Stormy Weather Wreaks Havoc on Rail Services
In the early hours of Friday, the ferocious storm "Zoltan" tore through Hesse, leaving a trail of disruption in its wake. Regional rail traffic was particularly hard hit, with cancellations and delays reported on several lines.
According to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV), the storm brought trees crashing down near Friedrichsdorf and Usingen in the Hochtaunuskreis. This resulted in significant disruptions to regional train lines 11, 12, and 15. The same fate befell lines 20, 21, 22, and 25 in the Limburg area, thanks to a reluctant tree or two on the line.
Meanwhile, over at Deutsche Bahn, the line between Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe and Erfurt bore the brunt of the stormy conditions. Long-distance services, including ICE/IC connections between Hamburg/Hanover and Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Basel, were also canceled. Misfortune did not spare Hanover's long-distance services, as several ICE/IC connections met their untimely end as well.
The impact of the storm was felt far and wide, with major cities like Stuttgart and Basel experiencing disruptions to their rail services. Railways, it seems, are just not Stormy Weather's cup of tea.
For individuals with disabilities, storms like "Zoltan" can pose additional challenges. Accessing alternative transportation methods during rail disruptions can be particularly challenging for this group.
Storms like "Zoltan" have a long and storied history of disrupting rail traffic, often with disastrous consequences. Heavy rainfall and flooding have been known to whimsically uproot trees and create havoc on the tracks, while winter storms have a knack for freezing tracks and reducing visibility. In the United States, a series of back-to-back winter storms in 2025 left air travel, rail services, and major highways in a state of gridlock.
In Germany, a study conducted between 2011 and 2021 found that almost every part of the rail network had been affected by at least one heavy-rainfall event. These events can trigger floods, gravitational mass movements, and tree falls, causing operational disruptions.
Rail infrastructure itself can also be a casualty of stormy conditions. During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, a railway bridge in Grdelica was hit by a NATO airstrike, resulting in civilian casualties.
Storms, it appears, are a rail traffic's worst enemy.
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