A good one and a quarter years after the train accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen with five deaths and numerous injuries, there are now the first final investigation results from the responsible public prosecutor’s office in Munich II. The train driver of the regional train that derailed near Burgrain on June 3, 2022 is innocent. The public prosecutor’s office has discontinued criminal proceedings against the train driver and a dispatcher at Deutsche Bahn. Three suspects are still being investigated on suspicion of negligent homicide.
Upon request, the public prosecutor’s office confirmed that the files of two of the last five accused had been closed. There was no evidence of any wrongdoing by these two people that led to the accident. The public prosecutor’s office did not reveal the names or functions of the two people. This also applies to the three accused who are still being investigated.
However, it is possible to hear from circles of those involved in the process which officials are involved. The train driver and a dispatcher are innocent. Three Deutsche Bahn employees remain under suspicion: another dispatcher, a person responsible for the track systems and an inspector. It is not yet clear how the investigation against these three employees will be completed, i.e. whether there will be charges or not. In the event of an indictment, the judiciary would first have to decide whether there would be a trial. It is the presumption of innocence. That would only change if there was a final conviction.
Damaged concrete sleepers caused the accident
The public prosecutor’s office has now received a final expert report on the circumstances of the accident, in which several cars on the regional train from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Munich overturned. The public prosecutor’s office did not comment on the content of the report. When asked, Deutsche Bahn said the report came to the conclusion that “damaged concrete sleepers were the primary cause of the accident.” “This report confirms our suspicion – defective concrete sleepers led to this tragic accident.” Immediately after the accident, special inspections began and numerous concrete sleepers of this type were replaced. “We are also checking our sleepers even more closely,” explained the railway.
A year after the accident, the Federal Bureau of Railway Accident Investigation also referred to defective concrete sleepers as the suspected cause of the accident in an interim report. The report states, A “deficiency in the superstructure”, i.e. in the rail route, was the “primary cause”.. The Munich II public prosecutor’s office still has no suspicion of any violations of the law against the company that manufactured these concrete sleepers. There is no investigation here.
After the train accident in Burgrain, Deutsche Bahn hastily examined its routes in more detail and initially set up numerous so-called slow speed points, which made the timetables obsolete in many places. The Werdenfels network around Garmisch-Partenkirchen was particularly affected. Here the railway is still far from normal operation. The route from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Mittenwald, which has not been used for many months, is closed until at least October 7th because a dilapidated retaining wall needs to be renovated.
Train traffic from Mittenwald to Seefeld in Tyrol and Innsbruck has also been interrupted for several days because a mudslide buried the tracks near Scharnitz after a storm on the Austrian side. The Austrian Federal Railways are building the route from Garmisch-Partenkirchen via Reutte to Pfronten, which is why no trains are expected to run here until October 5th.