Excavator drama at Vaihingen: Fire deletes rail traffic at short notice!

Excavator drama at Vaihingen: Fire deletes rail traffic at short notice!

An unsightly incident made plenty of chaos in rail traffic between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart today. The reason for this? A building contractor who, with his 36 -year -old excavator near Vaihingen (EnZ), got too close to a supervision and thus triggered a violent arc. This led to the excavator caught fire. Fortunately, no people were harmed, but the police estimated the property damage to a proud 200,000 euros.

The trains had to be temporarily pulled out of circulation through the fire. The railway line was completely closed, which caused numerous commuters and travelers to switch to alternative means of transport. From around 2:35 p.m., Tram line 1 was allowed to drive through Schillerstrasse again regularly. Previously, the transport companies waived replacement traffic, which had been set up between the Heidehof and Europaplatz stops.

The incident in detail

The excavator had loaded materials from the site of a substation when it came to his work when the accident occurred. The overhead line, which he apparently caught his shovel, was partially torn down, and there were sparking forms that the fire brigade called on the scene. Thanks to their quick reaction, worse things could be prevented. Another important point: the substation remained unaffected by the flames.

The disruptive reports related to the incident were numerous. In the morning, the Karlsruhe police reported that Tram lines 3, 4, 5 and the Stadtbahn lines S2 and S5 were able to regularly pass the Weinbrennerplatz. Nevertheless, due to the repair work on the damaged overhead line, there were still delays and possible failures in the traffic reports of the KVV, although the main street was released in the evening.

What is the cause of such incidents?

Disruptions in the German route network, as described by the "Disorders in Railway Traffic" initiative, are unfortunately not uncommon. They are not only caused by fire, but also by fallen trees, damage to vehicles or overhead lines. The statistics on delays and closures are unfortunately productive, which means that disabilities in rail traffic must be expected more often. A look at the side of the disorders in rail traffic can be a valuable source of information here.

Back to our excavator drama: In the evening after the incident, the rail traffic between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart was able to run smoothly again, and the travelers were allowed to breathe again. Despite the necessary repairs to the overhead line, there was no effect on rail operations. And so normality returned in the trains after a few hours.

For everyone who wanted to use the train this Monday in the morning: the chaos is now over, but it remains to be hoped that such an incident will fail in the future. And as is so often the case: special attention should always be paid to the security on the construction site - especially when work nearby is sensitive infrastructure.

For further information and current reports about public transport in the region, take a look at the ZVW or [ka-news] (https://www.ka-news.de/region/karlsruhe/bagger-beschaedt-und-urfahrt-bahn-chaos-in-karlsruhe-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-art-Art