Eschede train disaster

The ICE high speed train "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen" was on the route from Munich to Hamburg. After stopping in Hanover at 10.30 a.m. the train continued its journey northwards. At 10.59 a.m. the train derailed. The cause of the disaster was a broken wheel. When passing a switch with over 200 km/h, the damaged wheel jumped out of the rail. The locomotive was separated from the remaining train and an emergency braking was activated; this braking had almost no use, since the braking distance was too long due to the velocity. The first four waggons made it through the bridge, that crossed the tracks at Eschede, but the fifth waggon drove against the pier. The bridge collapsed and buried two wagons, the hind wagons crashed into the wreckage and were totally torn apart.

While many passengers and the driver survived in the front part of the train, there was almost no chance of survival in the hind wagons. 101 people died in the disaster.