[DE] Disruption upper Rhine Valley caused by Tunneling works

[k-c-p]

Since this morning, no trains are running in the upper Rhine valley because tunneling works in Rastatt caused the tracks to sink.

In Rastatt a new tunnel is currently build to enhance capacity of the line by adding two more tracks (Karlsruhe–Basel high-speed railway project). This weekend the tunnel boring machines was supposed to pass below the existing line. As there only about 5m of earth between the tunnel and the line, the ground was frozen to give it more stability. Unfortunately, it did not work as expected.

These picture in a German rail forum give an impression of the damage
https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?002,8269019,8269239#msg-8269239

Luckily, it was caught right away and train service suspended before any train passed the damaged tracks.

Current estimate, that it will take at least until next week end to get the tracks back into service. As some media reports also mention cracks in the tubbings used in the tunnel, I do not share this optimistic assessment.

The tracks closure closures causes havoc for both passenger and freight rail as it is one of Germanys rail arteries. The summer holiday end in some parts of Germany this weekend, so a lot of holiday travellers are affected and on Monday the commuter will be hit. Replacement busses are reported to be overwhelmed by the crowds already.

Freight is also heavily affected as trains bound for Italy use this route to get to Switzerland.

 

[duesselmartin]

The main alternative route via Singen is also affected by engineering.

 

[Adlington]

Another photo, from Facebook

 

[Lad Brookes]

Great. I'm due to go that way in 10 days or so.

 

[Adlington]

Temporary timetable (PDF)

 

[k-c-p]

Track closure period has been extended to 26.08. Emergency schedules are being setup. DB recommends not to travel in the area unless you absolutely have to.

According to a sDB press release (http://www.deutschebahn.com/de/presse/pressestart_zentrales_uebersicht/14926472/p20170813.html) residents of four homes close the site were asked to leave their buildings as a precaution.

Current service situation:
- ICE/EC/IC from the north end in Mannheim, Karlsruhe or Rastatt and turn back to the north
- ICE/EC/IC from Switzerland end in Baden-Baden and go back Switzerland
- replacement bus service between Rastatt and Baden-Baden
- TGV/ICE to/from Paris/Marseile run via Saarbrücken and skip calling at Karlsruhe and Strasbourg (Marseille trains calls at Strasbourg)

Ticket cancellation fees have been waivered
Tickets that normally require you to take a certain train can be used other trains or alternative routes without the need of special permit.

 

[duesselmartin]

Freight diverted via France?

 

[33Hz]

Bahn.de shows a warning about the disruption but still claims the same journey time for Paris - Munich this week.

 

[k-c-p]

DB gave new information in a press conference yesterday (video available in an article of the Pforzheimer Zeitung)
- the grounds kept moving on Monday
- ground movement behind the boring shield resulting in tubbings to move and tumble down
- the incident was caused by the tunnel works, not by a passing train
- security save guards worked and train traffic was halted immediately
- evacuation of 4 homes next to the site is a precaution
- about 50m of the tunnel will be filled with concrete for stabilization
- re-opening of the line is the top priority. Everything else will be discussed later (Quote: We will continue to build the tunnel. How? No idea at the moment)
- re-opening date of 26.8. is in jeopardy

Freight diverted via France?

- Planning of alternate routes for freight trains has began
- number of freight trains in the area varies from 40 to about 170 per day
- discussions with Baden-Württembergs department of transport, if regional services can be cancelled to free up capacity for freight on alternate routes (they got positive signals on that)
- France is a possible route but the shorted one via Wörth/Lauterbourg requires Diesel locomotives. As do some German routes like the Südbahn


A Swis radio report stated the transport companies are moving their stranded trains to freight yard like Mannheim or Weil am Rhein to shift the cargo to ships and trucks. They will try to bill the costs to DB Netz.

Bahn.de shows a warning about the disruption but still claims the same journey time for Paris - Munich this week.

The data quality is still lacking. I have to go to Paris on Friday. Just to get a feeling what alternate routes could be, I queried for a trip this afternoon. I was offered a routing using trains that do not run.

Side note: So far no political reaction from the Federal government even-though our treasury secretary has his constituency about 50km south of the site. And our secretary of transport is too busy setting up his beloved road toll system for non-Germans, rescuing AirBerlin and dealing with Dieselgate (at least that is my I guess why he did weigh in on this so far).

To sum this up: This whole thing will drag on quite some time and will cost a lot of money.

 

[33Hz]

The data quality is still lacking. I have to go to Paris on Friday. Just to get a feeling what alternate routes could be, I queried for a trip this afternoon. I was offered a routing using trains that do not run.

Tell me about it. Just gone the opposite way.

The train left Paris 35 minutes late, apparently due to additional infrastructure problems at Forbach. At one point the SNCF app announced the train was cancelled, just a minute or so before the scheduled departure time. Somehow the DB app was predicting the correct amount of delay before we even departed. The train crew were not aware of the magnitude of the delay at this point (although the DB app would later go back to a shorter, incorrect delay).

Then the guard announced we would be 60-90 minutes late while still in France. It took me a while to realise where this additional delay was coming from: The system has the nominal journey scheduled as Mannheim to Stuttgart in 7 minutes!

 

[k-c-p]

Impressions from my trip

On my TGV the screen kept showing Straßburg but did not show the stops at Saarbrücken and Forbach.

We stopped for about 30min in Forbach. By combing the German and Frensh announcements it was more or less possible to get the whole picture: due to catenary prolems we had to take a detour but had to wait for a conductor first. It took us about an hour to get from Forbach to Metz. The Frensh and English of the train manager was pretty awful, but at least he tried to relay as much information as possible.

In the end I arrived in Paris with a delay of 3h30 (based in the schedule for the alternate Route - compared to the Route I had bought my ticket for the delay was 5h30).

In one aspect SNCF is doing a better information job than the DB: I bought my return ticket at SNCF and got a mail that the train will not call at my station but in Mannheim instead. I should change trains there. Let's see how Sundays return will work out.

Our regional public radio station reports that the track closure will continue until mid September.

 

[duesselmartin]

Also major disruption in and out of Austria today. Queued 2 hours for a replacement bus at Salzburg today arriving 4 hours late at my destination. Kufstein and Passau also affected.

 

[Groningen]

In Austria it is caused by the weather. In Germany it is man made.

 

[33Hz]

Also major disruption in and out of Austria today. Queued 2 hours for a replacement bus at Salzburg today arriving 4 hours late at my destination. Kufstein and Passau also affected.

Super. Guess where I am going next. Any news if it is the same today? DB and ÖBB shows no news I can see.

 

[Groningen]

Austria information about disruptions and works: https://www.oebb.at/en/news/sommerzeit-reisezeit-baustellenzeit

It seems that between Rastatt and Baden Baden there is a bus every 6 minutes.

 

[30907]

Super. Guess where I am going next. Any news if it is the same today? DB and ÖBB shows no news I can see.

As far as I can see the weather related problems are cleared, except for the branch line Passau-Mühldorf.

 

[k-c-p]

The DB just put out a press release that the track closure will be extended to 7. October (http://www.deutschebahn.com/de/pres...les_uebersicht/14996066/20170822_Rastatt.html)

Next mesures:
A concrete foundation of 120m in length and 1m thick will be put in place. This will take about 3 weeks. After that 150m of track, ballast and catenary will have to be replaced.

New schedules will be available starting 22. August. For tickets bought prior to this date the current compensation rules (tickets can be used on alternate rules, tickets can be cancelled without fees, tickets not tied to particular trains) apply. For ticket bought after this date only the usual passenger compensation rules apply.

In terms of freight:
Track work schedules on alternate routes have been changed to make room for freight trains. Additionally, on alternate routes non rush hour passenger services are reduced to accommodate freight traffic. On some routes night closures are suspended to be able to run trains 24x7.

Lets see, if this date will be met or if this drags on longer.

 

[Groningen]

Extra traffic on the Lauterbourg - Strasbourg seems to be unlikely at a short notice.

 

[sarahj]

Some video of the diverted trains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blyqd1K28Vo

 

[Groningen]

Strange, strange, strange. Trains from and to Horb can also go north to the Stuttgart area.

 

[csinc]

Does anyone know how this ultimate effects frieght traffic within Switzerland? Will be in Basel in a few weeks and had hoped to train spot, but is there basically nothing coming through there now? Also how does this effect things like the BLS line to Simplon and the BLS Railion lorry trains?

 

[duesselmartin]

With inter modal already in decline due to lacking punctiality, this could leave lasting damage to the freight sector.

 

[MacCookie]

Does anyone know how this ultimate effects frieght traffic within Switzerland?

There is significantly less running at the moment. Hupac are one of the big companies and are running less than a third of their weekly trains, with much freight entering Switzerland by boat to Basel.

Will be in Basel in a few weeks and had hoped to train spot, but is there basically nothing coming through there now?

Local freights still running, plus a handful that come via France. I would expect things to pick up over the next few weeks, but I'm not sure how much by. More freight will come through Schaffhausen once they finish the engineering works on that line in early September, but some trains already coming that way.

Also how does this effect things like the BLS line to Simplon and the BLS Railion lorry trains?

It impacts most freight from Germany to Switzerland and Italy.

By "BLS Railion lorry" trains, I'm assuming that you're referring to the roll-on/roll-off trains like https://www.flickr.com/photos/maccookie/36548265822/

These run from Freiburg and Basel, both south of the current block. But nothing to do with DB Cargo (Railion). They are operated for Ralpin by BLS and SBB, both part owners (along with Trenitalia and Hupac).

Unless you meant piggyback trains such as these:
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=61814646@N00&sort=date-taken-desc&text=Piggyback&view_all=1

These come from all over Europe, so many are impacted by the block.

Cheers,
Ewan

 

[csinc]

Thank you for the details. I did mean Railpin for the BLS trains, got them mixed up.

 

[Adlington]

Railway Gazette:

Basel section of European Rail Freight Corridor 1 will remain closed until October 7, following the tunnel collapse at Rastatt on August 12, infrastructure manager DB Netze confirmed on August 22.

Explaining that a sudden inrush of water had destabilised the boring of a new tunnel to carry a freight bypass under the existing main line, DB Netze said this had resulted in the tracks subsiding and a number of adjacent buildings collapsing.

The remedial plan involves removing around 150 m of track and overhead line, excavating the damaged subgrade and casting a 120 m long concrete slab to bridge the tunnel workings. At the same time, the damaged tunnel will be temporarily filled with concrete to safeguard the 4 km of undamaged bore and allow the tunnel boring machine to be recovered.

During the closure, most inter-city passenger trains have been curtailed and the Zürich – Hamburg night train is suspended. A frequent bus shuttle is operating between Rastatt and Baden-Baden, connecting with local trains and an hourly long-distance service in each direction.

In order to accommodate as many as possible of the 200 freight trains which normally use Corridor 1 each day, Rompf said DB Netze was ‘working intensively’ to free up as much capacity as it could on its diversionary routes. The Neckar-Alb line via Horb, Tübingen, Reutlingen and Plochingen is already available, while engineering work now underway on the electrified Gäubahn between Stuttgart and Singen will be wrapped up by September 5, a week earlier than scheduled. Other planned works are being postponed.

DB Netze is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn responsible for the railway infrastructure and operations.

 

[33Hz]

My trip doesn't get any better. Now my connection back again in Munich isn't possible thanks to DB moving the 21:51 IC to Stuttgart back to departure at 21:27. No idea if this is in anyway related to the situation at Rastatt but it seems to be a new timetable just implemented, not a one off for my date of travel.

I had a fixed spezial ticket for this. It's not even an e ticket but an old fashioned paper ticket sent through the post. The next train out of Munich is at 00:01 and would arrive at my planned stay over at 02:38. This is far too late. Instead I want to stay in Munich and go in the morning. Am I obliged to take the next train out can I argue that I should be allowed to take a morning train and that DB should pay my hotel bill?

 

[duesselmartin]

I would assume that you are oblidged to minimize damage by taking the next possible train.
The Spezial condition die not apply, so you can be flexible, but I doubt they would pay the hotel. Try and contact DB .
This is certainly the most chaotic rail summer I have experienced.

 

[33Hz]

I called Deutsche Bahn yesterday and was told that it was ok to take the morning train provided the ticket is endorsed by the information desk at Munich. Let's hope that is still open when my inbound train arrives.

However the guy on the phone couldn't tell me definitively about whether DB will compensate for hotel expenses. All he said was to book something and ask for the passenger rights form to try to claim it back.

The trouble is, when I look at https://www.bahn.com/en/view/bookin...ghts/passenger-rights-in-rail-transport.shtml it says that if the railway staff find us accommodation then that takes priority, so I could end up with an unused hotel booking which I can't claim for and won't know until after the cancellation window.

And yes, the disruption on this trip is a pain in the neck. I travel across Europe by train many times a year and it seems like all my bad luck has come at once - just when I take my partner on such a trip.

Sorry to drag this off topic...

 

[duesselmartin]

Compensation claims also take a long time to be processeced now with the Frankfurt office beeing overwhelmed. Take a low cost Hotel you should hopefully be ok. The information desk at Munich is open until late hours

 

[Groningen]

There is never an IC at 21.51. On 25 + 26 August at 21.27, but the rest of the week at 21.24. I am talking about IC 2090 to Berlin Hbf.