S-Bahn accident near Munich: the shock of those affected runs deep – clean-up work begins

Created: 02/17/2022, 09:54

By: Nina Bautz

The scene of the S-Bahn accident near Ebenhausen-Schäftlarn.

© dpa/Matthias Balk

After the terrible S-Bahn accident in Ebenhausen-Schäftlarn near Munich, the shock is deep.

Meanwhile, the clean-up work is already in full swing.

Munich – The rubble is still widely scattered, parts of the train are next to the tracks on the edge of the embankment.

The accident site in Ebenhausen-Schäftlarn, where two S-Bahn trains crashed into each other on Monday (February 14), was almost unchanged, and the accident was palpable.

Now the complex salvage is to begin.

During the night of Wednesday (February 16), workers dismantled the catenary wire so that the special cranes could work freely.

The plan is to use a giant device from the railways that moves on the rails - similar to the crane that was already used after the train accident in Bad Aibling in 2016.

In addition, a telescopic crane from the Schmidbauer company will probably work from the street.

According to the company, the device weighs 220 tons and can stand stably on uneven ground and in tight spaces.

S-Bahn accident: pastors take care of residents

Meanwhile, the town of Schäftlarn* is still in shock.

The accident, in which a passenger died and 19 people were injured, is too far-reaching.

The work is far from over for the chaplains of various crisis intervention teams who care for relatives and victims.

It was not uncommon for those who were there to still experience reality as in the film, "as if you were wrapped in cotton wool," says pastoral officer Timo Grünbacher (40).

Only after a day or two do you really understand what happened.

That one might not live any longer if one had sat further ahead.

It's totally okay, even if four to six weeks later, images that you've seen keep coming up.

The memory that pops up again and again, says Grünbacher, is “a normal reaction to an abnormal event”.

The pastoral workers try to take some of the fainting away from those affected.

Grünbacher says that people like to hold the reins of life in their own hands, "that's healthy".

S-Bahn accident: Pastor pays his respects to emergency services

How impressed he was by the emergency services, who did their job "extremely bravely": This is what Pastor Stefan Scheifele reports.

"There was no activism, no one who would have played in the foreground." He says the community had "1000 guardian angels" who made sure that no train slid down the embankment.

"Otherwise it would have been a second Eschede."

An ecumenical memorial service will be held on Friday (February 18) at 7 p.m.