One person has been killed and several injured after two commuter trains crashed near Munich.

[caravanman]

Germany: One person dead and several injured after commuter trains crash near Munich 14 FEB

German police say the incident happened just before 5pm local time. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

One person has been killed and several injured after two commuter trains crashed near Munich.

German Police say the collision happened just before 5pm local time - 4pm in the UK - at Ebenhausen-Schaeftlarn station, 10 miles south of the city.

At least 14 people were injured, and another 80 passengers were being examined by medics.

Police spokesman Andreas Franken told reporters the crash happened on a single-track section of railway.

Helicopters are being used to assist in the rescue operation, and around 130 emergency workers were at the scene.

 

[west point]

German version of PTC failure?

 

[caravanman]

Don't quote me, but rumours of a grade crossing malfunction earlier, leading to modified working...

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

The lack of a national unified traffic control system in Germany is very surprising. PTC is not everywhere, nor is national dispatch center. The person in a tower control a stretch of plant (track) is very much alive and well in Germany.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

The lack of a national unified traffic control system in Germany is very surprising. PTC is not everywhere, nor is national dispatch center. The person in a tower control a stretch of plant (track) is very much alive and well in Germany.

I'm not terribly surprised - their federal system means each state does things differently, hence I would assume that local rail service was locally run, plus my feeling is that Germans aren't terribly flexible and are change averse in many ways.

 

[caravanman]

Many German signals are fitted with what is known as a "replacement signal" or "Zs1" in railway jargon. If a signal can't be cleared in the normal way (for example, because the signalling system thinks that the block is occupied) signallers can use Zs1 to authorise a train to pass the signal at danger without a written order.

When a train departs under Zs1, it is required to run at reduced speed (40 km/h if I'm not mistaken) until it has left station limits. The driver can then accelerate to linespeed, there's no requirement to run on sight. The use of Zs1 is governed by a bunch of protocols and procedures. But Zs1 signals have been involved with multiple serious railway accidents in Germany in the past.

Whether that's what happened here, remains to be seen. But it does sound like it, given what happened in Bad Aibling not too long ago.