T E R R O R I S M

A little story from today.

Like every day, I was riding my crappy little bike (now the disk brake is getting weaker and weaker while squealing louder than ever before when applied) to the train station, expecting nothing special. Oh, there’s a train standing at my platform! But it can’t be mine, that would be much too early. Probably a VERY delayed previous train on that line or something…

*getting closer*

Hmm, it says “Nicht Einsteigen” (do not board), how odd!

*closer*

Uh… Police vans? That can’t be good…

As I locked my bike and walked through the tunnel to my platform, I saw that the stairs were blocked with warning tape, guarded by police officers. They told me that all trains will be diverted to platform 3, so that’s where I went then. Not all that rare that I have to catch a train from that platform, it usually means that an IC or ICE train will overtake us on the rail this train here is standing on. Still, I wondered what might be going on there…

Soon, a larger group of people emerged from where I came (the stairs that are just under the metal roof of the platform I’m standing on), apparently the passengers of the stranded train. Behind them, three officers told everyone to go further down the platform, so we all stood where I was standing when I took the photo. One was not allowed to go to the stairs, the only way to and from the platform were the stairs at the other end (behind me). I asked one of the other passengers about what's going on, but he said “They tell you nuthin!”.

With a delay of about ten minutes, my train then arrived. Quite funny, it seems to be heading for platform 2 instead of 3… Okay, so I went to the other edge of the platform, no problem. Hmm, he’s quite fast… He doesn’t seem to be…

*whoosh*

…stopping… WTF? He just went through? The fuck?!

People were slightly pissed, as you can imagine, and questioned the officers about what the hell was going on, and how the hell they are supposed to get to Cologne or Düsseldorf. The answers were not surprising. They don’t have any infos from the DB, if the trains don’t stop, one should take the S-Bahn, which runs on its separate trackage. To the question about what was going on, the answer was “A police investigation.”. Now that totally explains everything, but they were obviously not allowed to tell us anything.

I didn’t really know what to do by then. Taking the S-Bahn would take hours, and I’d certainly be late. I called my mom on my cell, and we were already making plans about her driving to the station, me driving her back to work, and then going to Duisburg by car. Luckly, in that very moment, the rest of the platform was opened again, and the next (delayed) train did actually stop, so I juuust got there on time.

When I got home, I posted this story and pic on DSO, asking whether anyone could tell me what happened. Someone indeed posted a link to an online newspaper article that explained everything. Can you guess it?

A backpack.

Someone left a backpack on the train. Containing cameras, a radio and an electric shaver.

Now I’m all for being careful, as a German would say Vorsicht ist besser als Nachsicht. But with everyone being freaked out by a lone piece of baggage one could easily just open to see what’s inside, maybe look for something with a name or phone number on… At least I haven’t heard of any bomb being set to detonate when the bag is opened. I admit, there was a case that made nationwide headlines, the two “Kofferbomber”, wannabe Muslim terrorists who placed two bombs on trains exactly like this one, but they were poorly made and didn’t explode. Still, I often find it weird that a bag someone might just as well have forgotten stops everything.

Terrorism: violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror)

If you'd ask me, I'd say it worked, we're scared shitless all right.

Did I ever mention my wish to have a car?