Hamburg Level Crossing crash

[Blackpool boy]

Saw this on the new earlier and thought id share it with you - ive no idea about Hamburg but good to see some discussion about the infrastructure around there and about the barriers

MSN

One person has been killed and 25 more injured in a collision between a high-speed train and a truck in Germany.

The scene of the collision. Pic: Daniel Bockwoldt/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images© Associated Press
Six of the injured were in a serious condition after the crash on a level crossing outside the city of Hamburg on Tuesday.

Pic: Daniel Bockwoldt/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images© Associated Press
A 55-year-old passenger died at the scene.

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The train rammed the truck on the crossing, and windows in carriages at the front of the train shattered, according to local reports.

Pic: Daniel Bockwoldt/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images© Associated Press
Almost 300 people were on the train at the time. The truck was loaded with rails, which were strewn around the accident site.

Uninjured passengers were evacuated and taken to a nearby station by bus, police said.

It was not immediately clear what led to the accident. The truck driver was taken in for questioning.

The truck has now been towed away, with one track of the railway line reopened.

 

[ainsworth74]

Do we have any idea what the line speed is in the area?

 

[AndrewE]

I find

Uninjured passengers were evacuated and taken to a nearby station by bus, police said.
It was not immediately clear what led to the accident. The truck driver was taken in for questioning.

The truck has now been towed away, with one track of the railway line reopened.

to be remarkable...

 

[duesselmartin]

Do we have any idea what the line speed is in the area?

in general speeds of 160 kmh or above, no barrier crossings are allowed.

 

[Gloster]

The accident appears to be at Rellerstrasse at the start of the cutoff via Hitfeld to Buchholz that leaves the main line to Hannover just before Maschen Yard. Trains are only just beginning to accelerate here.

 

[duncombec]

The accident appears to be at Rellerstrasse at the start of the cutoff via Hitfeld to Buchholz that leaves the main line to Hannover just before Maschen Yard. Trains are only just beginning to accelerate here.

That's the only level crossing in Rönneburg I can see on Google, protected by half-barriers (The NDR link below confirms it) - the road leads to the Vossloh Rail Center, which may help explain the weight of the lorry and the various bits of metalwork in the pictures.

From a few German news articles, it appears that very heavy lorry was unable to achieve the crossing in time, and despite emergency breaking, the train was unable to stop in time. The driver of the lorry, who was injured, is being investigated for Gefährlicher Eingriff in den Bahnverkehr (lit. Dangerous interference with the railway) and Fahrlässiger Tötung (lit. causing death through negligence, so akin to involuntary homicide/manslaughter). The passenger in question passed away on the way to hospital.

A decent news story for the online translation service of your choice is available here - NDR is the local equivalent of a BBC region: https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamb...Ein-Toter-mehrere-Verletzte,zugunfall626.html

 

[Gloster]

If the crossing had been in the UK I think it would have been deemed very high-risk and had CCTV or supervising staff, and been up for early replacement by a bridge. The road runs north alongside the line, turns sharply across it and then sharply again to go back south. It is a cul-de-sac that doesn’t go anywhere but the sidings, but with heavy vehicles in such a situation it really was the proverbial ‘accident waiting to happen’.

 

[USRailFan]

I'm having trouble interpreting the second photo from the top, but it looks like the entire front cone has fallen off the ICE (which means it's an ICE-3?)?

 

[MCR247]

I'm having trouble interpreting the second photo from the top, but it looks like the entire front cone has fallen off the ICE (which means it's an ICE-3?)?

It looks like a later version than an original ICE 3 to me, but I’ve not kept up on how later ICEs are designated

 

[dazzler]

It looks like a later version than an original ICE 3 to me, but I’ve not kept up on how later ICEs are designated

Looks more like an ICE 4, the cab is a lot squarer on the 4 compared to the many variations of ICE 3. I'm not sure ICE 3s work to Hamburg either, I know the 4s definitely do.

 

[edwin_m]

I'm having trouble interpreting the second photo from the top, but it looks like the entire front cone has fallen off the ICE (which means it's an ICE-3?)?

The front cone probably contains energy absorbing material such as a metal honeycomb, which may just have been squashed flat as intended. It would make no noticeable difference to the consequences of a high speed collision with another train or a solid object, but is probably enough for significant mitigation of a collision with a road vehicle. This feature may well have saved the life of the driver.

 

[30907]

If the crossing had been in the UK I think it would have been deemed very high-risk and had CCTV or supervising staff, and been up for early replacement by a bridge. The road runs north alongside the line, turns sharply across it and then sharply again to go back south. It is a cul-de-sac that doesn’t go anywhere but the sidings, but with heavy vehicles in such a situation it really was the proverbial ‘accident waiting to happen’.

An instruction to drivers of long or heavy vehicles to seek permission would do the job, assuming the road isn't particularly busy.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looks more like an ICE 4, the cab is a lot squarer on the 4 compared to the many variations of ICE 3. I'm not sure ICE 3s work to Hamburg either, I know the 4s definitely do.

I'd agree it looks like an ICE4, the door windows are a fairly distinctive shape, on other ICEs they're either round or smaller.

As regards level crossings, northern Germany is flat as a pancake, basically the same landscape as the Netherlands, so there are a lot of them and bridges are costly as you're basically building a flyover, you can't just divert the road along a bit to somewhere where the railway is naturally slightly below that level.

 

[USRailFan]

Doesn't look like the train jack-knifed, which often is the case in this type of collision, and I don't think these ICEs have Jacobs boggies? Either just extreme stroke of luck, or very low speed impact?

 

[89-763-733]

It was ICE 4 unit 9460

 

[USRailFan]

It was ICE 4 unit 9460

That would make it one of the 13-car ones?

 

[89-763-733]

That would make it one of the 13-car ones?

Yes, end car 5812 060

formations here

ICE 4 – Wikipedia

de.m.wikipedia.org