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A subway train that invaded the stops of a station on the outskirts of Rotterdam has remained 10 meters above the ground on the plastic tail of a whale sculpture.
The subway conductor was reportedly able to free himself from the train without injury after the incident shortly after midnight on Monday morning. There were no passengers on board.
Maarten Struijs, who made the sculpture of two tails emerging from the water below the elevated subway line, said he was surprised that the sculpture had held together.
He said: “I could never have imagined it that way, but it saved the life of the operator. Damage is an afterthought.
“It surprises me that it is so strong. When plastic has been standing for 20 years, you don’t expect it to hold a subway train. “
The artwork, Saved by the Whale’s Tail, was erected in 2002 by De Akkers Station in Spijkenisse on the outskirts of Rotterdam in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is made of reinforced polyester.
Emergency services sought to secure the scene on Monday. “Given the complexity, this will take some time,” said a spokesman for the Rotterdam-Rijnmond security region. “It will be quite an exercise to take that thing off and put it to safety.”
It was not yet clear what caused the train to invade the station.
