- Citylink collides with tree - driver injured, vehicle breaks down
- More Citylinks defective or for general inspection
- Consequence: Line C14 is shortened
Chemnitz - A serious rail accident has consequences. From the start of school on Wednesday (3 January 2024), the C14 line will only run for a shorter time between Mittweida and Einsiedel station.
On the evening of 23 December 2023, a Citylink regional light rail vehicle collided with a tree that had fallen in a storm on the C15 line. The windscreen shattered and the driver suffered cuts to his arm - hospital. The passengers remained unharmed.
In the workshop it turned out that the vehicle frame was damaged. City-Bahn Managing Director Friedbert Straube: "We will only find out later this week how long the vehicle will be out of action." Based on the damage (see photo), it can be assumed that it will be a few weeks. As another Citylink is undergoing a general inspection and a third is out of action due to a defective suspension, only nine of the twelve Citylinks are available. Friedbert Straube: "A quarter of the Citylink fleet is therefore not operational. We therefore have to switch to an emergency timetable. It is better to run a little less on schedule, but with stability. Operating without a reserve vehicle would lead to unscheduled cancellations every time a vehicle malfunctions."
From Wednesday, 3 January 2024, line C 14 will therefore only run between Mittweida and Einsiedel, i.e. it will not continue to Thalheim. The Einsiedel Thalheim section will only be served by line C 13, which will run unchanged. This emergency timetable applies up to and including Wednesday, 16 January 2024. From Wednesday, 17 January 2024, line C 14 will operate normally again.
However, the Citylinks will have to be withdrawn from line C 15. Regioshuttle will be used there from 17 January 2024. As a result, line C 15 will then end at Chemnitz main station for the time being, as the Regioshuttles cannot travel through Chemnitz city centre as pure rail vehicles.
Managing Director Straube: "How long we have to operate C15 in the emergency timetable depends on when our broken-down vehicles will be operational again. I can assure our passengers that we are working flat out to return to the normal timetable as quickly as possible. Our injured driver has now left hospital and is on the road to recovery."
