An ICE and a regional train collided sideways at a switch on the route between Munich and Ingolstadt on Friday. According to preliminary information, seven people were slightly injured, two were taken to hospital with minor injuries, a federal police spokeswoman said in the evening. No serious injuries were initially reported.
According to the railway, the trains had brushed against each other at a switch at the train station in Reichertshausen (Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm district) around 2:15 p.m. According to a police spokeswoman, the regional train was just leaving the station when the collision with the ICE train that was passing through occurred. However, the trains did not derail in the accident.
The ICE and the regional train were still evacuated. “All travelers can continue their journey by bus, taxi or train,” said a railway spokeswoman. Late in the evening, the affected route between Munich and Ingolstadt was once again passable on a single track, as the railway announced.
Around 700 people were traveling on the two affected trains at the time of the accident. According to the federal police, there were around 550 passengers in another ICE that came to a stop near the scene of the accident. In total, around 1,200 train passengers were initially stranded in Reichertshausen.
Train drivers clearly felt the effects of the accident on the busy route. Long-distance trains between Munich and Nuremberg were rerouted without stopping in Ingolstadt, a railway spokeswoman said. The result was additional delays of over an hour. Regional trains turned at Reichertshausen’s neighboring stations in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm and Petershausen. The route closure was expected to last until 3 a.m. early Saturday morning.
How the accident could have happened remained unclear on Friday. A federal police spokeswoman said the Federal Bureau of Railway Accident Investigation would be involved in the investigation. When asked on Friday, a railway spokeswoman initially did not comment on possible causes.
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