Train hits snow-clearing vehicle
A regional train collided with a snow-clearing vehicle in Lübeck in the state of Schleswig-Holstein on Sunday, in a weekend of traffic chaos caused by snowstorms across northern Germany.
First investigations indicated that the vehicle was in the middle of clearing a country road when the barriers were lowered as the truck reached a level crossing. The driver was unable to get the truck off the rails, but managed to jump from it before the train arrived, police said.
The train dragged the vehicle some 80 metres before coming to rest. Both the train driver and around 30 passengers escaped injury. The track has since been blocked.
Other collisions between trains and road vehicles were reported in the Lübeck area over the weekend. A delivery truck got stuck on railway tracks on a forest road in the district of Kücknitz, causing another crash.
The low pressure front known as "Keziban" has brought more brutal winter weather to Germany, particularly the northern states of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Storms, new snow and several-metre-high snowdrifts have disrupted rail and road traffic throughout northern Germany.
One Interior Ministry spokesman said that conditions were "even more drastic" in some areas than during the storm front "Daisy" from a few weeks ago.
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First investigations indicated that the vehicle was in the middle of clearing a country road when the barriers were lowered as the truck reached a level crossing. The driver was unable to get the truck off the rails, but managed to jump from it before the train arrived, police said.
The train dragged the vehicle some 80 metres before coming to rest. Both the train driver and around 30 passengers escaped injury. The track has since been blocked.
Other collisions between trains and road vehicles were reported in the Lübeck area over the weekend. A delivery truck got stuck on railway tracks on a forest road in the district of Kücknitz, causing another crash.
The low pressure front known as "Keziban" has brought more brutal winter weather to Germany, particularly the northern states of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Storms, new snow and several-metre-high snowdrifts have disrupted rail and road traffic throughout northern Germany.
One Interior Ministry spokesman said that conditions were "even more drastic" in some areas than during the storm front "Daisy" from a few weeks ago.
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