Schwäbisch Gmund. A landslide derails two cars of a diverted ICE train. The train’s 185 passengers and one driver remained unharmed. The most important rail link in the south is now blocked.
Two carriages of an ICE with 185 passengers on board derailed after a landslide in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Baden-Württemberg. According to a railway spokesman, the passengers were not injured and were evacuated from the train overnight. “It resonated a little. Then everything was really well regulated, without panic, everyone was calm. The emergency services arrived quickly and took good care of us,” passenger Elena Fabian told dpa.
Schwäbisch Gmünd is located about 50 kilometers east of Stuttgart. There, as in much of Baden-Württemberg, there was significant rainfall. According to a railway spokesman, the first two cars of ICE 510 jumped off the tracks on the journey from Munich to Cologne at around 11:20 pm, but did not tip over. The landslide was approximately 30 meters wide.
Train passengers were accommodated in the kindergarten
The train passengers were initially accommodated in a nearby kindergarten. They were then taken by bus to Plüderhausen (district of Rems-Murr) and Stuttgart. It was initially unclear how long the route between Aalen and Stuttgart would remain closed – as well as when long-distance trains could run between Stuttgart and Munich again.
Initially it was said that a regional train with around 60 passengers and a car were hit by the landslide. But it was ICE 510. It had been diverted between Ulm and Stuttgart due to flooding in southern Germany.
At the landslide site, the affected district road and railway line run parallel. Therefore, a car was also hit by the landslide. His driver was also unharmed.
ICE to be rescued after morning landslide
The ICE is expected to be recovered during Sunday morning. Regional traffic cannot therefore pass through the route, said a dpa railway spokeswoman. There is an auxiliary locomotive on the second track of the route to support the rescue. How long the closure will last is unclear. In the meantime, regional traffic was able to pass through ICE.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240602-99-243385/5 (dpa)