accidents
Collision of freight trains – train cancellations in rail traffic
Two freight trains collided near Gifhorn on Thursday morning. photo
© Fernando Martinez Lopez/TNN/dpa
A freight train stops at a signal, another freight train drives up – explosive propane gas escapes from two wagons. According to the fire department, there is no danger to people. Numerous trains are cancelled.
After the collision of two freight trains in Lower Saxony, train passengers must expect train cancellations and delays on Thursday. It is still unclear when the route in the Gifhorn district will be released, as a railway spokeswoman said in the morning. “We cannot make a forecast.” The important railway line with numerous long-distance connections was closed.
According to Deutsche Bahn, ICE trains on the route from North Rhine-Westphalia via Hanover to Berlin and in the opposite direction will be diverted and will be delayed by around 60 minutes. There is no stop in Wolfsburg, instead the trains stop in Stendal. Increased capacity utilization is to be expected on the trains that are still running.
According to Deutsche Bahn, ICE connections from Switzerland via Frankfurt and Kassel to Berlin will be diverted; the Wolfsburg, Göttingen and Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe stops are no longer available.
The IC trains from Dresden via Hanover and Bremen to Norddeich Mole are therefore canceled between Hanover and eastern Germany, IC connections between Cologne via Hanover and Magdeburg to Dresden are canceled between Cologne and Braunschweig. The IC trains from Amsterdam to Berlin start and end in Hanover. The other IC and ICE trains in the section are canceled.
After two freight trains collided early in the morning, experts from the Marl Chemical Park fire brigade took over the rest of the work. The factory fire brigade specializes in such accidents and has the necessary equipment, said a fire brigade spokesman. The specialists are therefore expected in the afternoon at the accident site in Leiferde in the Gifhorn district.
Explosive propane gas is currently continuing to escape from two tank wagons – but the scene of the accident is “far away from the next building,” said the spokesman in the morning. The wind also distributes the gas. That suits the fire brigade.
Current traffic reports from the railways