Rail parts rusted: Bahn sees no danger
Created: 10/21/2022, 8:00 p.m
By: Peter Reinbold
A picture of decomposition: a removed sleeper at the Eschenlohe railway station consists only of rotten, porous wood.
© Dominik Bartl
Bahn AG is currently repairing parts of the Munich – Mittenwald route.
Catastrophic conditions on parts of the rails were discovered near Eschenlohe.
Corrosion has eaten away tension clamps.
According to a railway spokeswoman, the risk of an accident cannot be derived from this.
The passenger association Pro Bahn criticizes the maintenance practice.
Eschenlohe
– Klaus Franz, whose real name is known to the editors, has been interested in the track construction of Deutsche Bahn not only since the train accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen at the beginning of June this year.
Franz documented with his camera what is discovered when the state-owned company – startled by the tragic death of five people – starts to examine the route between Munich and Mittenwald very closely and tries to repair it at lightning speed.
Eaten by rust: Tension clamps and ribbed plates fix the rail to the sleeper.
© private
A little over two weeks ago he set out in the early hours of the morning when everyone was still asleep and visited the construction site at Eschenlohe stop.
The dismantled sleepers and rails, which he could inspect undisturbed, caused him great excitement.
Above all, he was stunned by the condition of the tension clamps, which connect the tracks to the sleepers via the ribbed plates.
The material: partly totally rusted and in dissolution.
Some tension clamps were only fragments.
Some wooden sleepers were also long past their good times and in some cases consisted only of a decaying, porous mass.
Just a heap of scrap steel: cut rails that are stored near Eschenlohe.
© Dominik Bartl
Franz made the images available to the Tagblatt editors, but under the condition that they remain anonymous.
"It can't have been safe anymore," he says worriedly.
Especially since until June ICE trains towards Innsbruck or Munich passed this section of the route near Eschenlohe, albeit at a slower speed.
Weilheimer Norbert Moy (57), chairman of the “Pro Bahn” Upper Bavaria passenger association, also had the impression that the tension clamps were being dissolved when studying the pictures.
His first guess: "The track looks like it was really lying in the dirt." That could happen, for example, at a level crossing.
"If it is regularly flooded during high water, gradually silted up and then salt water from the road salt seeps in, an aggressive, corrosive environment can form, which kills the tension clamps." Moy forwarded the pictures to the operations manager of a non-federally owned railway.
That confirmed Moy's assessment.
“The tension clamps are definitely not holding anything anymore.
My colleague confirmed my suspicion about the level crossing and the destruction caused by salt water seeping in,” explained Moy.
This theory is also considered the most likely at DB Netz AG.
Especially in the winter months, water collects under the level crossing, which, in combination with the salt from the clearing vehicles, causes the steel to corrode.
"The road salt used here makes a significant contribution to significantly faster corrosion," says a railway spokeswoman.
Was there a risk of an accident due to the heavy corrosion?
Nobody wants to give a concrete answer to this question.
According to Moy, this depends on other circumstances: For example, how many tension clamps are still affected in the immediate vicinity of those shown in the photo.
The system usually has sufficient redundancy, which means that the failure of one component does not directly damage the entire system.
A railway spokeswoman estimated the percentage that there was a risk to life and limb to be close to zero.
"The material thickness of the ribbed plates and tension clamps is manufactured in accordance with the applicable regulations of DB Netz AG with appropriate material reserves, so that even after several decades, ribbed plates do not pose any danger to railway operations."
also read
In the middle of a residential area: construction site degenerates into a "mess" - community can not do much
Fire brigade deployment during ZDF filming of the series "Marie catches fire"
The Federal Railway Authority, which is responsible for controlling Deutsche Bahn, only makes approximate and very vague statements.
"In the railway supervision, the Federal Railway Authority randomly monitors whether the railway infrastructure companies that fall under its responsibility are complying with their statutory safety responsibilities and are observing the relevant laws and regulations," says the Tagblatt.
"The image sections you sent suggest that the track sections have already been removed, are intended for dismantling and/or removal and are stacked next to the railway line.
A serious professional assessment of the superstructure condition is not possible on this basis," says a spokesman for the Federal Railway Authority.
Moy is braver.
He does not hold back with criticism of the railway.
In his opinion, maintenance shouldn't let it get to the point “as is evident in this case.
But we've been experiencing this for years: After every inspection drive in Werdenfels, speed restrictions are set up or sections of track are closed because damage occurs that could have been avoided in advance with preventive maintenance".
According to Moy, the corrective maintenance practiced, i.e. waiting until it is no longer possible and the damage occurs, is “cheaper from the operator’s point of view, but a catastrophe from the passenger’s point of view”.
Pro Bahn has been warning of this for years.
"It's just bad that a terrible accident has to happen before these conditions are taken seriously," says Moy.