It’s a nightmare: you’re sitting on the train, reading a book, scrolling on your cell phone, looking out the window, not suspecting anything bad. And then the train collides head-on with another, people are thrown from their seats, screaming.
Exactly such an accident happened on Monday in Schäftlarn south of Munich. A 24-year-old died when two S-Bahn trains collided, many other people were injured, some seriously. The images from the scene of the accident are oppressive (SZ Plus): cars hanging on the embankment like derailed model trains, crushed cars as if they were made of wax. You know these trains, you could have sat in them yourself.
The day after, one question dominates above all: How could this happen? A third of Munich’s S-Bahn network is single-track, with trains running in both directions. Does such a system cause serious collisions like in Schäftlarn? Experts point out that electronic safety systems automatically brake trains when they are traveling in the wrong direction – so single-track routes can be quite safe. However, the accident brings back memories of the Bad Aibling train accident with twelve dead six years ago: At that time, two Meridian trains collided head-on – also on a single-track route.
Munich’s Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter demanded on Tuesday that the double-track expansion of all routes in the Munich S-Bahn network must now be “urgently examined”. In any case, the debate about what lessons to learn from the accident has begun.
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