In the afternoon, a train accident occurred in Reichertshausen, Bavaria that narrowly avoided a catastrophe. The incident involved a regional train and an ICE that had a “lateral contact” in the station area. Police officials noted how lucky the travelers were to have escaped potential disaster. According to an official on site, the situation was described as a “tough call.”

Both ICE trains were traveling at high speed in the station area when they collided, and if they had hit each other head-on, it would have been a catastrophe. The scratch on one of the ICE trains’ wagons was approximately 25 meters long, indicating the severity of the incident. Investigations suggested that there may have been a problem with the switches at the station, which are meant to act as flank protection to prevent trains from colliding. However, it is unclear how the disruption occurred, and authorities are still investigating this aspect of the incident.

The Regio-Express had to wait at the train station for an ICE train overtake it towards Munich but drove too far past the switch and stop signal. As a result, an ICE traveling towards Nuremberg initiated emergency braking while another ICE traveling towards Munich managed to tip back onto its track narrowly avoiding a catastrophe. Despite this unfortunate event, railway lines are now passable again on only one track.

The incident has prompted an investigation into its cause and ways to prevent similar incidents from occurring in future accidents like this will require more attention paid to safety protocols and maintenance procedures for railway infrastructure.