Status: 01.12.2022 19:08
After the accident with two freight trains near Leiferde, the route should be closed earlier. From December 11th, the busy section between Hanover and Berlin should be free again.
This was announced by Deutsche Bahn on Thursday evening. So far, the company had planned to reopen the route on December 16th. “The great commitment of all employees and the support of the technical relief organization and the fire brigade ensured that the complicated rescue work could be completed faster than planned,” said the railway. Until the route is released, many rail travelers have to plan two hours longer to Berlin: Long-distance traffic between Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia will be diverted via Uelzen on the Hanover – Berlin section, the railway said. “This leads to a travel time extension of at least 120 minutes.”
Rails, overhead lines, gravel: repairs to the track begin
The rescue work was completed on Thursday. Most recently, specialists had loaded the crashed locomotive onto a special wagon and taken it away. According to the railway, the extensive repairs on the route are now beginning. Rails, sleepers, ballast and several catenary masts will be replaced in the coming days. In addition, more than one and a half kilometers of overhead lines and around two kilometers of cable for the control and safety technology will be relaid. Because the locomotive involved in the accident lost oil, the soil at the accident site must also be replaced.
Propane gas in tank wagons made salvage difficult
The last overturned tank wagon was loaded on Wednesday and prepared for transport. During the train accident in the district of Gifhorn on the night of November 17, a freight train with 25 tank wagons filled with propane ran into a stationary freight train. The four overturned or damaged tank cars, which contained 200 tons of propane, had been completely emptied less than a week ago and flushed out with liquid nitrogen to be safe. When working with the gas, there was always a risk of an explosion – so the recovery took longer.
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