BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – An embankment fire on the tracks triggered hours of restrictions on the Berlin-Leipzig railway line – with consequences in other federal states too. A hot brake on a freight train started the fire around 1 p.m., said fire department operations manager Mario Schumann. The fire was finally extinguished late in the evening.
As Deutsche Bahn announced in response to a dpa request, train traffic on the route has been running again since around 10 p.m. However, some trains are still starting late – because the staff is only available later due to previous problems. Deutsche Bahn had previously announced on its website in the afternoon that the route in Brandenburg between Jüterbog and Ludwigsfelde was closed due to the fire.
An ICE to Hamburg had to stop in Trebbin, south of Berlin, and return to Leipzig, a spokeswoman said. “The control center, in coordination with the authorities and the operations center, decided to return to Leipzig after the situation had been clarified. This took about three hours. We very much regret the inconvenience caused to the travelers.” The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported.
Detours and outages
According to Deutsche Bahn, long-distance trains were rerouted. The railway spokeswoman said that train or stop cancellations could occasionally occur. “We regret the inconvenience caused to travelers.” The following long-distance connections were affected:
* ICE trains between Berlin and Halle (Saale)/Leipzig
* ICE sprinter between Berlin and Erfurt
* Individual IC trains between Berlin and Riesa/Dresden.
A look at the DB travel information in the evening showed that several ICE sprinters to Erfurt were delayed by two hours, one even by three hours. The ICE trains between Berlin and Halle/Saale also reached their destination significantly late. They usually spent around an hour longer.
Fire spread over several kilometers
The fire brigade was on a large scale. A spokesman for the regional control center said early in the evening that the fire department was deployed between Thyrow and Trebbin with 65 personnel. Flames could be seen and there was a lot of smoke. The fire brigade’s top priority is to ensure that the fire does not spread into the forest near Trebbin. Operations manager Schumann later said that the fire had also reached the forest. According to his previous findings, there were repeated fires over a distance of around twelve kilometers./mow/ki/sck/DP/zb