As of: 02/20/2022 4:23 p.m
It looks particularly bad on the ICE route between Hamburg and Hanover. But elsewhere in the north, the damage caused by the storms is greater than expected. And in some regions, rail traffic will be completely stopped again.
The severe storms “Ylenia” and “Zeynep” have caused even more damage to the railway network in the past few days than initially thought. Deutsche Bahn announced that this was discovered during further reconnaissance trips and helicopter flights. “Since the series of storms began on Wednesday evening, a total of more than 6,000 kilometers of the route network has been impassable,” said a spokesman. At noon, 874 kilometers of railway lines were still affected by damage.
Restrictions until at least Monday afternoon
Especially in the north and north-east of Germany, travelers should expect severe impairments until at least Monday afternoon. The train advised to postpone travel to and from Hamburg as much as possible.
There were no long-distance trains between Hamburg and Berlin, between Berlin/Hamburg and Rostock/Stralsund, Norddeich Mole/Emden and Cologne/Hannover and Berlin and Amsterdam, it said on Sunday afternoon. A reliable prognosis for the further course is not possible – also because of the approaching further storm “Antonia”. “Antonia” is said to bring hurricane-like gusts in the night to Monday, especially in the north-west and west.
The train advised passengers to contact the free hotline before boarding 08000 99 66 33 to inform.
2000 emergency services for damage repair in action
According to the railway, around 2,000 emergency services are on duty around the clock to remove fallen trees and repair overhead lines. In view of the volume, however, this can only be done step by step. Among other things, the route between Hanover and Hamburg was extremely affected. Rows of trees were toppled here and damage to the overhead lines was recorded for kilometers. In addition, catenary masts would have to be completely repositioned in some cases.
In the Uelzen area south-east of Hamburg, the overhead line construction has to be completely rebuilt over a length of 600 meters.
Metronome is gradually shutting down train services again
Meanwhile, the railway company Metronom announced that train services would be gradually discontinued on Sunday. After 9 p.m., Metronom, Enno and Erixx trains are no longer on the move, announced the company in Uelzen, which mainly serves routes in Lower Saxony. An emergency bus service is expected to last until Monday afternoon. On Sunday, trains were initially running again on many routes, but there were cancellations, delays and deviations from the timetable.
No regional traffic in Berlin at night
In Berlin, the S-Bahn is running again, but some routes in regional and especially long-distance traffic remain restricted. Now that the third storm “Antonia” is approaching, regional traffic in Berlin and Brandenburg is to be suspended again. Because of the expected new storm low on Monday night, operations on Sunday evening will again be temporarily stopped, it said.
In the past few days, the hurricanes “Ylenia” and “Zeynep” had caused fatal accidents and immense damage. According to initial estimates, the two storms are likely to cost insurers more than 1.4 billion euros.