Two trains collide in Germany; 10 dead, 80 injured

A head-on crash on a single rail in 2016? Is the train system run by 8-year old children?

"The rail line is commonly used by commuters heading to work in Munich, and would normally also carry children traveling to school, but they are currently on holiday, the dpa news agency reported."

I'm tempted to see this is the one bit of good news, but it could well be because of the holiday that someone screwed up (ie. mixed up schedules). In any case, absolutely tragic.

Scary. I've been on that line.

As a German, I must say I am shocked but not surprised. The quality of service in Germany went down a lot in the last years. Companies want to save money and save on staff and material. It is not the first time this happened and it will not be the last time for sure. Same story in many other countries, USA and UK are just an example.

I agree, what the heck happened that two trains can collide head on? Technology or human error... we'll have to wait and see, but whatever happened needs to be fixed.

I'm surprised that there's not some kind of automated switching mechanism to ensure that a collision is impossible. Especially for a technically advanced country like Germany.

"The rail line is commonly used by commuters heading to work in Munich, and would normally also carry children traveling to school, but they are currently on holiday,"

Thanks gods for this, unimaginable, shear horror, prayers all around.

So often the DB screws up and it ends badly. Taking the train is still far safer per passenger mile than driving in Germany, which is safer per mile than driving in the US.

The track on which the accident happened is equipped with a security system that automatically stops trains running a red light or the like. Acording to the latest (unconfirmed) news, that system, which was checked just the week before, was turned off by a local traffic controller (and there are still rumors to why he did it). Nevertheless, the cause for the time being seems to be a human error:

Euronews: "The person responsible for signal changes apparently turned off an anti-collision system to perform a task manually. Known as the PZB 90, the system was installed on all German railtracks following a 2011 crash. This would usually force trains to brake in the event of a missed signal."

According to eye wittnesses on one of the trains, that train left a 2-way-track waiting spot earlier than usual without waiting for the (as well usual) opposite train. For the full truth we'll have to wait for the black boxes to be evaluated.

" For the full truth we'll have to wait for the black boxes to be evaluated." - comments

No cameras?