Dangerous transitions – train rammed bus: ‘This is not the first accident’

The scene of the dramatic seconds was the intersection between the Ausserfernbahn and the Kniepassstraße: For reasons not yet elucidated, a bus driver (45) drove onto the track there around 7 a.m., although a freight train was approaching towards Vils. There was a collision and the bus was grabbed in the middle and dragged about 30 meters. He almost knocked over a catenary and stopped on the dike.

“People lie around and scream”
“People are lying here and screaming,” was the first bad alarm message. Rescuers found the bus driver unresponsive and seriously injured about 20 meters from the bus. He was thrown from the vehicle. C 1 flew him to the Innsbruck clinic. A 13-year-old German and his sister (12) were also seriously injured in the accident. Fortunately they were the only students in the Regiobus at that time. “Together with the police, we are now going to investigate the cause of the accident,” said ÖBB spokesman Christoph Gasser-Mair. This involves interviewing those involved (the driver was not injured) and evaluating the radio traffic.

Multiple transitions without barriers
Like the three others in the village, the crossing at Kniepassstraße is not secured with a barrier. There is only a Saint Andrew’s cross and a stop sign. “The date for a technical backup has already been set, but the ÖBB recently announced that they have no capacity for this,” Mayor Karl Köck told the “Krone”. There have been several collisions with vehicles here.

ÖBB spokesman Mair confirmed that all four level crossings in Pflach need improvement, but the start has been postponed until 2023 due to a lack of construction workers. For the “disaster transition” there is no project ready to be announced yet.