A Train Crash at 120 Miles Per Hour: The Eschede Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

[@FascinatingHorror]

I've covered a couple of disasters from Germany now. Here's another from the archive - the Ramstein Air Show Disaster: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZTdoYabmrqKb9k

[@jameshowe6057]

Have you thought about doing the Colwich junction Train crash in UK in 1986? not many people covered that accident but it was a Head on with two express trains

[@thecheese4255]

Your videos are great except for your sound levels Jarring when there are ads I have to put the volume up for your videos consistently Your content and other presentation aspects are top notch

[@IndigoRyu]

I can also recommend to look into the Transrapid disaster of Lathen, also one of the worst train accidents in Germany, let alone the most deadly maglev accident in the world to this day. ^^

[@danmurphy4100]

Look up Gran ville train crash in Australia similar event.

[@___Steinn___]

Can you make a video about the tanker truck crash in Herborn 1987?

[@JGFurgie]

You remain one of my favorite youtubers to learn about tragedies from because you treat the entire situation factually, you don't crack jokes, and you don't use crappy AI images to fill in some gaps. Each video carries a serious but respectful tone, befitting incidents that either ruin or end lives. Please keep it up.

[@glasperle77]

also not annoying cuts or effects sfx thrown in an overly entertaining voice or tons of stock images or videos...

[@JGFurgie]

@@glasperle77 I don't so much mind stock footage as long as it fits, like stock footage of someone getting arrested if the video is talking about someone being arrested. Even big documentaries will use stock footage to fill in the gaps. Though FH does emphasize during these points that it's not the person in question, like the conductor from I would guess around the 60s that was shown. But yeah the annoying cuts and sfx can detract as well.

[@uhvoiidtv]

no he just includes redundant sentences like "Germany has an extensive network of HIGH SPEED rail lines, lines which are served by specially built trains that can travel astonishingly *FAST* " cause High Speed doesn't mean Fast anymore huh

[@stedydubdetroit]

Jokes are more fun. Yes, decent channel, but zero personality and zero on camera time from host, leaves this channel coasting at a banal mediocre.

[@amyslingsby6947]

Or godawful AI voices and clanging music. Plus he never says HI GUUUUUUYS! Or spends 5 minutes telling us what he’s going to tell us.🙏

[@anscart2969]

Some additional facts I remember from other documentaries: - The leading motor car was found 1km down the line after it had ripped off the train. It's quite an eerie sight - The disaster could have been way worse as another ICE was travelling in the opposite direction. The trains were originally supposed to pass each other near the town, however 884 (the one that crashed) was running a bit late while the other train was running early, as such the passed each minutes before the crash. If not for that, there would have been a chance of the other train crashing into the pileup - The train was blacked out from any timetables that mentioned it on the next day. To this day, no other train uses the numer 884

[@Ryder9911]

The Motor car is still in use today, you can see it at 3:14

[@galdavonalgerri2101]

As I recall, the Triebkopf "tractor" continued driving for another 2 km before it was forced to stop (Zwangsbremsung) due to the broken brake hoses. I found this information in a table: braking distance at 160 km/h is around one kilometer, at 250 km/h around three kilometers for ICE. That's why 2 km (at 200 km/h) seems realistic to me. The driver didn't know what was going on until then. He looked behind and only saw that many of the cars on his train were no longer there.

[@JamesTK]

We had a fatal derailment here, both were in power car. The power car was returned to service under a new number

[@MrChopsticktech]

Wow!

[@TheBachKornett]

as a german, the bahn being late saving many lives potentially is such a crazy thing, the bahn is SO notorious for always being late lmao even back then it seems

[@bobblebardsley]

"Safety tests were cut short" 👍 That never ends badly.

[@suekelley2109]

Never ! (Right up there with “budget cuts required….”)

[@bobblebardsley]

@@suekelley2109 And "they were warned several times of possible safety risks, but did nothing about it". Or my personal favourite in lots of videos, "the store room was filled with old wooden furniture, stacks of newspapers, and oily rags..." 👍👍

[@suekelley2109]

@@bobblebardsley yes! I learned not to put wood, oil, and cloth together on fire prevention day in the 4th grade! Did none of these folks ever go to 4th grade?

[@elimcfly350]

by the executives. Important point to make. It's always the idiots in the C-suite that are disconnected from reality that cause deaths like this.

[@mycosys]

Ironically the tyre, as manufactured, was safe. It was subsequent maintenance that rendered them unsafe

[@droneage1138]

As an example of the toll this tragedy took on the emergency services: My uncle was one of the first responders as a fire fighter. He recovered people from the wreck and I guess he never really recovered from what he saw there. He took his own life on the very same tracks some 15 years later. Thank you for covering this accident.

[@maryeckel9682]

I'm so sorry

[@Mrsjam96]

RIP Uncle

[@zekesgirl100]

So sorry.

[@TerryFarrah]

I am so sorry. He is casualty #102.

[@razorbackroar]

F

[@sabinemuller8124]

i am from germany and remember seeing an interview with the elderly couple who owned the house near the crash site (shown in the model). They were sitting in their kitchen, having a cup of coffee. All of a sudden there was this extremely loud noise, like an explosion but it lasted way longer. They rushed to the front door, opened it and found two of the train cars in their front yard. It was a miracle that neither them nor their house were injured or damaged.

[@intrstrnr]

Woooow!! 😮

[@guyhartsel8797]

I'm live in the United and I remember seeing this on the news

[@misterhamez]

I cannot comprehend the mindset of "oh yup this small test seems fine, let's go to production" for a high speed train. mind boggling

[@gentuxable]

I heard in a german interview that the change came from a politician very late and was pushed through when the train was ready. It's often like that, look at other big projects where they run out of budget and start to tape stuff on like we did as teens when we had no money and improvised.

[@Kkubey]

Since it took years to cause a problem, I'm not sure if they could have found the issue with testing methods available at that time. It would have been avoided had they properly checked and maintained the wheels. There is a local organization that checks every incident on the rails here now. No matter local or foreign company. Before, the inspections were in the same hand as the majority of the train network and service.

[@gentuxable]

@@Kkubey Well I mean in the 80s and 90s when they designed the ICE the normal speed tracks were not even welded together seamlessly in central europe. It was just accepted until that politician made a big deal out of it. It wasn't uncommon for trains to rattle along.

[@Lessinath]

It's the corrupting power of money.

[@OleJanssen]

To be fair, it is unlikely that more testing would have found the issue. After all, the wheels were installed on more than a hundred trains in 1992 and the accident only happened in 1998. Also, while of course a change, it wasn't considered particularly important at the time. Train wheels are changed regularly, and sometimes they are replaced with slightly different ones. Just like you wouldn't need to reevaluate a car's safety every time you put different tires on it.

[@lordMartiya]

Italy's railways are infamous for delays and cancellations, and I often hear the announcement of said events being caused by a pre-travel check failing and necessitating the replacement of the train. I'm now stopping any complaint.

[@ericwhitehead6451]

Don't blame you. I would rather be alive and inconvenienced than dead.

[@stonefox2546]

Better to be late than... late, you know.

[@anonymous-wk1nh]

Better late than never

[@XXSkunkWorksXX]

S'what happens when 'Ndranghetista and Secondigliano are pouring the fucking cement they build the infrastructure with ...

[@Rasarel]

But as far as I know there has never been any accident in Italy and they travel 350 km/h

[@sadmermaid]

The conference of ER doctors nearby is crazy. I'm sure many were saved by that fact. Geeezze.

[@bobblebardsley]

I feel like that's happened in at least one other incident reported on this channel, too. I guess there are enough medicine conferences in enough places in the world that it's bound to happen eventually, but it still seems like a massive coincidence.

[@uap24]

@@bobblebardsley United Flight 232. The air force being in the area and a shift change at a nearby hospital saved a lot of lives.

[@Dangerdangerwillrobinson]

There was the bomb attack on london’s public transport system on the 7th July 2005. Three of the four bombs were detonated on the underground network. A double decker bus on diversion that was passing the headquarters of the British Medical Association (BMA) had its top blown off by the fourth bomb. Doctors who were at a meeting rushed out and did their best with very little in terms of equipment, because of course it was not a hospital. I’m sure they saved a lot of lives that day. Sadly, the explosion managed to kill 13 people on that bus. To put some context to all of this, we heard the day before that London was to host the next Olympics in 2012, then this happened. We went from joy to terror in less than 24 hours.

[@bobblebardsley]

@@Dangerdangerwillrobinson Oh yeah of course that was it (I'm British so the London bombings are more directly relevant to me, especially as I know people who were in London that day). Thank you, I should really have remembered that that was the incident I was thinking of!

[@Scorpioncactusflower]

​@@bobblebardsley𝖬𝖾𝗆𝗉𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖡𝗋𝗂𝖽𝗀𝖾 𝖢𝗈𝗅𝗅𝖺𝗉𝗌𝖾 𝗍𝗈𝗈

[@PhilInJapan]

I moved to Japan at the start of this year.. Japan's railway network is often cited as the most efficient and reliable in the world and from my own personal experience, I would have to agree with that. Even so, there are often delays for one reason or another.. One of the most common reasons for delays in the Japanese rail system is "unidentified noise" or "vibrations" in a car or at a certain point in the tracks. It seems that even the slightest inconsistency warrants immediate further inspection, even if it causes a delay. The derailment in Germany stands as a powerful example as to why these delays are important. When so many lives are at stake both inside and outside of the train, a simple "it will do" attitude does not work. I am grateful to the Japanese rail companies for their due diligence and commitment to the safety of their passengers. Of course there have been accidents here too, but many more are avoided by their preparedness and will to investigate when things are even slightly off.

[@Romapolitan]

There was also a railway accident in japan specifically because the driver tried to be on time. So further proof that a delay is worth more than risking lives by being on time.

[@PhilInJapan]

@@Romapolitan Absolutely! Yea, I am aware of that derailment. Such a terrible accident, as with the one in this video, mostly due to human error/carelessness. On the whole though, Japan has a pretty good record. The high-speed Shinkansen services have a flawless record, but are regularly delayed or suspended when ever there is doubt.

[@SakuraAsranArt]

Being late is far better than being dead.

[@JasminMernica]

Safety regulations are written in blood. This accident was a prime example of this.

[@shay4ojibwa638]

I’m American and have no clue so my perceptions may be skewed. But, my impression is surprise this happened in Germany. I’ve always seen Germany as on top of their game with everything. I guess there really are no unsinkable ships 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@sunnyly575]

My parents live not too far from Eschede so I just told my mum that an international KZbinr posted a video about the train disaster. She than told me the whole story about her honeymoon with my dad because on the day of the disaster they flew from Hanover (next big city) to Malta. She said their flight was delayed because medical personal and equipment was being flown in from neighboring countries. And when they arrived at the hotel, there was only one thing on the news - the Eschede train disaster.

[@JasminMernica]

I remember this accident when I was a child. It was everywhere on TV and there was a callcenter for relatives from potential victims. I saw a firefighter on the brink of tears after seeing the victims.

[@olafbuddenberg4787]

I remember it, too. Although I was already a full-grown adult at this point. It was horrific and I too remember emergency workers needing counseling during and after the disaster.

[@TheKazragore]

@@olafbuddenberg4787 I believe that was also the case for the Hyatt Regency collapse and the Dreamworld Thunder River Rapids accident. Both involved truly horrifying injuries in the deceased.

[@Alyathaean]

They were. My sister and I are volunteer firefighters, like most in Germany, and we met one who was called with his department because he has one of - I think it was that number, could be wrong - 4 ICE windows breakers in Germany. The sight was chaos pure. They didn't even called to get the power shut off! It's a little miracle nothing more happened. Also the operation manager committed suicide. Many needed psychological help afterwards and a lot quit

[@blahlbinoa]

I remember this too. Even in the US it was all over the news, but I was just a teenager at the time and didn't care for or watch the news at all, so I was confused why this train accident happened in another country was being talked about so much, but I always remembered the pictures, even the firefighter crying. Now seeing it again, I understand why it was such a big deal at the time

[@arandompasserby7940]

Has to be really bad if it made a German show emotion.

[@michaelgranger7113]

To reduce comfusion: In America, rail points are known as switches. These are movable sections of track to direct a train from one set of tracks to another.

[@HeronCoyote1234]

Thank you.

[@user-ellievator]

I'm still comfused, what does comfusion mean"

[@yajurka]

@@user-ellievator America, eggsplain!

[@chehn]

Where are they known as points? I've never heard this term used for a switch.

[@princeofcupspoc9073]

@@chehn Switch, turnout, point, slip are all names for types of "things that move trains from one track to another."

[@sophia-bt2sz]

This disaster also changed first responders protocol. It was very fortunate, that so many medial professionals were nearby, but once they all descended on the site it was rather chaotic. Everyone pretty much helped whoever they saw first, without anyone in charge of assesing where the most severe cases are located, who needs help first and who has the best Chance of survival. Some people who could have been saved where simple overlooked. Ever since then, it is up to the first medic on scene to first asses the situation and direct everyone Else, who arrives afterwards.

[@Ricardo-cl3vs]

I remember that accident very well. I was serving in the German military when it happened and my unit was stationed relatively near to the place where it happened, so we were told that we might need to help with the rescue and cleanup. I knew what I was up for when I joined the military and I was ready to go to war, if necessary. But the thought of having to dig up body parts of children almost broke me, I didn't know if I would have been able to do that. Fortunately they got enough helping hands from other sources and they didn't need us.

[@Rockhopper1]

I was British Army at Hohne and was stood to.

[@Ricardo-cl3vs]

@@Rockhopper1 Bergen Hohne?! I went there several times, on maneuvers.

[@Mike-ve3pt]

I think helping wounded civilians (although a heart wrenching job) is a lot more noble than going to war. I'd rather be ordered to help, rather than kill.

[@Ricardo-cl3vs]

@@Mike-ve3pt "Noble"... 🙄🤣

[@vustvaleo8068]

I'd be horrified seeing a piece of metal suddenly impaling through the floor and into the ceiling of the car.

[@2760ade]

And me! Eight or so inches to one side though and it would have gone straight up their arse! Ouch!

[@filanfyretracker]

This is funny enough one of the challenges with high speed rail in the USA, Aside from poor track quality in most of the country. Apparently the US RR regulations have pretty high requirements for how sturdy a passenger carriage has to be and that makes them a lot heavier than a similar EU counterpart. That said in a car strike incident several years ago a Harlem Line Metro North train struck a car at a crossing in Valhalla, NY and the third rail was driven up into the passenger carriage.

[@Wolfshead009]

This actually used to be a problem with early railroads that used "strap" rail. A piece of wood with a strap of steel fastened on top to reduce wear. With time, it would wear and bend, getting caught on a wheel and forced violently up into the railcar. If it was a passenger car, it could cause injuries and death. They called them "snakeheads".

[@BrianP-bh1vo]

Imagine if your seat was directly over it. YIKES!

[@smontone]

I think I would have pulled the emergency alarm myself. It o hell with the conductor and his protocol. I wonder if lives would have been saved if he had done so.

[@plumdutchess]

It may not go wrong often. But at those speeds, when it does go wrong, it goes horribly wrong.

[@AudieHolland]

Like an airplane crash.

[@Myuuchu]

My ex worked as a volunteer ambulance driver (from German army volunteer year) back when this happened. He said even though he himself was just barely 18 back then and that his first job, he also had to help out on-scene and not just with driving. He told me even up until today, that was the worst thing he had ever experienced. To quote him "You can't imagine what happens to human bodies getting squished together at this high speed; they told me to help pull on someone's arm and it fell off, then they had me help pull someone else and what we uncovered were two human bodies fused together, the crash had them basically becoming one body, you could hardly tell where one ends and one begins"..... And he was right, I had never even considered something so terrible could happen, back when he told me that, I had only seen movies or documentaries where they never go into such detail, but that image stuck with me... May they all rest in peace!

[@nojuanatall3281]

We really are just meat bags at high enough speeds.

[@lofthouse23]

Bloody hell! How awful.

[@maryeckel9682]

I hope he's okay after experiencing that

[@Sashazur]

At least those poor people didn’t suffer. But I’m sure a lot of survivors and first responders got PTSD.

[@TheRazerx7]

So many that this was the kick of for First Responser psychological care systems.

[@artamir6605]

I was born in 1997, one and a half months before the accident, so i didn't witness it directly on the news. But my family lives very close to Eschede and in fact, whenever i visit them by train, i get off in Eschede. You can see the bridge that collapsed from the train station. My girlfriend is from Bavaria and for her it was much more eery, when she first took the train with me from that exact station. My father said that when the accident took place, there weren't enough firetrucks and ambulances close by, so they even used very old vehicles, which hadn't been used in years.

[@Alyathaean]

Totally understand that. I'm born 1983 and I still remember the pictures. We are volunteer firefighters, started at age 10 in the youth department. To imagine having to work on that scene? Horror! Two years prior we had one of the worst emergencies in our city. A burning building where they jumped to get away. A lot didn't. But this? A whole other level

[@christianwiese9887]

in aerial shots of the disaster, you see a whole acre (if not hectare) full of ambulances and fire engines. and a handful of helicopters. considering how rural that part of germany is, they must have even cleared museums and boneyards.

[@artamir6605]

@@christianwiese9887 yeah, they did

[@galdavonalgerri2101]

One incident contributed to the fact that help at least came quickly: The control centers in Lower Saxony had been trained. Years before, there had been large forest fires in Lower Saxony. The control center staff were trained to assess major damage events more quickly, estimate the help needed and raise the disaster alarm in good time. With this declaration of a disaster, supra-local help can then also start from other districts or federal states. The sirens sounded the disaster alarm immediately after the first firefighter on site had confirmed the size of the damage event. In the past, there were cases in which the control center tried for a long time to solve something like this with its own resources "alone and without having to ask for help".

[@ninchiru9225]

My parents were in panic when they heard about the accident, as my brother's whole class were on their way home from a class trip on the same route, but my parents couldn't remember if the class was in an ICE or a regular IC. Luckily it was the IC, so my brother and his classmates returned home safely, just later than usual, as obviously the railway couldn't be used, so they had to make a detour with a bus around the effected area.

[@ScrumpyWingnuts201]

This case is a perfect representation of a similar problem plaguing the aviation industry: Tombstone Mentality. It's a pervasive attitude in the aerospace industry of ignoring design defects until people have died because of them. The decision to use those defective wheels is a perfect example of that.

[@schnetzelschwester]

Yes. As always: there were warnings (by Üstra and Fraunhofer Institute), but no reaction, not even research. Uh, it would cost money, it would need work!

[@Z0RDR4CK]

@@schnetzelschwester Usually these defects would also have had to be reported to an institution like TüV² and I believe they would also have been legally in a position to force/coerce DB to take action. üstra is a transport company and Fraunhofer is an institute that is dedicated to science and research and works for commercial clients like DB. Since there are companies that always know best, there needs to be an institution that controls such companies and such an institution is TÜV². I still don't get it why they weren't contacted - today we have ERA (European Railway Agency), still I prefer TüV² to check for safety-relevant components. ² “TÜV” (Technischer Überwachungs-Verein) is for “Technical Monitoring Association”. TÜV is responsible for assessing the safety of technical devices and systems, checking them and approving them for operation.

[@mycosys]

The wheels were safe - until they were resurfaced 7 times

[@ClockworkChainsaw]

Rules and regulations are written in blood

[@sophierobinson2738]

@@ClockworkChainsawAnd Boeing seems to have added to the pool of blood by ignoring them.

[@galdavonalgerri2101]

My compliments on how well you can pronounce difficult words like "üstra" and "Deutsche Bahn". I was still a member of the disaster control service in 1998, but I was in Hanover and it would have taken me about two hours to get to Eschede. By then, German army helicopters and other helpers were already on site. Many people died immediately and no help was possible. It was, as so often, an avoidable disaster. Today I live in the municipality of Eschede. Sometimes I see the memorial with the 101 cherry trees and think that at least this memorial was well built.

[@MrChopsticktech]

Wow.

[@Z0RDR4CK]

_"well built"_ if you like edges and concrete. The tree's were planted and idc if they are in square, diagonal or circle order, the tree's are for an imagination, or probably illusion... to kind of dream away looking at them. The tree's are nice, but the concrete momorial is as ugly as the holocaust memorial in Berlin...

[@Excelsius_Cerell]

im 98% he is german. Doesn't he have a channel where he re-does his videos in German?

[@hairy_putin]

@@Excelsius_Cerell I doubt so with that accent, my best guess would be that he's studied the language in secondary school and at university.

[@2008tourer]

The memorial hit me hard, it's beautiful

[@Mr.Rozenburg]

By getting the conductor he actually saved his life. Wow.

[@Sashazur]

Yes, the family would have survived regardless since they were seated near the front, but the conductor probably only survived because he had moved to the front to see the damage.

[@dontknowdocare]

I imagine the death toll would've been even higher if not for the dozens of emergency doctors who happened to be closeby. Train cars crushed to 6inches... that's 15cm...unimaginable, but at least those poor people died instantly. Tragic accident that could've been prevented by more thorough checks. I don't blame the train attendant, they usually only check tickets and give information. You referred to him as a conductor but he was not a train ' driver',just service staff.

[@topioksanen8734]

'Conductor' is the standard British term for a train attendant. A variation of it is also present in many other languages.

[@Xorgye]

Its how they are called over here: there is the driver but he is called 'lokfuhrer'.

[@marvinidler2289]

@@Xorgye It is "Triebfahrzeugführer" actually, which makes sense since those trains have no "Lok(omotive)" (locomotive or engine).

[@murphychurch8251]

@marvinidler2289 While that is the correct term, hardly anyone would say Triebfahrzeugführer, though. Probably most would say Zugführer and more people would rather still use Lokführer than the official Triebfahrzeugführer. 🤔

[@marvinidler2289]

@@murphychurch8251 Yes, "Zugführer" for someone who is not involved in driving the train is quite stupid, but that's bureaucracy. And I also use "Lokführer".

[@tocotronicon]

i was 13 when that happened and i had nightmares for weeks , cause my dad used to take the ICE for work all the time. it was so horrible to read stories of the survivors and first responders.

[@KhanaHatake]

Companies will never stop cutting corners. It's very upsetting.

[@eveishard2334]

why should they? It always ends the same: the people responsible get, at worst, a slap on the wrists, and the executives continue their life of luxury with zero remorse.

[@killer_queen4062]

​@@eveishard2334 joys of unregulated capitalism

[@SceneArtisan]

I was once travelling from Bristol to the SW UK, while looking out the window, I saw another train heading in the opposite direction, I noticed that there was a section of track that was WILDLY loose and bouncing about 30cm-40cm up and down as the train's wheels went over it; it definitely wasn't attached to the ground. I told the guard on my train and he said he'd report it (I remembered a specific number on a small board next to the track where it was failing). I like to think / I hope, I may have saved lives.

[@Landogarner83]

Where i live reports like this are taken seriously. Every following train gets instructed to drive slowly at the indicated section until a service team arrives to assess the tracks condition. No clue how it is handled in the UK but given the safety regulations i have come across so far they may well be even stricter.

[@SceneArtisan]

@@Landogarner83 My event (if you can call it that) was about 20+yrs ago (2004-ish),.. how things have differed since or got better or stricter, I have no idea. I have no idea if the guard actually reported it despite saying he would, but I just hope he actually did and that fervent action was taken to fully investigate the loose track that day, or if not, very soon after. The only thing I *AM* sure of, is there wasn't anything in the news about any derailments for that area in the subsequent months after. Either they got lucky or they did indeed fix it.

[@eily_b]

I bet you have!

[@luscinia685]

My father worked at the hospital near Eschede, he told me that day all surgeriers were cancelled and they waited for injured to arrive.... it was just aweful.

[@littlebear274]

That reminds me of one disaster that was covered, I can't remember which one, but it was mentioned that the hospital was mobilised to receive the wounded but no one ever came because everyone had been killed. It's one of those details that really sticks with you.

[@p.s.4706]

That was the Aberfan disaster: A coal waste tip which crashed down a hill right next to a primary school killed almost all the children and teachers. Only about 12 survived, 144 were dead, among them 118 children.

[@otiliamariaferencikova641]

​@@littlebear274 Same has been said post 9/11. Found a saddening titbit of information - out of the estimated 36 000 units of blood donated to the NY Blood Center, only 258 were actually used.

[@mats7492]

I live only about an hour away in Hannover and remember very clearly whe this happened.. i was 10.. Relatives of mine didnt use any trains for months after that.. My dad had a friend who worked at Üstra tram mainance depot back then and i remember him sitting at our living room table always repeating "Why didnt DB listen to us?" shortly after the accident He felt guilty even though he or his collegues never did anything wrong, quite the opposite..

[@jasonolszanicky4035]

I appreciate you not having millions of commercials like so many other KZbin channels.

[@Z0RDR4CK]

Very well done, FH! This is not only one of the deadliest high-speed train accidents in Germany, but also _"ranks top of the list"_ of high-speed train accidents worldwide. It's not just the fact of how many people died there, but also the fact of how the train was torn, crushed and folded. When I first saw the pictures of this accident on the news, I simply didn't want to believe what I was seeing... At that time, Deutsche Bahn was still something of a model company, but the economic (self-imposed) constraints were already tightening and led to a slight disregard for safety, which apparently hardly any of the passengers were aware of... this accident was a shock for the entire country. This accident was also a shock for DB and in the public eye, this accident was the beginning of the end of our blind trust in DB.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

But this incident wasnt on a high speed line. That is an issue.

[@Carolbearce]

I don’t comment very often but need to tell you do an amazing job delivering these tragic stories. I would not know of these tragedies without you. Thank you.

[@seandelap8587]

Everything is crash proof until it crashes

[@c0mpu73rguy]

Except bumper cars: those are meant to crash.

[@DC9Douglas]

Everything's junk when it's broken too...

[@thebyrd433]

Another superior documentary. I'm rarely thankful for my insomnia, but when it happens on Tuesday in the wee hours, I get to watch FH. 😃

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

Same here 😂 I'm only this early if I haven't been to sleep yet. Which I likely wont do. Probably just drink some coffee and watch this and head to the shop 😂

[@markysumm72]

This isn't a comedy channel. Have some respect for the deceased you ghouls. 🙄🙄🙄

[@jessabee8027]

I'm usually up this early as I need to get ready for work; thankfully the schedule changed so I get to sleep another hour but I always watch FH while I get ready on Tuesdays. 😊

[@medigoomnis]

The manufacturer I work for employs "eh it'll be ok" barely-legal shortcuts all the time. I'm dreading the day I hear about one of our parts causing a plane to crash or something. The sad part is, we see the same shortcuts from most of our customers and suppliers...sometimes worse. "Eh, hasn't been a problem so far!"

[@JamesTK]

"A door plug fell out? She'll be right"

[@rocklobster1068]

It’s never a problem until it’s a problem, then it’s all “this is so tragic, how could this have happened”

[@Z0RDR4CK]

I have colleagues like that... because of them I work overtime so that I can look over their work again and see if a mistake was made somewhere. I regularly clean up their mess, make sure that everything is in order and then I get looked at askance because; a) I'm making the effort and investing my own time, b) I'm indirectly saying that they're lazy and comfortable at best, c) I'm basically just one step away from reporting them to the boss at some point. But since I'm underpaid and waiting for a new employment contract, I'm afraid of ruining my future prospects at the company. _If I were paid better and had an adequate job description, I would immediately start a fuss!_

[@moteroargentino7944]

Safety regulations are written in blood.

[@suekelley2109]

@@moteroargentino7944and deaths

[@jpbaley2016]

The first time I heard of this train wreck was decades ago when the TV show “Seconds From Disaster” explained the events that led up to the disaster. The show provided a lot of information on deadly disasters and revealed that these types of disasters don’t happen when only 1 thing goes wrong but when a series of failures happen, which lead to catastrophe.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

the swiss cheese model

[@ethribin4188]

That ending staircase is... eerie

[@paulasmith7803]

You do such an admirable job of reporting these. You tell the facts in a calm, quiet, respectful way and I for one really appreciate it. You are my favorite KZbinr.

[@sanuku535]

I really love how they made the monument.

[@suidelikeson21]

I was 11 years old when this happened. We were living in Celle at the time. We heard the crash 17 km away! It was like a bomb had gone off in the distance. I will never forget that sound. And the horror that then unfolded on the TV...... truly horrendous....

[@salicyl3350]

If Im a passenger and a giant piece of metal shoots through the armrest, Im not looking for a conductor, Im pulling the fucking emergency brake!

[@dankdungeon5104]

real maybe they werent publicaly accesible back then? Otherwise I don't get it

[@MTTT1234]

Well, that'st he German mindset. The emergency brakes are all labelled to be ONLY used in an emergency. And Germans are notoriously known to adhere to rules to the last bit. Because, how could they know if that piece of metall is really an emergency or not. So better ask the higher authorities at hand, which in this case, was the train conductor.

[@ranjapi693]

You dont know if that would have prevented it.. there are minutes to seconds for the right reaction.

[@ranjapi693]

​@@dankdungeon5104they are accessible. They must be.

[@jamesrae7246]

Greed and sloth, a timeless tradition across all cultures. Love the channel, sir. One of the best.

[@Queenmarie88]

If anyone is interested there’s a new show called Disaster Autopsy and in the first episode they featured this crash and broke it down in great detail with computer graphics and experts speaking about it. It was very interesting. Thank you for the video FH. Always love this channel ♥️

[@mahenonz]

Sounds interesting, where can I find this show?

[@KabbalahSherry]

Thank you for this information 💯

[@Underestimated37]

Nat Geo seems to make it. (So Disney/Hulu wherever you are in the world) Looks like a modern version of Seconds From Disaster!

[@Queenmarie88]

I watch it on National Geographic channel but you can stream it on Hulu or Disney.

[@mahenonz]

@@Underestimated37 Thanks!

[@andrealauer4493]

I've read about/seen documentaries on countless transportation disasters, but I don't believe I've ever heard of this one before. Superb video, as always!

[@muhdiversity7409]

I used to work in New York city. From my corner of the world there is only one train line heading into Grand Central station that passes by a huge cemetery just before you reach White Plains in New York. On the way into work or going home I always sit in the front most seat of the front car of the train. The cemetery has a level crossing which on the fateful day in 2015 some woman in an SUV ran and got stuck under the barrier on the tracks. The train approaching hit her car and the train track lifted and entered the front train cabin. 7 people were killed. One of the people that was killed was a colleague that worked in the same company as me. I could very easily have been on that train, in the same cabin that night.

[@bobblebardsley]

I always try to avoid the front car of any train (or tram) in case of a head-on collision. Ironically in Eschede it sounds like the front car(s) were the only ones to survive intact. I guess it's all a lottery in the end. I'm sorry for the loss of your colleague and those other passengers.

[@muhdiversity7409]

@@bobblebardsley Yeah, it totally is a lottery. I didn't stop using the front car seating. I also lived in Hamburg until 1996 and many times walked through the train station where the train in this story would have terminated.

[@Sashazur]

@@bobblebardsleyIn airplanes at least, seats in the rear are statistically safer than those in front.

[@krashd]

I really hope the SUV woman was jailed, people who get their cars stuck on train lines seem to forget that their idiocy could kill hundreds.

[@muhdiversity7409]

@@krashd She was killed. She got out and then got back in the SUV and the train hit her.

[@jadegecko]

"A staircase leading to nowhere" Ooof

[@MontgomeryWenis]

Sorry, but if a jagged strip of metal speared through the floor of the train I was conducting and narrowly missed my passengers, I would absolutely perform the emergency braking procedure without question. Clearly something is _very_ wrong.

[@NickIggler1969]

I don't agree

[@lharwest1571]

Sounds well on paper, but in real life you would want to at least see the damage before pulling the brake just like they did. They just did not have enough time to do that.. Can you really just trust anyone saying that before looking at it yourself? The world is full of liars who would do stuff like this for the laughs..

[@reachandler3655]

While that was initially my thought too, if specifically trained to investigate first, would you really risk your job? I'm not sure I would.

[@lucky65strike]

Nope, safety is a priority - if it's not immediately obvious (i.e. admitted) that it's a prank or mistake then you treat it as an emergency until you know it isn't. People can be tempted to muck about with them but that's why 'penalty for misuse' fines are so large for these systems.

[@lotsofspots]

But that would not be following the Procedures...

[@lyedavide]

I've watched at least one other video on this accident and it's nice to get a fresh look at it. I find it unthinkable that any engineer would believe that a wheel designed for a low speed city transit tram would believe that it could be used on a high speed application where the rotational forces could be several orders of magnitude greater without much, if any, changes made to the design. Whether or not this was hubris or deliberate act to "solve" the problem of vibrations to the train, the operator of the ICE caused the deaths of 101 passengers. RIP to all those who died in this disaster.

[@eily_b]

And in addition they brushed the report away that ÜSTRA gave them, the company that ran the trams when even *they* noticed cracks long before they were expected in their low speed trams.

[@rachaelcourtnell7275]

Yep, once again arrogance and greed costs lives. Great research FH.

[@deenasmusicbox]

With so many channels switching over to AI generated narration thus ruining everything they’ve worked so hard for, PLEASE PROMISE US SUBSCRIBERS THAT YOU WILL NOT THIS. Your voice is very unique and has brought you this far, I love your channel just the way you are!!!

[@starrywizdom]

THIS

[@da3462]

Keep the hits coming! It can be difficult to see these , sometimes, horrifying tragedies. The history of these stories often record change due to. That is good to see and at the same time the ugliest side of greed. Human loss. Also our ignorance in many cases, that transpired further back, having a rippling effect. Thanks for the great content!

[@steve3291]

The timing of the derailment was terribly unlucky too. Had the derailment taken place just a few hundred metres down the track, the death toll would not have been so high.

[@TomWinkler-f3g]

But then again, the ICE in the other direction passed the accident train only two minutes before the crash. Had the train derailed earlier, the second ICE might have crashed into the wreck. That the other train had already passed was a lucky coincidence too, the accident train was one minute behind scedule, the other one minute early. They were sceduled to meet at Eschede.

[@Lamartine111]

And yet also it could have been so much worse - another ICE train coming the other way was a minute ahead of schedule and if it hadn't been it could have been affected by the bridge collapse too.

[@searchanddiscover]

What a stomach churning sight it would have to be for a resident to open their door and see just feet away from them this entire disaster. The sheer relief that it stopped short of you mixed with the horror of what is still happening in front of you.

[@vectorwolf]

'The company took responsibility for the accident'... this is how you know it didn't happen in the US.

[@SpicyTexan64]

Always one person who thinks the rest of the world are the good guys. Go live somewhere else. Please

[@SpicyTexan64]

Now if only all the German companies would openly advertise that they were part of the Nazi war machine.

[@timthetoolpool]

Deutschebahn is a government owned company. That's why they failed.

[@sarge4455]

💤

[@allanistarr4746]

for real😭

[@mht5875]

I have seen some really bad derailed trains on YT before but nothing like this, it's folded up like an accordian. Thank you for covering this case, my heart goes out to the victims and their families.

[@wi11_3lder]

You should do a video on the Granville Train/Bridge Disaster

[@mikylakelly]

I thought exactly the same thing. I actually thought it was Granville when I first saw the thumbnail

[@wi11_3lder]

@@mikylakelly Good to see I wasn’t the only one thinking it was the Granville disaster when I first saw the thumbnail

[@bilindalaw-morley161]

Yes please. I've asked before. I think Fascinating would do a good job on the causes and how shocking it was.

[@DirkDiggler1961]

I emailed Fascinating Horror to cover the Granville Train Disaster in 2021 😢

[@juliamcwilliam]

I'll never forget watching the Granville accident on the News. I was only a small child at the time and it gave me nightmares

[@kristy8246]

one of my favourite youtube channels! thank you for the work you put into these videos ❤

[@Grandmaster-G]

Much respect for pronouncing all the german words correctly ! A rare event on the KZbinzz and worth mentioning, i think. (Great little Doc of course, but we all knew that it would be ;)

[@JGCR59]

I second that. One funny thing is that somehow the british pronounciation of Hannover sounds nicer than the german one ;) Given how much common history Hannover has with Britain it is logical they have their own way of pronouncing it.

[@smontone]

The ominous footage looking out a moving train in the beginning was a nice touch; who hasn’t been in a train and seen the scenery passing by innocently? A truly devastating incident.

[@robloxgirlwithadog]

I saw the Disaster Autopsy episode of this on Disney+ and the recreation of the disaster was actually pretty horrifying to watch. They didn’t re-create the crash, but they showed the moments before. Rest in peace to all the 101 victims.

[@Linasmama13]

Ohhhhhh I’ve been waiting for this one from you. Thank you.

[@Nikki0417]

Sometimes, I think the alternate title of this channel could be "the consequences of companies putting profit over safety".

[@stormbornapostle5188]

Or "don't help friends wrangle their angry chimpanzees".

[@irena4545]

Having travelled by ICE from and to Hannover just this summer, I am really glad that you hadn't released the video earlier...

[@MydieLy]

Was waiting for you to cover this. The images of the train wagons crushed against each other like a harmonica will forever be ingrained into a whole generation of Germans

[@ranjapi693]

It is. I was 12 when it happened and will never forget that picture. Imagine being on the rescue team .. traumatized for life.

[@thurin84]

its nice to hear the company responsible actually take responsibility for their negligence.

[@XenittX]

Great video as always

[@caesar7734]

Being compressed to 6 inches by a falling bridge is one of the worst ways to die.

[@wanjanechtangroeger]

It is also a very fast way to die which can be a mercy.

[@murphychurch8251]

I remember how this accident really shook the nation. It was just so unbelievably devastating, on a whole other level than other, already terrible accidents. The name Eschede was on people's minds for a couple of decades and only in recent years began to fade a bit from collective memory.

[@californiahiker9616]

I was born in Germany and traveled that section a few times. I remember this accident very well. I am living in the US, as I was at the time of this accident. I read some German newspapers then as I just couldn’t forget this horrible accident. It stayed with me for many days. I so feel for the survivors and first responders. That’s a lot of trauma to work through for the rest of their lives. Thank you John, well done! I appreciate the care you took to pronounce some of the German names. I saw some other reports where the speakers totally butchered every German word.

[@planescaped]

11:57 man, imagine being the guy who lives in that house looking out your front window that morning.

[@Scorpioncactusflower]

𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗆𝖺𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝗈𝗄𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗐𝗂𝗇𝖽𝗈𝗐, 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝗌𝖺𝗂𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗁𝗎𝗌𝖻𝖺𝗇𝖽: "... 𝖳𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾'𝗌 𝖺𝗇 𝖨𝖢𝖤 𝗅𝗒𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗌𝗂𝖽𝖾."

[@tealeavesmealone]

I've been waiting for you to cover this one! I'm from Germany and while i was lucky that no one i know was on that train, i vividly remember watching the reports on tv. I was 11 or 12 when this happened and i never forgot about it.

[@jadesmith6823]

Brilliant presentation 👏 👌

[@erikkz]

I was a bit confused by the use of 'track points', but after googling I found out it's the thing we call 'track switches' in the Netherlands. Great explanation of how a number of decisions caused a catastrophic failure which resulted in this terribly tragic event.

[@TVdinnermasterchef]

Wondered when this would be covered. Saw a documentary on this year's ago ('Seconds From Disaster' I think). Always struck me as a fascinating, multifaceted disaster. I'm actually amazed anybody survived further back from car 4.

[@sarafinam6686]

Good video as always! Finally someone who took some time to learn the right pronunciation of Eschede!

[@cameron398]

After spending three years in Germany with much of my work being with the government this seems so accurate. It is so innate that you only do your job and everyone has their strick roles. Also anything that might make the government look bad is quickly shut down. Finally money has not been put into the rail system for maintenance and since the taxes are already crazy high work is not getting done. Sadly you will have another video to do and guess who will not end up being punished....just like this case anyone in the government.

[@canadasleftcoast.5744]

The Raven's Eye covered this accident as well. Both excellent. Fascinating Horror, The Raven's Eye and Disaster Breakdown are my never miss documentaries.

[@bicivelo]

I find the staircase memorial very fitting and very sad. 😢

[@I_am_nobody999]

That wouldn't get built in my country today. Health n Safety. Some idiot might climb it and fall off.

[@bicivelo]

@@I_am_nobody999 lol

[@namduong8437]

Pardon me for my ignorance but i truly don't understand the meaning of that staircase. What does it represent?

[@dennis2376]

That empty staircase is weird! Thank you and have a great week.

[@JuttaAlbrecht]

When that accident happened, I regularly took the ICE (on a different line) to visit my parents. I still remember how uneasy I felt after the crash, questioning every bump or sound...

[@monsterfurby]

I often travel between Hamburg and Hannover, and I can confirm that sitting in an ICE going past the Eschede memorial never fails to feel eerie.

[@BLACKAAROW]

Man they got lucky!! Imagine that metal strip piercing the seat instead of the arm rests 😳😳😳

[@argkitsune]

Audibly sighed when DB didn't heed Üstra's warnings

[@zetectic7968]

Not taking metal fatigue seriously, skipping proper maintenance, and as we saw with Clapham installing "bulletproof" windows that trap passengers inside carriages plus installing hazards before a bridge i.e. points/switches. yet another example where safety is reactive only after an accident.

[@theOwnuts]

Oh man I remember getting my hands on a Spiegel magazine covering the story when I was about 7 or 8 years old. That scarred me for some time and only last year at the age of 30 did I travel on an ICE for the first time - from Hamburg to Munich actually.

[@stephaniewukovitz2822]

so, executives make the decision to move fast and cut tests short (i.e, half-ass things), likely ignoring the engineers' protests, and ignored further warnings, resulting in disaster. I'm so utterly shocked that such a thing happened. (not at all shocked)

[@krashd]

In the end the three of them just got fines of ten grand, that's a months salary probably, and we wonder why businessmen take risks so often?

[@jasoncartwright586]

Dreadful disaster. Appreciate your content - always a good balance in providing the right amount of detail - and in depth enough to make it interesting.

[@MT_Madman]

13:04 A stairway to heaven.

[@alexandercarder2281]

Except the first step is almost unreachable 😂

[@MT_Madman]

@@alexandercarder2281 No it's easy, just take Jesus into your heart and ask for forgiveness.

[@heyhellyco]

As someone who has studied in Enschede (a Dutch town near the border of Germany) I was a little surprised to hear about another disaster that happened there, but then I read the title a little closer and saw it said Eschede, not Enschede. Similarly, Enschede had a disaster happen because of a lack of safety concerns storing a large amount of fireworks, perhaps a topic to consider for another video. Loved the video, your content always feels like a well made mini-documentary and events like these should be documented. Will be subscribing for more and I’ll look forward to what comes next. [Edit: Literally just saw the video you made on the fireworks disaster after looking through more videos of yours, nvm lmao]

[@seandelap8587]

The Buttevent train crash in County Cork that happened in 1980 is the closest such train disaster that's happened to where I live although it occured several years before I was born

[@fauberthoude]

amazing work as always!

[@franig1282]

Great video. I like that you Keep it factual but still entertaining. How so you decide in your next video? Video idea: The Morandi Bridge collapse in Genova Italy It happened while I was visiting my granny in Italy. We were having lunch when we saw the news. I even drove over that bridge when I was little...

[@rapidthrash1964]

If that nearby conference hadn’t been taking place, even more people might have died.

[@princeofcupspoc9073]

Luckily it wasn't in the US where the heroic doctors would all have been sued into the poor house for trying to actually help anyone, good samaritan laws be damned.

[@AllSingingAllDancing]

This was a great one. Seconds From Disaster show also did a very in depth show too!

[@CoraBuhlert]

Being German, I remember this disaster well. In fact I was worried that a friend of mine might have been on board, because I knew she was due to take a train that day on that route. However, she had taken another train and was fine.

[@TomWinkler-f3g]

Plus the accident easily could have been far worse; - had the other ICE train in the opposite direction not already passed Eschede (because the accident train was one minute late, the other one minute early; otherwise they would have met in Eschede) - had the train been at full capacity (only one third of seats were occupied) - had the accident site been inaccessible (Roads nearby, no steep terrain, fields for the 24 (other souces say 39) emergency helicopters to land) - had the dispatcher in the Eschede Signalbox not by chance the qualification to ground the catenary (new dispatchers didn´t get training in that since some years), leading to rescue starting immediately (otherwise a special incident manager of DB would have had to come, which would have delayed rescue by up to half an hour) - had there not been so many rescuers available (like the doctors at the conference, british soldiers stationed nearby...)

[@maxonite]

This event has always stuck with me since I am German and I was born the day after it. My mom used to tell me how she was still watching the news about it right before going to the hospital and having me.

[@blahlbinoa]

What makes this truly terrifying is that 98 wasn't that long ago (almost 30 years) so it's still in people's minds who witnessed it, who survived it, and who had lost people in it and the thing is still going to this day. I would be terrified to go on one of those if I lived within that region

[@wanjanechtangroeger]

I remember this being all over the news - it was a bit strange randomly driving through the Eschede train station one day on board an ICE, because that name is to closely tied to that desaster. But this was still a very long time ago, and today there are other things to worry about. Like trains being late all the time! Also there are only very few routes where the trains are going full speed.

[@ClaireH1418]

Thank you for another wonderful video