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A train conductor in the Netherlands has had a kind of escape thanks to a haphazardly placed art installation.
A subway train went through a block at De Akkers subway station and a whale tail sculpture prevented it from plummeting on November 2, 2020.
Photo: Robin Utrecht / ANP / AFP
A metro train in Spijkenisse, near the city of Rotterdam, crashed into a barrier at the end of the tracks shortly before midnight Sunday.
But instead of sinking 10 meters into the water, the train was dramatically suspended in midair.
It ended delicately balanced on the large sculpture of a whale’s tail at De Akkers metro station.
“We are trying to decide how we can get off the train in a careful and controlled way,” an official told the Dutch national broadcaster NOS on Monday.
The driver, who has not been identified, was able to leave the train empty by himself. He was taken to the hospital for a check-up and is not believed to have been injured.
The sculpture, titled Whale tails, It is the work of the architect and artist Maarten Struijs, and was installed in the water at the end of the tracks in 2002.
Struijs told NOS he was surprised the structure didn’t break.
“It’s been there for almost 20 years and … actually the plastic is expected to pulverize a little bit, but apparently that’s not the case,” he said.
“I’ll be sure to get some photos,” he added. “I could never have imagined it that way.”
– BBC
