Overhead Line Crashes Onto ICE Train Near Zahna, Injuring Two and Trapping Hundreds

A falling overhead line struck an ICE high-speed train traveling from Berlin to Halle on the Berlin-Munich route near Zahna in Saxony-Anhalt at 11:53 a.m. on Saturday, April 11, 2026, injuring two passengers and stranding hundreds of travelers for several hours. The line snapped between Zahna and Lutherstadt Wittenberg and fell directly onto the moving train, shattering windows at one point along the carriages. Two passengers sustained slight injuries as a result of the broken glass, while a district spokesperson said two additional people on board collapsed due to what was described as "panic and circulation" issues. The train came to a standstill outside of a station, leaving passengers with no immediate means of continuing their journey. Deutsche Bahn initially announced that a replacement train could not be deployed because the power supply to the line had been switched off, and that travelers would instead be transported onward by buses.

Tow train arrives as passengers wait for hours A Deutsche Bahn tow train was dispatched to the scene and arrived at the stranded ICE, where it pumped compressed air into the train as a preparatory step before towing. According to a Wittenberg district spokesperson, the plan was to tow the damaged train into Lutherstadt Wittenberg station, from which affected passengers would be able to continue their journey. A fire department spokesperson on site confirmed this plan to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Passengers remained on board the stricken train for several hours while emergency managers and rescue services made their way to the location. The district spokesperson's characterization of the two collapses as related to "panic and circulation" differed slightly from Deutsche Bahn's official description of two slightly injured passengers, though both accounts referred to the same incident. Deutsche Bahn's internal reporting system classified the event as a "dangerous event" according to Berliner Zeitung, which cited the company's own reporting terminology.

Delays of up to 50 minutes as trains rerouted via Dessau The incident triggered widespread disruption along one of Germany's most heavily used rail corridors. Long-distance trains between Berlin and Halle (Saale) and Leipzig were diverted via Dessau and Wiesenburg, adding approximately 40 minutes to journey times, with the DB Navigator app showing delays of up to 50 minutes in some cases. The stop at Lutherstadt Wittenberg was cancelled for all diverted services, with Dessau designated as the alternative stop for passengers who would otherwise have alighted there. No train journeys were possible between Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Zahna while the damaged train remained on the line and the power supply was cut. „A replacement train cannot be used because the power is switched off” — Deutsche Bahn via Berliner Zeitung The Berlin-Munich route is described by Deutsche Bahn as the most important north-south connection in the German railway network, meaning even a temporary disruption affects a large volume of passengers. A commenter on the rail enthusiast forum Drehscheibe Online noted that Sprinter services between Berlin and Munich were already running at capacity due to partial cancellations of ICE 4 trains caused by ongoing construction work elsewhere on the network.

Cause of the line break remains unexplained The reason the overhead line snapped remained unexplained as of Saturday afternoon, with Deutsche Bahn offering no immediate technical explanation for the failure. A railway spokesperson initially declined to confirm media reports that the line had fallen directly onto the train, though multiple outlets reported this to be the case. The spokesperson also did not confirm the figure of around 600 passengers cited by several media outlets, though the Berliner Zeitung reported approximately 550 travelers on board. The Berlin-Munich high-speed rail corridor is Germany's primary north-south passenger rail artery, connecting the capital with Bavaria via Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, and Thuringia. Overhead line failures are among the most disruptive categories of rail incident in Germany, as they require the power supply to be cut across a section of track before any recovery operation can begin, preventing the use of electric replacement trains. The Zahna area lies within the Wittenberg district of Saxony-Anhalt, a region through which the high-speed line passes on its way between Berlin and Leipzig. The scale of the disruption was compounded by the fact that the affected train was carrying passengers from what one witness described as two to three consolidated services, given existing cancellations on the route. Deutsche Bahn did not provide an estimated timeline for restoring normal service on the affected section of track as of the time of reporting.