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TRAIN CRASH

Train crashes into car in Interlaken

Rail services were disrupted for several hours in the Interlaken region of canton Bern after a train hit a car stuck on a crossing point on Tuesday afternoon.

Published: 19 July 2017 10:48 CEST
Train crashes into car in Interlaken
Photo: Bern police
The accident occurred at around 4pm on Tuesday when a car got stuck between the barriers on a railway crossing point, Bern police said in a statement. 
 
It was then hit by a train travelling from Interlaken Ost station. 
 
The two occupants of the car managed to leave their vehicle before the crash, and no one on the train was injured, said police.
 
The 200 train passengers were evacuated and the line between Interlaken West and Ost was interrupted.
 
An investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the accident, said police.   
 
There have been several train accidents in Switzerland this year. 
 
In May a train travelling from Italy derailed outside Lucerne station, injuring seven people.
 
 
Last year a man was killed when his vehicle ended up on a railway line and was struck by an oncoming train. 

TRAIN CRASH

Schoolchildren among those injured in Andermatt, none critically

Many of the 33 people injured on Monday when a train engine collided with carriages at Andermatt station were schoolchildren, police and media reports said.

Published: 12 September 2017 09:05 CEST
Schoolchildren among those injured in Andermatt, none critically
Photo: Uri police
Initial reports suggested 27 people had been hurt in the accident, but that was later raised to 33, though none were critically injured.
   
Around 100 people were onboard when the accident happened shortly before midday, including three school classes counting 65 primary and secondary school students, Uri police said.
   
Eighteen of those injured were children, it said.
 
Of the 15 other people injured, 13 were Swiss and two were Dutch.
   
The accident happened shortly as a train run by the Matterhorn-Gotthard rail company, made up of a locomotive and five carriages, attempted a manoeuvre at the station in Andermatt, near the Italian border.
   
The locomotive was supposed to move to a parallel track to move from the back of the train to the front, and allow the train to head back towards the Alpine resort of Disentis.
   
But Jan Barwalde, a spokesman for the rail company, told AFP something had gone wrong and the locomotive had slammed into the carriages.
   
He said the locomotive had been travelling at a speed of 15 to 20 km/hr, and there appeared to be very little material damage.
   
But the collision was nonetheless dramatic for the schoolchildren, many of whom were heading to a camp.
   
“We were just getting into the train when there was a jerk,” 32-year-old secondary school teacher Chantal Michel told Blick.
   
She said some students who were on the stairs lifting suitcases into the train when the accident happened had fallen.
   
Twenty-five of those injured had been taken to hospital, but most were quickly released.
   
Another teacher, Andre Kobelt, told Blick that one child was being kept in hospital overnight with a suspected concussion.