Serious train accident at a freight terminal in North Rhine-Westphalia - millions in damage feared
Created: 08/05/2022, 12:46 p.m
By: Kai Hartwig
In Herne, a locomotive crashes into several stationary freight cars.
The driver is able to save himself at the last second, the property damage is considerable.
Herne – A serious train accident occurred in North Rhine-Westphalia on Friday night (5 August).
A train drove into stationary wagons on a private company site in Herne.
This was confirmed by a spokesman for the Bochum police when asked by dpa.
Train accident in Herne: Locomotive drives into stationary goods wagons – engine driver can just save himself
It is assumed that there is “immense property damage”, the police said.
The accident happened when a train crashed into the stationary freight wagons while shunting at a container terminal operated by a company in the west port.
As a result of the impact, according to the police, numerous wagons fell off the tracks.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the train accident.
The train driver of the locomotive involved in the accident was able to jump off his vehicle in time, so no one was injured in the end.
In addition, there were no dangerous goods in the wagons.
The cause of the accident is still unclear, the Bochum police said.
A serious train accident occurred in a container terminal in Herne (North Rhine-Westphalia).
© Markus Gayk/dpa
Spokesman for the container company has a guess as to the cause of the accident - "Most likely brakes failed"
The managing director of CTH Container Terminal Herne GmbH, Thorsten Kinhöfer, suspected a technical problem as the cause of the accident.
“The train did not come to a stop, most likely because the brakes failed.
Everything indicates that it was a technical and not a human error," he was quoted as saying by the
picture
.
According to the report, Kinhöfer said that the train accident destroyed the locomotive and between 15 and 20 containers.
He estimated the damage at an amount in the millions.
Kinhöfer, who used to act as a referee in the Bundesliga,
told the
WAZ that the container terminal would probably have to be closed for a week or two as a result of the train accident.
The CTH managing director had made a picture of the scene of the accident on Friday night.
According to Kinhöfer, around 50 freight trains are dispatched at the terminal in Herne every week.
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In Lower Saxony, on the other hand, a train accident at a level crossing recently ended less severely.
A man died in the process.
(kh)