specificity of the position of the deformed cars, which remained with one end on the structures of the bridge and with the other abutted against the asphalt, created a critical threat of further collapse, which required the emergency intervention of engineering units.
The first distress signal arrived at the integrated dispatch center of the rescue service around 01:40, after which large forces of the city fire department, medics, and road police were pulled to the site of the catastrophe. In the course of fixing the unstable structures, rescuers discovered beneath the debris the body of a track worker who took direct part in the maneuvering activities.
The injuries received by him turned out to be incompatible with life; the arrived doctors certified death on the spot. According to official statements of law enforcement agencies, other injured or dead persons among the personnel of the railway or accidental passers-by in the area of the incident were not discovered. Although on the internet many hype lovers asserted the opposite.
The fall of massive elements of the train entailed a concomitant material damage: at the moment of the collision, a regular bus of the Munich Transport Company was proceeding beneath the overpass.
In the cabin, according to the words of the rescuers, was located only the driver, and the plunged car only tangentially touched the body of the bus, inflicting light damages upon it, the DB employee himself was not injured. In addition, seven passenger cars parked at the edge of the roadway were damaged by debris of structures and ballast gravel.
Representatives of the Deutsche Bahn concern promptly distributed a statement according to which both of the cars that suffered the wreck were completely empty.
Since the trains did not transport dangerous chemical, toxic, or explosive substances, an environmental threat to the population of the nearby residential quarters is absent.
The emergency stage of the rescue operation concluded by 09:00, after which the site was transferred to the management of specialized emergency-restoration units of the company “DB InfraGo”.
For the elimination of the consequences of the accident in cramped urban conditions, two heavy industrial lifting cranes were involved. According to the approved technical plan, one of the deformed cars will be carefully lowered onto the street for subsequent evacuation by automobile tractors, and the second — raised back onto the rail track of the bridge.
The Munich road police completely blocked the movement of transport along Schleißheimer Straße in both directions on the section between Moosacher Straße and Max-Diamand-Straße. Because of the local closure of a key transport artery of the district, multi-kilometer traffic jams formed on adjacent highways, in connection with which drivers are recommended to choose alternative bypass routes through Milbertshofen in advance.
According to the estimates of specialists, complex engineering works on the stabilization of the overpass and clearing of the territory can last until Sunday. At the same time, the press service of the railway separately emphasized that this section of the track is used exclusively for the needs of freight logistics.
At the given moment, passenger communication, including suburban regional expresses and long-distance trains, functions in routine mode without any operational restrictions. Investigation of the exact causes of the collision of the trains and a check of compliance with safety regulations during maneuvers was taken up by a specialized investigative group of the Munich road police.
Source: dpa
Latest Posts
