The head of Germany's railway company, Deutsche Bahn, is stepping down after the company admitted spying on thousands of its employees.  Chief executive Hartmut Mehdorn is quitting after running the firm for nearly a decade.
The firm admitted that it conducted a surveillance operation on staff, intended to tackle corruption.  Mr Mehdorn said he had not been aware of the spying but expressed regret over what had happened.
Deutsche Bahn, the country's biggest public company, has previously confirmed it employed investigators from a detective agency in Berlin to carry out covert surveillance operations on its employees. It has also admitted monitoring staff emails to check whether they were being critical of the company's policies.

Germany and Hannover 96 goalkeeper Robert Enke has died after being hit by a train in an apparent suicide, police have confirmed. Enke, 32, was fatally injured at a level crossing northwest of Hannover.

The German football federation (DFB) said in a statement: "The German team has learned of the death of Robert Enke with great shock.

Germany coach Joachim Loew and manager Oliver Bierhoff added: "We are all shocked, we are speechless."

Enke's daughter Lara died in 2006 of a rare heart condition when she was just two. He leaves behind his wife, Teresa, and an eight-month-old daughter the couple had adopted in May.

German police released a statement saying: "The victim is apparently national team goalkeeper Robert Enke from Hannover 96. The first police indications are that it was a suicide."

Enke was struck by a regional train travelling between Norddeich and Hannover at a railway crossing in Neustadt am Rubenberge and died at the scene.

He played eight times for Germany and also for clubs Jena, Borussia Moenchengladbach, Benfica, Barcelona, Fenerbahce and Tenerife, before returning to the Bundesliga with Hannover in 2004.

Enke made his international debut aged 31 and became Germany's number one keeper after Jens Lehmann retired from internationals at the end of Euro 2008.

He had missed Germany's last four matches with a virus but returned for his club at the weekend.

Loew had indicated that Enke was in pole position for the number one jersey at next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.

Dr Theo Zwanziger, president of the DFB, said that the football community in Germany "are deeply distressed and in mourning", adding: "All our sympathy goes to the wife of Robert Enke and his family."

The Germany squad is currently in Bonn ahead of a friendly against Chile on Saturday, but Enke had been left out of the squad having only just returned to action for his club.

Fans were flocking to Hannover's Niedersachsen Stadion on Tuesday night to lay flowers and light candles for the captain of their club.

A news conference has been scheduled for 1230 GMT on Wednesday.

A dispute over the redevelopment of a station in Germany has moved from a local planning row to a national issue and a major political headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The project to develop Stuttgart's terminal has attracted thousands of demonstrators each week, but local protests are now shifting to a wider movement against the government, in the heartland of the ruling party.

At least 10 people are reported to have died in a train crash in eastern Germany.

A local passenger train and a goods train collided head-on in the state of Saxony-Anhalt late on Saturday, near the city of Magdeburg.

The passenger train, the HarzElbeExpress, was travelling on a single track section between Magdeburg and Halberstadt.

The cause of the crash, which left 33 injured, is unclear.

Several carriages were derailed after the collision near the village of Hordorf at about 2230 (2130 GMT).

"Rescue operations are still ongoing. The death toll may well rise further," said regional police spokesman Frank Kuessner said.

More than 150 firemen, police and rescue workers were at the scene, AFP reported.

The passenger train "was the last train of the evening out of Magdeburg" on the line - a single track on which overnight engineering work was scheduled.

A spokesman for Veolia, the company which runs the HarzElbeExpress service, said that the train had a capacity of about 100 people. About 45 people were on board at the time of the crash.

At least two people were killed and 20 injured in western Germany when a passenger train hit a tractor-trailer on a level crossing, police say.

The accident happened near the town of Ibbenbueren when the train, from Osnabrueck, struck the vehicle which was carrying manure, officials added.

Three of those injured were said to be in a serious condition.

Initial reports said the vehicle got stuck while trying to cross the railway line, police said.

Police spokesman Jochen Laschke said the incident happened in a rural area close to Ibbenbueren which is about 23km (15 miles) west of Osnabrueck.

"We got an emergency call at 11:31 (09:32 GMT) and rescue team, fire fighters and psychologists from all over the region were activated to help."


"The train was very crowded," he said.

Mr Laschke said that after hitting the tractor-trailer, the train came to a halt about 200m (650ft) down the track. He added that the driver of the tractor had not been injured.

Footage from the scene showed parts of the tractor on one side of the tracks and a tank that had been carrying the manure on the other side.

The front of the train was badly damaged with windows and metal parts torn away.

German media said the train, which had been heading to Ibbenbueren, was operated by private rail company Westfalenbahn.

Germany axe attack: Assault on train in Wuerzburg

A man armed with an axe injured four people on a train in southern Germany before being shot dead by police, officials say.

Three people were seriously hurt and one suffered minor injuries in the attack in Wuerzburg, police said.

Initial reports said up to 20 people had been injured but it was later revealed that at least 14 had been treated for shock.

The identity of the attacker or the motive is not yet clear.

A Bavarian official quoted by German media said that the attacker was a 17-year-old Afghan refugee, but this was not confirmed.

A police spokesman at the scene said (in German) that the attacker had been shot dead while trying to flee.

The train line between Wurzburg-Heidingsfeld and Ochsenfurt has been closed.

Police reported to have found an IS flag at his home.

Munich shooting: Police say eight dead as manhunt continues

German police are engaged in a huge anti-terror manhunt in the city of Munich after eight people died in a shopping mall shooting.

Police confirmed eight deaths at the Olympia mall and several wounded.

The attackers are still on the run. Witnesses said they had seen three with guns. Police urged people to avoid public places.

Shop workers are still in the mall, in the north-western Moosach district. Public transport has been suspended.

Police are now describing it as "an acute terror situation". They say the first reports of a shooting in Hanauer Street came in just before 18:00 (16:00 GMT).

The Bavarian capital's central railway station has been evacuated.

People stranded by the emergency and unable to get home are being offered shelter by locals. The initiative was launched with the Twitter hashtag #Offenetür (open door).

Police helicopters are flying over the city and special forces are involved in the massive police deployment.

Bavarian public radio reports that an elite border security unit, GSG9, is heading for Munich with several helicopters.

Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer is holding a crisis meeting with security advisers. The German Interior Minister, Thomas de Maiziere has cut short his holiday.

Meanwhile the neighbouring Czech Republic is boosting its border security.

German security forces have been on alert since a teenage migrant stabbed and injured five people on a train in Bavaria on Monday, in an attack claimed by so-called Islamic State.

The authorities had warned of the danger of further incidents.

More details have begun emerging about events at the shopping centre.

Local resident Dominic Faust described how people entered the mall screaming. "Those people told us that there was a shooting outside and so the security closed the door of this mall and asked everybody to go upstairs to the fifth floor," he said.

A man working at a petrol station in Munich earlier told the BBC: "We see just ambulances and firemen and police but all this area is evacuated, all the streets. Now [there] are no cars just on the side of the streets. All of the streets are blocked. I see that the people are scared. Everybody are running around."

Munich police said they did not know where "the perpetrators" were. "Look after yourselves and avoid public places".

Munich police also urged people to help their operation by avoiding speculation and to desist from using photos or video of their deployments online.

Germany opens inquiry after train collision injures dozens

Authorities have said it is too early to speculate what caused the collision between a freight train and a passenger train near Düsseldorf. The driver of the train was praised, however, for preventing a worse crash.
(picture-alliance/dpa/A. Stoffel)

German authorities were investigating the cause of a train accident on Wednesday after dozens of people were injured in a collision near the city of Düsseldorf.

Marcel Winter, a spokesman for the British-owned National Express railway, said it remained unclear why the passenger train traveling from Cologne to Krefeld struck a Deutsche Bahn cargo train on its way to Rotterdam on Tuesday night.

Clean up crews were still on the scene on Wednesday afternoon, and Winter added that the line would remain closed until the debris was cleared away and the electrical overhead wires repaired. Repair work to the tracks is expected to take at least a few days.

The driver was praised for swiftly applying the emergency brake and slowing the passenger train

It emerged on Wednesday that the driver of the passenger train had slammed on the emergency brake as soon as he saw an obstacle on the tracks, avoiding a much more serious collision.

"We were very lucky," said Winter. "It could have been much worse."

Initial reports indicated that 50 people had been injured in the incident, but that number was later revised. Police said that nine of the 41 passengers wounded were seriously hurt, while the other 105 on the train were able to walk away unscathed.

Later on Wednesday, an expert from Germany's Federal Railway Accident Investigation Board (BEU) said that "the passenger train should not have been allowed to drive on this particular track."

BEU spokesman Gerd Münnich said that the cargo train was standing still and waiting for a signal to enter the station at Meerbusch when the collision occurred. Subsequent trains are not allowed to drive on to the same tracks when the train in front of them is stationary.

Passengers remained calm, says witness

The crash occurred around 7:30 pm local time (1830 UTC) in the small town of Meerbusch, in Germany's most populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW). The front car of the train was heavily damaged, but the rest of the train was largely unaffected.

The fire department was able to rescue the last of the passengers at around 9:15 pm, after initially being unable to reach the site due to damaged high-voltage wires.

Passenger Lukas Kehler, 19, told public broadcaster WDR that the crash had been loud and frightening, but that all on board had remained calm.

"There was no sense of panic," he said.

Images showed that there was moderate damage to the passenger train's front carriage, while the others appeared largely unaffected. Some of the cargo train carriages were thrown off the rails, however, as a result of the collision.

Most train services in Germany are run by the partly-state owned Deutsche Bahn, but National Express has been operating some routes in NRW since 2015.

I'm puzzled quite how those goods wagons got pushed off the track into that position.

It does look odd.   I would suggest the passenger train rear-ended the freight it happened that the rear vehicle was lifted by the nose and fell right, dragging the next one until couplings broke and 2nd got pushed too.  And I suspect the rest of the freight had been moved forward before the picture was taken, the yellow thing being some sort of engineering or emergency vehicle also brought in later.

I'm puzzled quite how those goods wagons got pushed off the track into that position.

German police say they now have an armed assailant at Cologne's main railway station "under control" and the woman he took hostage is receiving medical treatment.

She had minor injuries from the incident but he is reported to have serious injuries.

There was a full evacuation of the station, one of Germany's biggest transport hubs.

Local media say the incident does not appear to have been terror-related.

Earlier there were unconfirmed reports of shots being fired.

Police quoted by the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger daily said a couple were involved, and the man had argued with the woman in a McDonald's restaurant, before holding her in a pharmacy at the station.

Reports speak of at least one explosion during the incident.

Deutsche Bahn cancelled or delayed train services in Cologne during the standoff

Cancelled trains, lengthy delays, cracked bridges and wildcat strikes by disgruntled employees – a trail of chaos in recent months has caused Deutsche Bahn (DB) to become the butt of jokes and withering complaints.
Once the pride of the German state that owns it and the envy of much of the rest of the world, Germany’s national rail network is showing considerable signs of strain and decline amid accusations of chronic underinvestment in its infrastructure.
Transport watchers say the rail network is in danger of plunging to reliability levels familiar to British commuters but alien to Germans who for years took punctuality for granted.
Deutsche Bahn transports 2 billion customers a year and is the largest rail operator in Europe. At its peak, 95% of German trains ran on time, whereas at one point this year that figure slumped to just a third.
...
Germany’s Pro Rail Alliance, an amalgamation of non-profit NGOs and businesses, says 90% of Germans support its call for more investment. It argues that despite a big financial injection in recent years, Germany’s €69 per capita spending in rail infrastructure still lags far behind that of comparable countries such as Britain (€165) and Switzerland (€362).

I believe that DB only runs something like 60% of German rail services. 

On a visit in 2009, my Berliner Morgenpost headline read:

"Chaos auf Bahnhofen - VBB-Chef: 'Situation ausser Kontrolle' "

OTC

Restricting services after wheel disc’s breakage

Following the fateful breaking of a wheel disc on 1 May 2009, an in-depth survey was carried out to assess just how much stress vehicles’ wheels could cope with, a process which also saw the involvement of Germany’s Federal Rail Authority (EBA). The findings were troubling. The fatigue strength of the wheel discs fell well short of the manufacturer’s claims and the requirements stipulated by EBA, and they would require replacement as a result.

In early-June 2009, S-Bahn Berlin informed EBA that it would replace its trains’ wheels ahead of schedule and substantially reduce its inspection intervals. The company had to cut vehicle availability by some 50 quarter-trains, and scores of lines had to make do with shorter trains.

According to an EBA audit from the end of June 2009, the rail operator had overshot the agreed inspection intervals time and again. This had the consequence of removing another 150 quarter-trains from service immediately. The combined impact of this and the requirement to send trains for inspection on time was immense: only some 300 quarter-trains were now available for operation, so overall services had to be severely curtailed.

In mid-July 2009, EBA issued another ruling demanding additional safety checks. As a result, only one third of the total fleet – some 165 vehicles – was in operation for a two-week period. Services were completely suspended on the key east-west line through the city centre and on numerous peripheral routes. Regional trains from other German states were brought in so regional services that followed S-Bahn routes could help counteract the shutdowns, while restricted operations were imposed on other S-Bahn lines. It was not possible to use S-Bahn vehicles from elsewhere in Germany because of the Berlin network’s unique power system.

Due to the cracks and inadequate strength plaguing wheel discs and axles, the wheelsets of every single class had to be replaced with stronger components. For the class 481 alone, this amounted to 4,000 wheelsets for all 500 quarter-trains. All replacements were completed by the end of 2011, entailing a cost to the company of €50 million for class 481.

...and there was the Enschede ICE crash in 1998, again with a dodgy wheel, that killed 101.

Amongst other things DB had ignored a Fraunhofer Institute report.

Would we have done any better?

OTC

Train travelers in Germany have an extra reason to celebrate entering 2020 — the national railway company Deutsche Bahn is cutting prices for long-distance rides. The government wants more people to take the train.

Deutsche Bahn has unrolled new prices for 2020 and made its tickets 10% cheaper for long-distance traffic, the German railway company said. The move, which went into effect on Wednesday, stems from the climate protection measures passed by the German government – the Cabinet cut the value-added tax (VAT) on rail travel in December from 19% to 7% in an effort to make train travel more attractive.

"We are passing on this tax cut to our customers," Deutsche Bahn said on its website.

The new prices apply to trips of over 50 kilometers (31 miles), but only if the passenger travels from one railway region into another.

The company is also cutting prices on special offers and additional services, such as fees for transporting bicycles.

Effectively this only concerns the IC and ICE services run by DB Fernverkehr. The Länder are now responsible for specifying and funding services (suburban services, IR and so on) within their area and the VAT reduction does not apply to these services.

Before we hold the German example up as "could UK do this", we should note that it's funded by a cut in VAT on train fares, where in the UK we don't have VAT on travel fares in the first place.

As  a contact pointed out different safety standards, not stopping trains whilst construction going on.

That sounds like the same concept as Network Rail's "Improving Connectivity" - as examined in their report in 2014 and consultation. I can't see that report available any more, and I don't think it ever led to much at all. It was discussed in this thread.

BERLIN (AP) - Germany's national rail operator on Tuesday announced plans to reopen 20 stretches of railway around the country that have been closed over the years, a move intended to help get more people and freight on trains as the country steps up efforts to fight climate change.

The stretches that state-owned Deutsche Bahn plans to revive have a total length of 245 kilometers (152 miles). They were chosen after a team of experts assessed shuttered routes totaling around 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) for potential viability.

The routes include several suburban lines in and around Berlin and Duesseldorf, as well as other local routes in various parts of the country and a cross-border connection from Breisach in Germany's southwestern corner to Colmar, France.

I still would prefer ticket gates installed at most large stations

Which are the lines in the UK that are already making the largest environmental difference, and are there others which, if re-opened, could make an outstanding difference?

Taunton to Minehead would be my favourite.
The environmental gain would seem considerable since traffic congestion results in much wasted fuel by buses and cars at busy times.
Also provision of through trains to the Butlins holiday camp would encourage rail use from say London or Bristol to Minehead, not just between Taunton and Minehead.

A battery train would be ideal for a Taunton to Minehead shuttle with charging at each end of the line. Through trains would have to be diesel or bi mode.

At the other end of the scale, a 2-car Sprinter unit probably compares poorly to a bus service - especially since a train cannot easily stop at every gatepost to pick up passengers so you need to run the bus anyway as a socially necessary service for people who don't have access to a car. Unless the buses are running full, traffic abstraction from the bus service is counter productive. For a 2-car diesel passenger railway to make a positive contribution to environmental issues it needs to be successful in reducing private car use - to what degree I'm not sure.

Is Butlins open all year round?
Would there be much demand for a rail link outside the summer months?
Would there be much demand for a rail link within the summer months?

Is Butlins open all year round?
Would there be much demand for a rail link outside the summer months?
Would there be much demand for a rail link within the summer months?

The union was doing "a disservice to the autonomy of collective bargaining," he said.

Emergency workers found another body under the rubble of a train that derailed in southern Germany on Friday, bringing the total number of deaths to five.

Rescuers continued looking for survivors this morning following the disaster in the picturesque mountainous region north of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria.

A regional train travelling from the Alpine ski resort to Munich spun off the tracks, causing at least three carriages to overturn.

Authorities said five people are confirmed dead and 44 are hurt, including three passengers who are being treated in hospital for serious injuries.

A police spokesperson said a major operation to free people from the wreckage had been completed.

‘As far as we can tell, all the people have been rescued from the train,’ the spokesperson said, adding that removing the overturned wagons would ‘certainly take a few days.’

On Saturday, however, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said it was possible that there could still be bodies trapped underneath the rubble, saying some seven people were still unaccounted for.

Around 140 people were on board when the accident happened.

After several failed attempts, cranes succeeded on Saturday in hoisting at least one carriage of the train which had rolled off the tracks.

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into the cause of the incident...

German railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) is set to complete an inspection of concrete sleepers in its rail network by the end of the month.

DB experts have been testing around 200,000 sleepers across the country since July, with repairs expected to cost several hundred million euros.

The work is being carried out as a precaution following an accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 3 June. Five people were killed and 68 injured when a regional train derailed on the Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Oberau line in southern Germany.

Although the investigations into the accident have not yet been completed, DB has decided to investigate sleepers across the network. The first preliminary findings from technical reports by independent testing institutes now suggest that there is a manufacturer error.

Developing Story with the enquiry into this, widespread (200,000) sleeper inspections across the DB network in progress, construction fault suspected.

More (Use Google Translate)  ....

https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/zugunglueck-burgrain-betonschwellen-hersteller-gibt-sich-bedeckt,TFD7zss

spun off the tracks

The world's first hydrogen-powered passenger trains are here
Julia Buckley, CNN • Updated 24th August 2022



(CNN) — The future of environmentally friendly travel might just be here -- and it's Germany that's leading the charge, with the first ever rail line to be entirely run on hydrogen-powered trains, starting from Wednesday.
Fourteen hydrogen trains powered by fuel cell propulsion will exclusively run on the route in Bremervörde, Lower Saxony. The 93 million euro ($92.3 million) deal has been struck by state subsidiary Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LVNG), the owners of the railway, and Alstom, builders of the Coradia iLint trains. The Elbe-Weser Railways and Transport Company (EVB), which will operate the trains, and gas and engineering company Linde, are also part of the project.
The trains, five of which which debut Wednesday, will gradually replace the 15 diesel trains that currently run on the route, with all 14 running exclusively by the end of the year. Just 1 kilo of hydrogen fuel can do the same as around 4.5 kilos of diesel.

Hydrogen concept of the city of Cuxhaven

The coastal region of Cuxhaven offers ideal conditions for the development of the hydrogen economy as the mainstay of the energy revolution. The enormous number and density of wind turbines means great potential for the production of "green hydrogen" (power to gas; power to X). By converting temporary energy surpluses into transportable hydrogen, renewable energies can also be used independently of the urban infrastructure - without connection to the power grid.

I can understand a car spinning off the road due to ice or water, but how does a train spin of the tracks?
Or just more journalese?

DB to replace 137,000 sleepers, rail traffic in Germany at stake again
Published on 07-09-2022 at 10:30

Following a manufacturing error in thousands of concrete sleepers across the German railway network, Deutsche Bahn is now on a mission to replace them. Specifically, the German company will need to replace around 137,000 sleepers in 225 locations around the country. Works have already been completed in 70 locations, with 155 remaining and possible traffic disruptions on the way.

The manufacturing error on the concrete sleepers was uncovered in the wake of the 3 June derailment near Garmisch-Partenkirchen that left five people dead and dozens injured. Independent testing institutes joined DB to investigate the derailment, subsequently uncovering that there might be a manufacturing error with the sleepers used at the derailment site.

As a result, DB had to identify where else those concrete sleepers had been used. It soon put traffic restrictions in 165 locations across Germany, but mainly in Bavaria, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Works to replace sleepers in the remaining 155 locations commenced on 6 September.

But basically it's just another step in a long development and proving process for hydrogen trains, and an encouraging one on the whole.

Baden-Württemberg rejects hydrogen as diesel alternative 
A study examined ways to replace diesel traction on the state network.

Baden-Württemberg will use battery traction over hydrogen on non-electrified lines.
Photo Credit: Baden-Württemberg

THE German state of Baden-Württemberg has published a study into possible alternatives to diesel traction on its rail network, and says it will no longer consider hydrogen traction.

The study, conducted by a consortium including Transport Technology Consult Karlsruhe (TTK) and Komobile, examined 16 non-electrified routes, and compared electrification with the introduction of battery or hydrogen traction...

The ministry says that following the analysis, “operation with hydrogen hybrid trains will not be considered further in the near future due to various operational and economic reasons.” It says that in a direct comparison, hydrogen technology could not match battery traction or electrification on any of the routes considered by the study.

Hydrogen power undoubtedly works to an extent, but is inherently expensive, complicated, and somewhat dangerous.
OTOH, electric trains are an established technology, and batteries are still improving.

The future is in my view electrification wherever practical, with battery power being used when restricted clearances or extreme conditions make OHLE impractical.

Producing hydrogen is easy, but storage is expensive, as is compressing or liquefying the gas.

I have just caught this You Tube video from Sabine Hossenfelder, whose channel I have recently discovered. She is a German scientist with a mission to explain science clearly to those of us with arts or humanities backgrounds and others.  As you will see, she does not share some of her compatriots' enthusiasm for hydrogen, indeed on close analysis there seems little to gain from most methods of hydrogen fuel production in terms of carbon reduction

See - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zklo4Z1SqkE.

That's what happens when you ask a scientist, with their analytical approaches, laws of physics and other inconvenient stuff.

Interesting. It does rather confirm the theory that hydrogen is a clever but expensive way of making a lot of electricity into a lot less electricity.

‘The prestressed concrete sleepers laid at the site [of the derailment] showed signs of damage indicating a loss of tension within the sleeper. This led to a failure of the structure and to the breaking away of the rail support in the direction of the initiated forces’, the interim report concluded.

On the previous day DB had issued a statement noting that further investigations into the accident remained in progress and that a definitive cause had yet to be determined.

In addition to the inquiries in progress by the Federal Bureau for Investigation of Railway Accidents and the public prosecutor’s office, DB has commissioned an independent internal investigation from a law firm. This is intended to determine whether the accident is related to ‘possible internal failures’.

DB said that under its programme of preventive sleeper replacement following the accident, as many as 480 000 sleepers were being replaced this year. This compares with around 80 000 in a normal year. The replacement work followed an urgent inspection of sites across the network where identical sleepers had been laid.

The programme meant that 400 worksites were in place across the network, leading to inevitable delays for passengers and freight customers. Sleeper replacement work would continue ‘at least into next year’, DB warned.