External investigators wrap it up: the Garmisch-Partenkirchen derailment was avoidable and the direct result of rule- and duty-violating behavior by on-site operating staff. About 60 people were interviewed and roughly ten million data points analyzed.

The executive level isn’t off the hook either; the DB Netz unit failed to act on extensive findings about defective concrete sleepers.

The accident happened on June 3, 2022. A regional train derailed, three carriages slid down the embankment, and five people were killed (four women and a 13-year-old boy); 78 others were injured, 16 seriously.

Since then, DB Netz no longer exists and infrastructure is now handled by DB InfraGO. InfraGO’s chair Philipp Nagl says consequences will be taken against those responsible and the company will seek redress from former board members. The plan is to prevent future misconduct; high-risk sleepers have been proactively replaced—about two million so far—and more infrastructure will be reviewed.

A trial against two Bahn employees is set for October; prosecutors allege negligent deaths and injuries.

Earlier BEU findings had flagged rotten sleepers as the main cause and noted that a driver’s report from the night before wasn’t forwarded. Forwarding could have altered the sequence of events, but was not deemed decisive.

As of November 2022, DB was examining roughly 130,000 additional sleepers on its routes.