Two people died in a train accident near Cologne on Thursday. According to initial investigations, an Intercity (IC) drove into a group of railway workers. Two of them died. Five workers who witnessed the accident suffered shocks, a federal police spokeswoman said. They were physically unharmed.
The fire brigade and police were deployed in large numbers, and a helicopter circled over the scene of the accident. The accident happened on the open road near Hürth, within sight of a high-rise settlement. The cause of the accident is still unknown, according to police. Investigators secured clues.
The IC 2005 was on the way from Emden to Koblenz, according to a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn. The train caught the workers around 11 a.m., a police spokesman said. The railway line was closed.
According to Bahn information, there were around 50 people in the IC. They had to remain on the train for hours after the accident and were looked after by emergency managers and police officers. According to the railway, it was initially not possible to transport the train. The train has a braking problem that was likely caused by the accident, a company spokesman said.
Due to the train accident, there are cancellations and delays in long-distance and regional traffic in the area. According to Bahn, long-distance trains between Cologne and Koblenz will be diverted on the right bank of the Rhine and will be delayed by around 20 minutes. The Bonn Hauptbahnhof, Remagen and Andernach stops are no longer available. There were also delays and partial cancellations on the regional train lines 30 and 48 as well as on the regional express 5. A replacement bus service has been set up between Brühl and Cologne Hauptbahnhof.