ICE door opens while traveling at 200 km/h in Lower Franconia

While traveling through Lower Franconia at around 200 kilometers per hour, a carriage door on an ICE train opened for an unknown reason. The train driver immediately stopped the express train, the federal police said. The ICE came to a stop at the entrance to a tunnel near Karlstadt (Main-Spessart district). Nobody was injured.

The incident occurred on Tuesday evening while driving from Munich to Dortmund. There were 238 passengers on board the ICE 528.

Because, according to the federal police, it could not initially be ruled out that someone had fallen from the train and been injured, emergency services from the federal and state police, fire brigade and rescue services searched the section of the route in front of the Schönrain Tunnel with drones, dog units, helicopters and thermal imaging technology. It was said that the search was difficult due to the impassable terrain and the darkness. Nobody was found. The route should be searched again in the morning.

Luggage may also have been lost

The train was finally taken to Lohr am Main train station to clarify the incident. According to police, the passengers were able to leave the train there. They were looked after by assistants. The passengers who were sitting in the back of the train where the door had opened were questioned by the police about whether they had made any observations. In addition, the luggage was assigned to the people in order to check whether any luggage may have fallen off the train.

There was no technical fault on the train, as a railway spokeswoman said.

The DB did not comment on the question of whether someone on board the train could have opened the door intentionally. “Doors on the ICE do not simply open while driving,” said the short statement. “The specific cause is the subject of the investigating authorities.”

The railway line at the scene was reopened around 2:30 a.m.