German officials knew high-speed train's wheels 'broke in tests'

GERMAN RAILWAY officials knew that high-speed train wheels were at risk of breaking years before the derailment on 2 June caused by a fractured steel tyre, a German television programme reported yesterday. One hundred people died in the crash near Eschede.

According to the ZDF Frontal report, the rim that encircles the wheel broke during tests of the high-speed Inter City Express trains held in the early 1980s.