Driverless burning locomotive on an odyssey
Traffic
On the night of Friday, the burning diesel locomotive of a construction train “escaped” the emergency services near Freilassing. Shortly before the start of the extinguishing work, the locomotive started to move and was only stopped by a buffer after about six kilometers. She burned out. The property damage is great.
According to eyewitnesses, dangerous scenes took place shortly before 3 a.m. on the railway line between Salzburg and Munich. An unoccupied locomotive caught fire near the hamlet of Straß between Freilassinger and Traunstein.
Firefighters followed
Firefighters from Ainring, Teisendorf, Bad Reichenhall and Freilassing went out to fight the fire. Shortly before the first fire-fighting cannons could be brought to bear, the burning locomotive resisted, picked up speed and, with the help of gravity, accelerated eastwards on the slightly downhill stretch towards Freilassing. The police report states that the emergency services “immediately took up the pursuit”.
Diverted to siding
According to the emergency services, the driverless tractor could be diverted to a siding in the east of the Freilassing train station by setting the appropriate switches. The odyssey ends there at a buffer stop.
Amateur video of a railway worker in Freilassing
police officer as an eyewitness
“The diesel locomotive burned out completely. The impact pushed the buffer stop a few meters on the track. Experts estimate the total damage at eight to nine million euros,” police officer and eyewitness Patricia Willinger told ORF on request.
The electrical overhead line had been switched off and grounded before the extinguishing operation. This enabled firefighters to quickly extinguish the fire. There were no injuries, according to the Bavarian police officer Willinger: “Experts say that despite the damage, things ended relatively lightly. Further investigations are ongoing. The federal police are responsible for that.”