A broken wheel caused the derailment of the InterCityExpress near the northern town of Eschede on June 3, 1998 in which 101 people died. Cracking inside the ring of the wheel was responsible. There was no indication of material or production failure. This crack was caused by excessive load and wear.
The men on trial are Volker Fischer, 56, and Joachim Thilo von Madeyski, 67, from Germany's rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, and 55-year-old Franz Murawa from steel and engineering group, ThyssenKrupp.
The public prosecutor's office said the accused were responsible for the accident because of their carelessness in introducing a new type of wheel to the high-speed train. When ICE began operations it was committed to use ultrasonic testing every 250.000 km operation, in fact no appropriate testing method was developed for in-service inspection.
The three rejected the charges against them in statements read by defense lawyers.
Source: Eröffnung des Hauptverfahrens gegen mutmaßlich Verantwortliche für das Eisenbahnunglück in Eschede
Pressemitteilung vom 13. Juni 2002 des Amtsgerichts Celle
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