Runaway train line 66 Driver speaks for the first time

Bonn · For the first time since the runaway train incident on 66 line between Siegburg and Bonn, the driver makes his statement. He rejects the suspicion that he had taken drugs before his collapse - and raises accusations against the police and the Stadtwerke.

The train of the line 66 stopped only near the stop Adelheidisstraße, on that December night two days before Christmas.

The train of the line 66 stopped only near the stop Adelheidisstraße, on that December night two days before Christmas.

Foto: Alf Kaufmann

The driver of the runaway train rejects the suspicion that he might have been under the influence of drugs. This is definitely not true, the 47-year-old family man told the GA on Tuesday - and thus broke his previous silence in public for the first time. He had also not suffered an epileptic seizure, but had been severely hypoglycaemic, said the Bonn resident, who wants to remain anonymous. This had led to his losing consciousness in the night to 22 December.

The tram had left Siegburg for Bonn at about 0.33 am with two cars. At the height of Sankt Augustin Zentrum, the 47-year-old fainted in the driver's seat; the tram raced through the night for minutes at 80 km/h without a driver, passing several level crossings whose barriers were still up. Brave passengers entered the door window of the driver's cab following a telephone instruction from the control centre of the Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB) and brought the train to a halt at the Adelheidisstraße stop in Beuel at around 0.42 am. The safety drive circuit, which is supposed to prevent such ghost runs, did not work for unclear reasons.

He was treated "like a felon“

"I am absolutely glad that nobody has been hurt," the driver, who has since been discharged, emphasized on Tuesday. "But the way the police and the utilities treated me, it wasn't right." Already on the Adelheidisstraße, he was treated "like a felon" after he had just regained consciousness.

When he tried to turn off the loud ringtone of the train, a policewoman barked at him and pushed him back onto the seat. He had to hand in his front door key and his mobile phone: The same night the police searched his house after he had been treated as an outpatient in a clinic. His wife and children, nine and six years old, had been in the apartment when two plain-clothes police officers entered the living room with him at around 3 a.m. and checked the cupboards. "They had my medication shown to them and photographed it," said the man from Bonn. He has suffered from epilepsy since his youth, but has not had any seizures for about ten years.

Last meal 15 hours before taking up duty

He could only explain his collapse on the train by the fact that he had not eaten for about 15 hours. "We were visiting relatives in the afternoon, and I forgot my lunch box before going on duty." He could remember that he had had the feeling of a gradual circulatory collapse on the train. He had previously drunk a can of Red Bull, but had never taken drugs. However, it is said in official circles that a first blood test was positive. The 47-year-old may have taken an ecstasy-like substance. Officially, neither the police nor the public prosecutor's office are commenting. The forensic medical report on the blood test is still pending. The man from Bonn is under investigation for suspected dangerous interference with railway traffic.

The 47-year-old, a former handyman, was recently employed by the utilities. According to his own statements, he had not pointed out his epilepsy during the hiring process. "I would only have had to do that if the doctor had asked me specifically," the Bonn resident stressed. The Stadtwerke fired him after the ghost ride. The psychological care on behalf of SWB was terminated immediately after his release, the man reported. "Now I am looking for a therapist. I need help, because this is all getting to me." SWB did not comment on Tuesday "for data protection reasons" on the statements of the ex-driver.

SAFETY SHUTDOWN CIRCUIT

Authority demands higher safety standard

The "dead man's switch" of the safety drive circuit (Sifa) engages when the driver becomes incapable of acting. He must press either a button on the drive lever or a foot pedal permanently. If this does not happen, emergency braking follows.

After the ghost ride on Line 66, the Technical Inspectorate instructs all tram operators in NRW to improve the Sifa in line with the example set by Deutsche Bahn: There, train drivers must regularly press and release a button. If this does not happen, the technology slows down the train. The Bonn Stadtwerke company is "still in the exploratory phase of when and how the specifications are to be implemented," explained SWB spokesman Michael Henseler. According to Henseler, both the investigating authorities and the technical supervisors had "found no technical defects or organisational deficits in the transport companies".

The dismissed driver, on the other hand, reported that the foot lever in the retreaded track was problematic: it was not exposed, but could be reached via a recess in a foot plate. "If you slip your foot just a few centimetres, the dead man's gear shift won't work anymore," said the 47-year-old. The Stadtwerke did not comment on this in concrete terms.

(Original text: Andreas Baumann, Translation: Mareike Graepel)

Meistgelesen
Neueste Artikel
Zum Thema
Aus dem Ressort