A late morning collision occurred between an ICE 613 train from Bremen and a semi-trailer truck with rails on board. According to preliminary findings, the collision occurred because the truck’s rear end was still in the rail area. There were 291 passengers on the train, of whom about 25 were injured. The truck driver was also lightly injured. During the rescue operations, emergency responders discovered the body of a 55-year-old man in the ICE.
The fatal collision occurred on Tuesday at 2:13 pm at an unsecured, half-barriered level crossing with a traffic light in Hamburg-Rönneburg. According to information from the NDR, six people were moderately injured, 19 lightly, including the truck driver. The victim was a 55-year-old man.
The sequence of events leading up to the avoidable accident, as reported in the NDR article, is as follows:
“The truck carrying tons of rails, drove too slowly in a curve at the level crossing and due to the heavy load, was unable to clear the crossing in time. The rear of the truck was still on the tracks when the ICE approached. The train could not brake in time.”
The truck driver jumped out of the vehicle in the last second. According to the account of an eyewitness, the impact was so strong that the windows of the front ICE cars shattered. According to the German Railways, it took “two to three hours after the accident for the long-distance train to be evacuated and the passengers to be transported to Hamburg-Harburg by bus.”
The railway was completely closed on Tuesday and a specialized company was commissioned to clear the track. The NDR reported that “in addition to overhead lines, also masts were knocked over” as a result of the accident. “The train was successfully towed away” a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson announced. According to Deutsche Bahn, one of the affected tracks was restored to service early on Wednesday morning.