Railway emergency: Massive delays from fire in Upper Franconia!

Railway emergency: Massive delays from fire in Upper Franconia!

The current situation in rail transport between Munich and Berlin brings with it a variety of challenges for travelers. The trains from and from Berlin have been affected by massive delays and failures since Friday morning. The reason for this is a fire in a railway underpass in Hirschaid (Upper Franconia), which broke out on July 3 at around 3 a.m. With this fire, wooden panels and pallets were set on fire, which ultimately also attacked the adjacent embankment. The police assume arson and urgently searches for witnesses. The estimated property damage amounts to around 25,000 euros, but the follow -up costs for rail traffic are likely to be much higher, such as Merkur reported.

The effects of this incident were clearly noticeable: the ICE route between Berlin and Munich was closed until Thursday. Travelers had to calculate delays of up to 90 minutes because important connections were redirected. Among other things, the holding in Bamberg and Erlangen fell away, while the S-Bahn line S1 from Nuremberg only drove to Forchheim. In order to accommodate the traveler, replacement traffic with buses between Forchheim and Bamberg was set up. Many travelers also expressed their dissatisfaction with the diversions and the lack of communication of the on -board staff.

Problems with the signal box

Not only the fire in Hirschaid caused chaos, signal box problems between Nuremberg and Bamberg also led to further delays on the ICE connection. These technical difficulties have now been remedied, but there are still some trains out, as the railway blog states. Despite the removal of the partial closure in the afternoon, travelers must continue to expect delays of up to 120 minutes. The ICE trains between Munich, Nuremberg, Erfurt, Leipzig and Berlin are particularly affected. Some IC trains between Karlsruhe and Leipzig are also affected because they can no longer run between Nuremberg and Leipzig.

A look at the rail infrastructure

Such incidents also highlight the general inadequacies in German rail transport. Compared to countries such as Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain and Poland, an analysis shows that Germany lags behind on topics such as train failures, delays and technical problems. The authors of the analysis indicate five central fields of action for improvement: secure long -term financing, a goal -oriented control of the railway, state responsibility for common good -oriented parts of the company, consistent digitization and integrated transport policy. These aspects appear more urgently than ever to significantly improve the situation for travelers.

For all travelers, it is recommended to regularly find out about the current timetables and replacement traffic on the Deutsche Bahn website. The uncertainty will probably stop for some time, and it is to be hoped that such incidents can be avoided in the future.