Around 400 people were stuck in a tunnel for hours after an ICE train travelling to Hamburg lost power near Vienna on Saturday.
The Deutsche Bahn ICE train travelling from Vienna to Hamburg lost power in Hadersdorf, outside Vienna, at 1.30pm due to a malfunction, a spokesperson for Austrian railway company ÖBB said on Saturday.
It took over six hours to evacuate the pblockengers from the railway tunnel, with several media reports stating that some were trapped in darkness and without air conditioning for hours due to the power outage.
Two people required outpatient treatment, but no serious injuries were found, the Vienna fire service said.
The company said it was technically impossible to tow the train out of the tunnel, so the decision was made to transfer pblockengers to a replacement train in the tunnel instead with the help of rescue services.
However, according to ÖBB, “a handful” of pblockengers failed to follow the instructions and instead left the train and disappeared into the tunnel. This meant the power had to be shut down again for safety reasons.
“The tunnel must now be searched for people,” the ÖBB spokesperson said, explaining that the line could not be reopened until it was guaranteed that no one was left in the tunnel.
Because of the late hour and to avoid further delays, the decision was taken to evacuate people via the emergency exits rather than using the replacement train, a spokesperson for the Vienna fire department said after 7pm.
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The evacuation operation – which was supported by 20 vehicles and 80 emergency workers – was completed just before 8pm, ÖBB said. Stranded pblockengers were returned to the city centre by Wiener Linien buses and given further travel information.
The incident led to long-distance trains being diverted resulting in significant delays, which continued into the evening, the rail operator said.
Shortly after midnight, an ÖBB spokesperson said that the line between Vienna-Meidling and Tullnerfeld was open again “without restrictions.”
