A driver of a DB Cargo freight train was mistreated at the Emmen station last night. The driver, a 29-year-old man from Wierden, was attacked around 9.30 p.m. The police have arrested a 29-year-old man from Emmen on suspicion of mistreatment.
“My colleague was in the locomotive when he was mistreated,” explains Jelle Rebbers, spokesperson for DB Cargo. “He was preparing the freight train before departure when he was attacked.”
The driver was then transferred to the hospital with injuries and is now back at home. “This is very nasty for our colleague. It’s a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The victim gets psychological help for what happened to him. The locomotive of the freight train is also damaged. “The perpetrator has also lived out at the locomotive with an iron rod.”
Rebbers indicates that this has not happened before. “We have never experienced that a driver from a freight train has been mistreated, this is really the first time. There is no link with what, for example, Conductors from NS or Arriva, does not mean that it is very serious what happened to him.”
ProRail also says it has been shocked by the abuse. “We express our horror about this,” says spokesperson Mirjam De Witte.
The suspect has since been released again.