The long-distance train ICE 90 “Donauwalzer” didn’t get far on July 26th last year. Instead of transporting travelers from Vienna via Nuremberg and Würzburg to Hamburg-Altona in a good eight and a half hours as planned, the train broke down 21 minutes after departure due to a technical problem in the middle of the Hadersdorf tunnel west of the federal capital. Rien ne va plus. It would take more than seven and a half hours until the train’s approximately 400 passengers were finally evacuated in the early evening. An interim report from the railway authority in the Ministry of Transport now reveals why this took so long – and shows how the technical failure was followed by a series of breakdowns during the workup.
