September 3, 2024, 6:45 am | Read time: 5 minutes
Trains run on rails. So, how can trains get lost? At first glance, this question seems obvious. However, our author experienced a situation where the train she was supposed to take from Berlin Central Station to Frankfurt am Main in the direction of Basel went in the wrong direction. Find out how it all turned out at TRAVELBOOK. We also explain how it can generally happen that trains deviate from their planned course.
The journey had already begun on a rocky note. Or rather, it hadn’t begun in the first place. The green carriages of Flixtrain rolled into the platform with relative punctuality, appearing ready for boarding. Yet, the station’s display board cast a wave of confusion over hundreds of faces. It indicated a puzzling 30-minute delay. Uncertainty hung in the air: was this indeed the correct train, which, by all accounts, shouldn’t have arrived yet? It was. Had the passengers known misdirection would see them ending up lost aboard this very train, many might have thought twice before boarding.
Arson, delays, and a train gone astray
I, for one, would have steered clear of boarding. Even though I actually think highly of Flixtrain. The journey, which usually takes around four hours, was scheduled for a whole five for the FLX 10 journey in question. Such occurrences aren’t unheard of – sometimes, roadworks necessitate detours along alternative routes. Five hours in midsummer without air conditioning is, of course, a lot harder than four. But then again, I was aware of this beforehand. Ultimately, it turned into a six-hour ordeal.
Before we finally embarked, a staff member confided that a “fire attack on overhead lines” in Moabit was behind the delay. Regrettably, when the train finally commenced its journey, it headed in the wrong direction. The revelation came abruptly when the train ground to a halt – at Brandenburg Central Station. The intended first stop was supposed to be Halle (Saale), and no, Brandenburg an der Havel is decidedly not en route. “As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve come to a stop,” was the audibly disgruntled announcement over the loudspeakers. At that moment, the future of our journey was shrouded in uncertainty. This prompted passengers to disembark and stretch their legs. The driver needed to “create a new timetable” before we could proceed.
In our predicament, the line manager had inadvertently directed the train westward rather than to the southwest. Thus, the entire mishap was unrelated to the earlier arson incident. Perhaps the shock had taken its toll on the employee’s concentration.
How can a train get “lost”?
While it’s a rare occurrence, trains do indeed get lost from time to time. A single wrong turn can send a train off its intended path on tracks or any other roadway. However, unlike a motor vehicle that can swiftly correct its course, a train relies on the availability of appropriate switches to redirect its path.
NDR reported on a similar incident in May 2023, in this case, at Deutsche Bahn (DB) and not at Flixtrain. A reporter from the broadcaster had been traveling on an ICE train from Hildesheim to Berlin when the train mistakenly turned onto the line to Magdeburg near Braunschweig. The cause was straightforward human error, as the company confirmed the “navigational blunder” at the time.
Railroad spokesperson: “Misdirection is possible, though in extremely rare individual instances
When asked by TRAVELBOOK, DB does not want to leave the term “lost” as it stands. According to a company spokesperson, trains always run on technically safe routes. The responsible dispatchers set the points and signals according to the planned route. And yet: “In extremely rare individual cases, however, it unfortunately happens that trains are misrouted,” he admits. In this case, passengers are delayed in arriving at their destination station. In such instances, they are entitled to compensation “as per the applicable passenger rights” should they, for example, miss a connecting train.
Can it be dangerous if trains go off course?
The company spokesperson does not specify whether there is a risk of more serious dangers besides missed connections. However, on the Reddit platform, where numerous users share their own experiences of train dispatchers losing their concentration – for example, it has already happened that train numbers have been mixed up and trains have been “sent on the wrong path” – the all-clear has been given as far as the crash risk is concerned. “A collision with other trains is (…) ruled out by the normal safety systems, even in the event of misrouting,” someone writes. This holds true unless there are additional “and significantly ‘more egregious'” mistakes.
On the other hand, it is at least unfavorable if, for example, a train with an electric locomotive is routed onto a track without overhead lines. One Reddit user describes a similar incident on the line between Munich and Zurich that happened several years ago. At that time, a Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) train with an exclusively electric drive was on its way to Munich but was then accidentally routed onto a track for diesel trains. These have no overhead lines. The train quite literally ran out of power – leaving the driver with no choice but to let it glide to a stop before being towed. As a result, the passengers faced a minor inconvenience: they had to disembark and restart their journey, though fortunately, no one was injured.
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In the end, it was all half as bad
My own misdirected adventure on the Flixtrain also resulted in less trouble than anticipated. Though many of my fellow travelers seemed somewhat adrift at Brandenburg station, the train eventually resumed its journey, reaching Halle (Saale) via an unplanned detour through Magdeburg – tardy, yet triumphant. Naturally, arriving at my final stop an hour behind schedule was frustrating, and I can only imagine the ordeal for those who endured the sweltering train even longer. But in the end, we each had a rather extraordinary tale to share upon our arrival.