One person has died after two cargo trains crashed into each other on a bridge in Germany, sending two derailed wagons plunging onto the road below. The fatal collision happened in the early hours of Saturday in the northern Munich district of Milbertshofen, with emergency crews rushing to the scene.
Local police confirmed one person was killed in the incident, while investigators are working to establish exactly what caused the crash. A police spokesperson in the southern German city told Reuters that the cause of the collision remains under investigation. Emergency services were first alerted to the disaster at around 1.40am local time, with approximately 60 first responders sent to the scene. Officers said: “Two freight trains were carrying out shunting operations on a railway overpass in Milbertshofen at around 1.40am. A collision occurred, during which one of the two freight trains was pushed towards Schleißheimer Straße and fell off.”
Authorities confirmed that the wagons which plunged from the bridge were not carrying any cargo or passengers at the time. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn said the affected line is used exclusively for freight rail traffic.
The two wagons came to rest side by side on Schleißheimer Straße, with one end of each carriage remaining suspended from the bridge. “That two trains collided and fell from a bridge – unbelievable,” a fire department spokesperson said.
BR24 (Bayerischer Rundfunk) reported that two freight wagons from one of the trains fell around five metres from the bridge, where recovery operations and a police investigation forced the road to close.
Recovery crews have now begun the complex operation to remove the multi-tonne carriages from the street.
Heavy lifting equipment has been brought in, while police say the area will remain closed until the wreckage has been cleared and checks carried out to establish whether the bridge or road surface sustained any damage.
Authorities have warned that the recovery effort could take some time, with traffic disruption expected to continue while engineers assess the scene.
Police have completed their initial accident investigation, but the circumstances that led to the collision remain unclear, and officials have yet to say what caused the two freight trains to crash.
The victim has not yet been formally identified, and no further details about those involved have been released.
