The train disaster of Eschede
The ICE high-speed train "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen" was on the route from Munich to Hamburg. After stopping in Hanover at 10:30 am, the train continued its journey northwards. Six kilometres south of Eschede, near Celle, a wheel rim lining a wheel on the third axle of the first car broke, peeled away from the wheel, and punctured the floor of the car, where it remained embedded.
What followed was a chain of events that unfolded in seconds and yet would later take investigators months to piece together.
As the train passed over the first of
two track
switches, the embedded wheel rim slammed against the guide rail of
the switch, pulling it from the railway ties. This steering rail also
penetrated the floor of the car and became embedded there, lifting the
axle carriage off the rails. At 10:59, one of the now derailed wheels
struck the points lever of the second switch, changing its setting. The
rear axles of car number 3 were switched onto parallel track, and the
entire car was thereby thrown into the bridge pylons
of a 300 metric tonne
roadway overpass, destroying them completely.
Car number 4, likewise derailed by the
violent deviation of car number 3 and still travelling at 200 km/h (125
mph), passed intact under the bridge and rolled onto the embankment
immediately behind it. Three railway workers who had been working near
the bridge were killed instantly when the derailed car crushed them.
The tearing of the wagon hitches caused automatic brakes to engage and
the undamaged cars 1 to 3
(as well as the front locomotive) came to a halt at the Eschede train
station, some 3 km (2 miles) down the track. As the second half of car
number 5 passed under the bridge, it collapsed, flattening the car
completely. The remaining cars folded into the rubble in a zig-zag
pattern, as the collapsed bridge had completely obstructed the track:
Cars 6 and 7, the service car, the restaurant car, the three first
class cars numbered 10 to 12, and the rear locomotive all derailed and
slammed into the pile. The resulting mess was likened to a partially
collapsed folding ruler.