Shortly before 21:00 on Friday 31 July 2014 a sidelong collision occurred a few hundred metres south of Mannheim station in Germany.

The trains involved were Eurocity EC216 1145 Graz (Austria) to Saarbrucken (Germany) and a BALO intermodal service from Duisburg (Germany) to Tekirdag (Turkey) via Sopron (Hungary). The converging collision took place at relatively low speed, but nevertheless the second and third carriages of the EC train (which was operating in push-pull mode with the loco at the rear) were completely overturned. The locomotive and leading vehicles of the freight train were also derailed. Of the approximately 250 passengers on the train, 35 passengers were injured in the collision, four of them seriously.

Train crash at Mannheim Station. Photo: TrainHero ©

The intermodal train included some dangerous goods, making the recovery and rerailing operation more difficult. Significant disruption to passenger and freight services occurred in the immediate aftermath of the incident, although the situation has since improved as some of the tracks adjacent to the site are now available for traffic. Some bus replacement of local services and diversion of Inter City services continues. Deutsche Bahn have not yet (by 02.08.2014) commented on possible causes of this incident.

Click for the video from Mannheim station by eisenbahn.tv.