ICE disaster at Cologne: Passengers are waiting for 5 hours for rescue!

ICE disaster at Cologne: Passengers are waiting for 5 hours for rescue!

On Monday, an ICE stranded with around 230 passengers near Cologne after the train could no longer continue due to a locomotive damage caused by an impact against a heavy branch. The incident occurred around 8:30 a.m. when the ICE 527, on the way from Dortmund to Munich, passed the route. The last passengers were only able to leave the train after 5 hours and 20 minutes, so passionate travelers had to put up with a long waiting time.

The evacuation of the passengers started in the morning around 12:12 p.m. for the first part of the train. A parallel train connection and special bridges were used to safely get the passengers out of the train. For the second part of the evacuation, which started around 12:55 p.m., the Cologne fire brigade supported with tread managers. Overall, the passengers were then transported by bus to Cologne Central Station without injuries. The train apologized to the travelers for the inconvenience.

causes and effects

The impact on the branch damaged the grinding bar of the train, which is responsible for the power supply. In this way, the train was no longer able to move independently. During the crisis, parts of the route had to be blocked, but they were gradually released again. The broken ICE was finally towed around 3:30 p.m.

The evacuation was challenging for those affected because they had to climb out of the train with their suitcases and go to a nearby street. The long waiting time and difficulties in evacuation raises questions about how the security standards and the emergency management of Deutsche Bahn can be improved in such cases. Deutsche Bahn's emergency management policy stipulates that railway companies have to participate in fire protection and technical assistance measures, whereby responsibility has been with the federal states since 1994.

Emergency management of Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG has developed extensive emergency management strategies that include both preventive and reactive measures to ensure the safety of passengers and efficiency in emergencies. Facilities such as DB Netz AG are responsible for the alarm of rescue workers through central reporting points, while emergency managers are responsible for the specialist advice of the emergency services. DB AG maintains training centers and conducts regular emergency exercises in cooperation with local fire and emergency services to ensure operational readiness.

Overall, the incident shows the challenges with which Deutsche Bahn is faced with, and the importance of effective emergency strategies to increase the safety of passengers in the future. While train traffic was not severely impaired, it remains to be seen which consequences will result from this incident. Further information on this topic is in the reports of ZVW href = "https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/ice-evakuier-koeln-100.html"> wdr and Research information system