Daniël Vermeer (20) from Gemert got the fright of his life when the train he was in crashed into a car in Rijen on Saturday afternoon. The intercity from Breda to Tilburg was at full speed when a car stopped at the crossing at Stationsstraat. There is nothing left of the car, train traffic has come to a standstill.
The intercity from Breda to Tilburg and Eindhoven was quite full with about 350 people. “It was quiet and I was reading something on my phone,” says Daniël.
He got off at Breda station around half past one to travel to Helmond. “Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a very loud blow. I was almost at the front of the train and saw the debris of the car flying past the window.” The car was thrown about a hundred meters further.
The train braked and came to a stop further away. “I thought it was very bizarre,” Daniël reflects. “Luckily no one was injured.”
According to eyewitnesses, the driver probably got stuck at the crossing because the car in front of him stopped to turn. When the passenger train arrived, the driver could not get away. He was still able to get out of the car in time, together with his fellow passenger.
Daniël Vermeer and the other hundreds of passengers were picked up an hour and a half later by an evacuation train and taken to Tilburg. There he could continue his journey.
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The devastation on the railway is extensive after a train collided with a car, you can read more about it here