Fatal accident of a blind woman on the U-Bahn - Munich

Last Wednesday, a blind woman (German link) who wanted to board the U2 at Silberhornstrasse in Giesing mistook the gap between the coaches for a doorway and fell into the tracks. She attempted to climb out but the driver, who did not notice the accident, started the train; it rolled over her, killing her instantly. Those are the bare facts, and one immediately thinks: How could that happen? Police and MVG investigations provide a long list of how a simple mistake and a chain of circumstances led to a gruesome death. According to the surveillance tapes, some 30 people were boarding the train. Most of them approached the safety zone at the edge of the platform when it arrived, the 28-year-old blind woman was still waiting towards the middle of the platform next to the information displays.

On the tape, three men board back third of the train, the woman appears on camera behind them, feeling her way with her white stick, and falls into the gap between the last two coaches. It appears that no one, including the driver, saw her fall, meaning that no one ignored her plight or refused the necessary help. The next frames of the surveillance tape show a woman rushing to the emergency brake on the platform, she pulls it along with others, passengers in the train pull their brakes as well.

Here we encounter a special system that is meant to prevent emergency stops within the tunnels when the emergency brake on the platform is activated but makes the driver look bad in this instance – if the front of the train has already passed a security devise installed app. 80 m into the tunnel the automatic brake is overridden. The emergency brakes within the train work in a similar fashion, the driver is notified of their activation but has general orders to drive to the next stop for security reasons. The MVG recommends not only pulling the emergency brake in dangerous situations but also communicating with the driver via the Notruf (emergency alarm) button next to the doors.

Installing security doors along the platform edges, as mentioned on the related topic, would definitely help to prevent such horrible accidents but cannot be realized in Munich due to the several different types of trains using the U-Bahn tracks.

The merits and drawbacks of offering a blind or disabled person assistance in boarding the U-Bahn have also been discussed on the related topic. Just a few months ago I broached the dilemma to a young blind man I happened to meet at the Odeonsplatz bus stop. His advice was basically to always ask the person if they required any help.
After seeing one man heading straight for the gap between the coaches, just like this woman whose mistake was fatal, I observe blind people boarding the trains fairly closely and have several times called out to them to go left or right or even yelled “Stop!” when they were heading for the gap instead of the doors. Some just thank me and head in the right direction, one or two have reached out and asked me to lead them. Take a couple seconds to help next time, you never know what might happen if you don’t.

Related topic: Blind man dies after falling under U-Bahn

Oh shit!
Life can be over so quickly!
I feel sorry for the woman, but also for her family and friends.

I am sorry for this. It is too bad she did not have a dog to assist her which could have saved her. I think the first guide dog school was here in Oldenburg which opened in 1916.

Simple really...
1. Accelerate the purchase of the new Class C trains / Removal of the 1960s trains. (1967 actually)
2. Start converting lines 1 at a time to use Only the new trains.
3. Install the Security walls

Its not just the blind that have this problem, its also the random drunks.. Esp. during Oktoberfest..
Of course being drunk is their fault/choice while being blind is not.

Very sad story. Poor woman.

The story below is nowhere near as serious, but it shows we should help blind folks if posible and not leave it to others.

Blind man dies after falling under an U-Bahn

Very sad...

Not good, i'm always very aware if people are stood behind me at S or U bahn stations.

You did read the article mentioning the costs as well?

Installing automatic doors on the platform wouldn't prevent further accidental deaths, since if you buy all Class C trains it's almost impossible to fall between the carriages because there are no gaps - it's a continuous 6 carriage train. So someone can only fall in front of the train, where the driver will see them, or behind the train, where they won't be run over anyway.

Automatic doors on the platform do stop suicides, however. Which are a lot more traumatic for drivers, and cost the MVV an arm and a leg in counselling and prolonged sick leave. I saw figures once but can't find them again. Just a feeling I have, but I feel like there have been a lot of accidental deaths this year.

Also, not all lines need full capacity trains, particularly U4/U1, so it's unlikely MVV would fork out when they have perfectly good trains of Baureihe A and B which they can couple/uncouple as necessary into 2/4 carriage trains.

Sadly, deaths on the underground are just something we'll have to live with. If all the people who used it travelled by car, I'm sure more would die.

A very sad case though, I'm sure everyone will agree.

Why not make it that the U-Bahn stops at precisely the same point each time. That strip that runs along the edge to warn blind people of the platform edge could be adjusted at points where the doors would be. Probably not gonna happen but something should be done.

As previously mentioned, the location of the doors in the older trains (A& and the new trains © is different. As far as I'm aware the old trains are not designed to stop to an accuracy of a few cm, even though they do drive more or less automatically between stops.

Also, this wouldn't work for Kurzzuge, in fact it would give the blind person a false sense of security

With the class 3, there is no "Kurzzuge".. So it would work just fine.

Between the carriages, perhaps a bit harder, but between the platform and the train near the connections between carriages. yes.
Esp. for small people (Think old people) and children.

Unfortunately, the operating the older trains is getting more expensive the older they get. Remembet most of these trains have been running
since the late 70s/early 80s. If there were only 1 model train to do maint. on, then the costs of that maint. and the time needed to do it could be decreased.
MVG is already moving in this direction. The upgrade time just needs to sped up.. The newer trains although being longer that a single Class A/B train
are much lighter and more power efficient..

I was referring to Jamie's comment, which didn't necessarily specify replacing all old trains.

I had a look at the gaps between platform/train at the connection between carriages today. It would still be possible for old people to fall down here, but in this case the blind woman certainly wouldn't have mistaken that much smaller gap for a door. Children, you would hope, would always be with someone who could raise the alarm

This is a fair point, it's just the large capital cost that would be hard to stomach. Especially since they don't even have enough to pay their drivers a decent wage.

Even if the MVG sticks to one sort of train there are the immense costs of setting up the barriers. The following entities bear the construction costs for the U-Bahn system:

The sting is in the last sentence - Furthermore, the City of Munich covers the costs not eligible for state or federal grants. Such as, for example, barriers along the platform edges. How much do you think a ticket would have to cost to cover the hundreds of millions of Euros necessary for their installation and upkeep?

This is very tragic and I feel sorry for her and her family.

But what I can't help but notice as I keep looking at the pic of the station in the first post is that station looks as lonely as death.