Würmtal helpers in the S-Bahn accident

Created: 02/15/2022, 17:31

By: Victoria Strachwitz

"The management structures work very well there": The coordination of the numerous emergency services during the S-Bahn accident worked.

© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

The S-Bahn accident in Schäftlarn also employed special forces from the fire brigades in the Würmtal.

Forces from Planegg, Gräfelfing and Neuried were on site.

Würmtal

– One image sticks in the head of the spokesman for the Gräfelfingen fire brigade, Thomas Hickel: The chassis of the train is on the tracks, the train is no longer.

"You can see the forces that were at work there." Emergency services from the Planegg, Neuried and Graefelfing fire brigades were alerted on Monday afternoon after two S7 line S-Bahn trains collided in Schäftlarn-Ebenhausen.

Thomas Hickel says: "You don't experience that every day." He was one of the first to take pictures in the trains to create a situation map.

Planegg's commander Martin Heizer was also on site and says: "It was not an everyday event." The picture that the emergency services offered was extreme: "It's dramatic when you see the train on the slope." Hickel explains: "Despite all the tragedy, it could have been much worse if the train had fallen down the slope." The slope along the track is around ten meters high.

“Thank God” this accident cannot be compared to that in Bad Aibling, says Martin Heizer.

A total of 17 emergency services were deployed from the Würmtal to help in Ebenhausen.

Above all, they supported the operations management and took care of the psychosocial emergency care (PSNV-E) for fire brigade comrades from the Munich district.

They also drove comrades, a power generator and Munich District Administrator Christoph Göbel from Gräfelfing to the scene.

The district administrator was deeply affected by what he saw there.

"In particular, my thoughts are with the family of the deceased young man and with all those injured in the accident," he said, praising the efforts of the rescue workers.

Everyone would have provided great help together and shown extraordinary commitment.

Thomas Hickel and his seven colleagues only returned to Gräfefing after midnight.

The three firefighters from Neuried involved in the operation reached the Würmtal at 10:45 p.m.

The alarm was raised at 4:43 p.m.

Martin Heizer also praises the good cooperation of the numerous emergency services on site.

"The management structures work really well there," he says.

He himself was one of those responsible for the psychosocial emergency care of the comrades.

And he says: "There was a need." On site, he conducted one-on-one interviews with firefighters from the Munich district, who have to deal with dramatic images.

The PSNV-E team also supported the firefighters involved in the operation in the follow-up to the event.

“We are there for them,” explains Heizer.

District Administrator Christoph Göbel also deals with the consequences of what happened.

He says: "One thing is certain, the safety-related expansion of the railway network must have the highest priority."