BEU final report confirms: landslide after heavy rain caused train accident near Riedlingen

Three people died in the accident: a 32-year-old train driver, a 36-year-old trainee of the train company from the Schwarzwald-Baar district, and a 70-year-old traveler from the Sigmaringen district. In addition, 36 passengers were injured, some seriously, some of them with life-threatening injuries. Among the injured were two children aged 7 and 13.

Victims and injured

The BEU stated that the accident was triggered by a landslide following heavy rain, according to a report from the Federal Bureau of Railway Accident Investigation (BEU) in Bonn. After the accident, BEU experts secured data from the train's event recorder as well as other traces at the scene, for example on the rails. The slopes were also secured.

Investigations and evidence preservation

After the derailment, the railcar struck a tree. Carriages piled up on top of one another or lay beside the tracks. Hundreds of emergency personnel were deployed, rescuing passengers and transporting the injured to surrounding hospitals under sometimes difficult terrain conditions.

This cause had already been suspected by police and the public prosecutor's office shortly after the accident. The public prosecutor's office had initiated a so-called death investigation procedure after the accident. This is standard in cases of non-natural deaths. Criminal investigations are still ongoing at the responsible Ravensburg public prosecutor's office. They are waiting for a geological expert opinion, according to a spokesperson for the authority.

Consequences for rail traffic

The repair of the infrastructure dragged on for months. It took three days before the accident site could be examined. Only then were the wreckage parts of the train recovered. The railway had to renew the tracks in the area of the accident site over a length of around 300 meters. This involved replacing almost 700 meters of rail and around 500 concrete sleepers. Signal cables also had to be replaced.

The entire route section between Herbertingen (Sigmaringen district) and Munderkingen (Alb-Donau district) remained closed until mid-December. Only then could trains run there again. Regional traffic on the Ulm–Sigmaringen connection was thus interrupted for around five months.

Commemoration and burden on emergency personnel

A few days after the accident, a memorial service for the victims was held in Zwiefalten Monastery Church (Reutlingen district). Around 500 people attended, including many emergency personnel, politicians such as the then Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) and Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU), as well as railway chief Richard Lutz. Mayor Marcus Schafft was also deeply shaken.

The psychological consequences of the deployment were described by Riedlingen's city fire chief Stefan Kuc with regard to the helpers: "Einige hätten sich Hilfe gesucht, um die Erlebnisse zu verarbeiten, so Stadtbrandmeister Stefan Kuc von der Feuerwehr Riedlingen." The accident thus also brought the psychological burden on rescue workers into focus.

In their final report, published on Wednesday, they conclude that the landslide was the cause of the train accident. The BEU thus sees its preliminary assessment confirmed. The final criminal law assessment remains open, however, and depends, according to the Ravensburg public prosecutor's office, on the still-outstanding geological expert opinion.

Almost a year after the train accident near Riedlingen (Biberach district), which killed three and injured numerous others, the cause has been established. The BEU is thus concluding its technical investigation, while the legal proceedings are ongoing. No concrete measures for better protection against derailments caused by landslides have so far been publicly derived from the report.