German trial told train's 'rubber wheel' killed 101

The board of Deutsche Bahn, Germany's state-owned rail company, was accused yesterday of encouraging engineers to use a defective rubber-coated wheel on a high-speed train that later crashed into a bridge, killing 101 passengers in the country's worst post-war rail disaster.

The charges were levelled by lawyers for relatives of the victims at the opening of the trial of three rail engineers accused of direct responsibility for the crash near the town of Eschede. The German intercity express, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, hit the road bridge outside the town on 3 June 1998 at more than 120mph. It took more than a week to extricate the dead and 105 injured. Investigators established the crash was caused by a broken, rubber-coated wheel on the locomotive, which caught in points, forcing the train to derail.

"The wheel that eventually broke had already run for more than 100,000 kilometres with cracks in it," Reiner Geulen, a lawyer for the victims said yesterday. "Any average car mechanic would have taken a vehicle like that off the road immediately. It is clear that the board of Deutsche Bahn encouraged its employees to continue using the wheel, despite their concerns and the lack of any available test results."

Two Deutsche Bahn rail engineers and an employee of the Thyssen Krupp company, which made the defective wheel, made no comment as charges of manslaughter, negligence and causing bodily harm were read out against them at the court in the town of Celle yesterday. If convicted, they could be jailed for up to five years. But their lawyers rejected the allegations. "We shall be submitting evidence from experts which will prove that in principle the wheel was considered suitable for use on high-speed trains," Hans Feigen, a lawyer for Deutsche Bahn, said. The lawyers say the accident was a tragic accident but not a criminal offence.

More than 50 relatives of the crash victims were at the trial opening and several wept when the names of the dead were read out in court. "Reading out the names was a terrible thing for us to endure," Heinrich Loewen, who lost his wife and daughter in the crash, said. "This trial is an attempt to ensure than economic considerations are never regarded as more important than the safety of human life."

A verdict is not expected until late next year. No member of the Deutsche Bahn board has been charged in connection with the accident. The company has already awarded £1.3m to victims' families.

The prosecution is basing its evidence on a report by transport experts that claims errors were made in the choice of the defective rubber-coated wheels, initially fitted to reduce noise. Lawyers for the victims say Deutsche Bahn tacitly admitted its guilt by refitting all of its high-speed trains with steel wheels after the Eschede disaster.