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(NDTnet) A broken Railway track is suspected in  the recent derailment of the  Night Train "Donau-Kuriers" near Koblenz on April 19. 70 passengers were injured, none seriously.  Preliminary  investigations showed no broken wheels or axles, so that it seems that a railroad track is responsible. The SVL in Hannover will continue the investigation and release a final report.

 The tracks must be ultrasonically  tested with NDT every 6 months. The last test was done on Nov. 23,  1998. The tests are usually performed online with an automatic train as well as manually with hand scanners "trollies".

Criticism of DB safety policies continues in the wake of  many accidents since January.  Eschede's serious accident in May, 1998 sparked an ongoing discussion of Germany's railway safety [Juni .. 1998]. Material defects, like broken cargo wheels or other technical defects are suspected in some of the 1999 accidents. The 'Kreisbrandinspektor' of Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Jürgen Weingarten, says that the safety concept of the DB is "absolutely weak", and "it seems that the DB ignores that ..."

The Press Release of the Deutsche Bahn AG states that safety has the highest priority. The DB started immediately after the Eschede accident to investigate its in-service inspection concept, which also involves aerospace experts of the Lufthansa. The DB AG intends to present railway safety report in 1999.
(Most recent news of Deutsch Bahn AG in German: Hilfe für Betroffene und Änderungen im Sicherheitssystem. Elf Monate nach Eschede erste Zwischenbilanz – Ludewig: "Kunden haben Vertrauen in die Bahn") 03.05.99

NDTnet tried to get more precise information on recent accidents here in Germany, however, no archive can be found, besides the press itself. Mr. Witte,  speaker of the EBA (Railway Authority) says "we don't have enough people to do that". Many nations have "public occurrence centers," readily accessible on the Internet. Germany does not.

After the Eschede accident the Deutschen Bahn AG and the Fraunhofer Institutes IZFP-FhG and TEG installed an automated inspection system in the DB  Nuernberg facility. This has been in use since April 1999. According to the FhG Press Release in German,  it is the first time that such extensive surface and full-body inspection has carried out.

That NDT  of railway is still a focus here in Germany  will be apparent at this year's DGZfP conference in Celle, with a few papers on this subject, also one presented by the DB Research Center in Kirchmöser. [Paper 20, Paper 24]

Even we got a lot of attention, because of our report on the Eschede accident We'll continue to report as circumstances warrant.