Train hits tree

[gordonthemoron]

Train collides with tree between Nuremberg and Bayreuth

 

[jopsuk]

ouch! What's the condition of the driver?

 

[SpacePhoenix]

What's concerning about that is how easily it appears the tree has penetrated the cab. Is that fibreglass that the cab is made from?

 

[Groningen]

Driver and 2 passengers injured; 140 people on board. All passengers entered the 2nd train and that train returned to Pegnitz. That tree entered exactly horizontal!

Where does this remind me of? The open space is just like a mouth!

 

[WestCoast]

Weather has been very poor in parts of Germany and Austria in the last 24 hours. The storm has caused a lot of damage and the resulting state-wide speed restriction in Bavaria caused enormous knock-on delays. It took five hours for me to get from Füssen to Munich on three trains and a replacement bus this evening, a journey which is normally just over two.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Report with more pics here:
http://www.nordbayern.de/region/peg...-und-fahrgaste-bei-pegnitz-verletzt-1.4289714
in German. Says that the driver and at least 2 passengers were injured. 140 passengers transferred to rear part of the train.

Meanwhile this report
http://www.nordbayerischer-kurier.de/nachrichten/sturmtief-niklas-erreicht-bayern_352015
says at least 9 people were killed across Germany from the storm and its effects, which caused a lot of rail disruption.

 

[edwin_m]

Some at least of this damage is likely to be energy-absorbing material in the nose end, doing the job it was designed to do. I hope this might have reduced the injury to the driver from what might have happened otherwise.

 

[daikilo]

Some at least of this damage is likely to be energy-absorbing material in the nose end, doing the job it was designed to do. I hope this might have reduced the injury to the driver from what might have happened otherwise.

Sadly, I believe the driver is either sitting in or ahead of the crumple zone in those units. The collision problem is that a tree is not the back of a coach they might have hit, which would dissipate the load, but instead a rigid beam profiled to accentuate penetration. If a cage is constructed ahead of the driver to push away a fallen tree, the G forces would be impressive.