Train hits people in Germany, two track workers dead
A German intercity train hit several people on Thursday morning, leaving two dead and several others injured. The fatal victims are track workers, according to preliminary findings by local policy. The incident happened near Cologne.
According to German media, the accident involved Intercity 2005, which was headed towards Koblenz. The train hit the group a little after 11.00 o’clock in the morning on the section near the town of Hürth. Shortly thereafter, the DB Regio division for the federal state of North Rhein-Westphalia posted a message on twitter saying there had been an incident of trespassing, much to the outrage of Twitter users. This was immediately followed by a post saying that emergency services had arrived on the scene. Local police, federal police and the fire brigade arrived on site to help with the evacuation of passengers.
The state police of the Rhein-Erft district have confirmed that the people on the track were indeed track workers. The incident resulted in psychological trauma for five other track workers. Why the group was not warned of an approaching train, remains unclear at this time. The intercity applying the emergency brake resulted in a single injury on board the train itself. Several regional train services are delayed and cancelled on Thursday as a result of the incident.
Further reading:
Tragically, predictive, “attending maintenance” (new speech for repairing…) at a most fatal and exposed environment – predictively – is claiming a human toll. This is not sustainable!
A shift is needed!
No longer sustainable railway infrastructure, decisively has to be outed!