Urgent situations - Ice wagons derail due to landslide: "A slight commotion"
In Schwaebisch Gmuend, Baden-Württemberg, an ICE train derailed after a landslide, involving 185 passengers. There were no injuries reported, and the evacuation process was smooth, with a railway spokesperson stating that it was "well organized, no panic, everyone was calm." Elena Fabian, a passenger, confirmed this, telling dpa, "There was a bit of noise. Then everything was well organized, no panic, everyone was calm. The emergency services were quick and took good care of us."
This event occurred about 50 kilometers east of Stuttgart, and the area had faced heavy rainfall, affecting wide parts of Baden-Württemberg. The ICE 510 train had two wagons that came off the tracks, approximately at 11:20 p.m., and while they didn't overturn, the landslide was about 30 meters wide. The evacuated passengers were initially taken to a nearby kindergarten, only to be later transferred by buses to Plüderhausen (Rems-Murr-Kreis) and Stuttgart.
The section between Aalen and Stuttgart was initially closed, but the duration of this closure and the resumption of long-distance train operations between Stuttgart and Munich were unknown. An initial report claimed that a regional train with 60 passengers and a single wagon was impacted by the landslide, but it was, in fact, the ICE 510 train that was affected. Because of the floods in southern Germany, this train was rerouted between Ulm and Stuttgart.
The landslide site sees the road and railway running parallel, resulting in a car being also affected. Luckily, the driver remained unharmed as well.
