Train connection closed

Slippery snow! Truck and car ram railroad masts

Friday the 13th will probably be remembered rather badly by two road users in the Swiss municipality of Gais, not far from the Vorarlberg border. First a station wagon left the road and rammed a railroad mast head-on, shortly afterwards the same thing happened to a truck weighing several tons.

At around 9.30 a.m., a 41-year-old man was driving his estate car on the main road from Gais towards Altstätten in the Rhine Valley in wintry driving conditions.

In a left-hand bend, it veered off the road to the right onto a grass verge and then onto the track of the Appenzell railroad running parallel to it. The man's vehicle then collided head-on with a catenary mast. 

A short time later, a 26-year-old man arrived at the scene of the accident in his truck. At this point, there were several parked vehicles on the road, which is why the man braked his articulated truck.

As he was unable to bring his vehicle, which weighed several tons, to a halt in front of the vehicle behind, he steered to the right, left the road, drove over the adjacent grass verge and then onto the railroad line, where he also collided head-on with a catenary mast.

The good news: both drivers were uninjured in the spectacular accidents, but according to the police, several tens of thousands of euros worth of damage was caused. In addition, the Gais - Altstätten Stadt route is closed until Monday night as a result of the collision.