Canoe

Thursday, May. 25, 2000

Thirty-four injured in German train crash

HADAMAR, Germany (AP) -- A passenger train traveling on the wrong track plowed into the back of a parked freight train at a station Wednesday, injuring 34 people, a German rail spokesman said.

Two people -- a passenger and an engineer -- were hospitalized with serious injuries after the early afternoon crash, spokesman Gerd Felser said.

The locomotive of the regional commuter train hit the back of the freight train, which had pulled off onto a side track to make room for the other one to pass. Officials were investigating how the moving train got on the wrong track, Felser said. All the injured were aboard the commuter train.

The damage estimate was about $230,000, Felser said.

Traffic through the Hadamar station, about 30 miles northwest of Frankfurt, was temporarily halted and passengers were bused to their destinations, he said.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), May 25, 2000