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Peter Dejong / AP
The tail of a whale sculpture caught the front car of a subway train when it collided with the end of an elevated section of rails with the driver escaping injuries in Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam.
This really was a fluke.
The conductor of a subway train was injured when the front car collided with the end of an elevated section of rails and was caught by a sculpture of a whale’s tail near the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.
The train was perched on one of the two rear fins known as “fins” several meters above the ground.
It created such a stir locally that authorities urged tourists to stay away, adding that coronavirus restrictions were in effect.
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Peter Dejong / AP
The train was perched on one of the two rear wings several meters above the ground.
Still, about 50 people were at the scene late Monday morning (local time) as engineers tried to figure out how to stabilize and then remove the train amid high winds.
“A team of experts is investigating how we can make it safe and remove it,” Carly Gorter, a spokeswoman for the local security authority, said in a telephone interview.
“It is complicated,” he added.
Peter Dejong / AP
Authorities were investigating how the train could get through the barrier at the end of the line.
The authority said a crane would attempt to lift the whale train Tuesday morning.
The architect who designed the sculpture, Maarten Struijs, told Dutch broadcaster RTL that he was glad it probably saved the driver’s life.
“I’m surprised he’s so strong,” he said. “If plastic has been standing for 20 years, you don’t expect it to support a subway car.”
Peter Dejong / AP
There were no passengers on the train when it crashed.
The company that operates the metro line said the driver was uninjured and there were no passengers on the train when it crashed through the stop barriers at the end of the station in the city of Spijkenisse, at the southern tip of Rotterdam, early Monday morning.
The station is the last stop on the metro line.
Authorities launched an investigation into how the train could get through the barrier at the end of the train tracks. The driver was being interviewed as part of the investigation, the Rijnmondveilig safety authority said.
