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Horrible accident in Lauchhammer: man injured by barrier!
A bicycle accident at a railway crossing in Lauchhammer injured a 61-year-old; Rail traffic stopped briefly.
Horrible accident in Lauchhammer: man injured by barrier!
In Lauchhammer, an accident was reported on Monday evening at a level crossing on Elsterwerdaer Straße, which claimed the victim of a 61-year-old man. According to Niederlausitz Aktuell, the man wanted to push his bike quickly across the tracks when the barrier began to close. He was hit in the head and fell to the ground. He was immediately given medical care and taken to a hospital. No precise information is yet available about the severity of his injuries.
Rail traffic on the route in question was briefly interrupted as a precaution, but there was no further impact on train operations, as the police reported. The authorities have not yet disclosed any details about the accident or possible investigations.
Accidents at railway crossings: An unsolved problem
The incident in Lauchhammer is one of the worrying statistics. Accidents regularly occur at the approximately 16,000 level crossings in the Deutsche Bahn (DB) network, often with fatal consequences. A peak in accidents at level crossings is expected this year, with 36 people having already lost their lives and 188 injured by the end of August 2025, as Tagesschau reports. Despite a reduction in level crossings by around 20% since 2010, the number of accidents remains alarmingly high.
The DB therefore plans to further reduce the number of crossings in order to reduce the risk of such accidents. According to [RND]. In 2023 there were only 15,820. This shows the clear trend that the railway wants to make the infrastructure increasingly safer.
Responsibility and safety at level crossings
An important aspect of the discussion is that over 95% of railway crossing accidents are caused by human error. This is also confirmed by experts from TU Dresden. Eric Schöne, a renowned expert, calls for more investment in technical security measures to minimize the risk, especially at the remaining critical crossings. This could be done, for example, through additional post-warning systems that compensate for human error in order to counteract the danger posed by these traffic points.
The sad accident in Lauchhammer makes it clear that, even in 2025, the dangers at level crossings are not just a theoretical discussion, but an urgent reality that can have serious consequences. It is hoped that increased attention to security and infrastructure projects will prevent such incidents in the future.