Overview
- In the early hours of Saturday, June 20, two long freight trains performing shunting moves collided on an overpass in Milbertshofen, causing multiple wagons to derail and two wagons to fall about five metres onto Schleißheimer Straße.
- A 46-year-old man who was involved in the shunting operation was found fatally injured on the tracks and later confirmed dead by police, while the two train drivers were identified and are part of the ongoing inquiries.
- Police and Deutsche Bahn say the fallen wagons carried no hazardous goods and posed no wider risk to the public, and regional and long-distance passenger services were not affected because the line is used only for freight.
- Recovery work by DB Infrago specialists using heavy cranes began Saturday morning and is technically difficult, with authorities warning the road closure and bergungsarbeiten could continue into Sunday.
- Investigators have produced a preliminary reconstruction that a weichenverbindung (track switch) routed one train onto the opposing track causing a frontal collision, and formal probes into signals, procedures and equipment remain under way.