After a Deutsche Bahn employee fell from a moving train during an altercation with a passenger, the train drivers' union GDL has called for legal consequences. GDL chairman Mario Reiß told WDR on Saturday that what was needed was not a safety summit or a round table, but "decisions from the judiciary." "We need changes to the law, and we need the right of intervention."
During the scuffle, a train door was damaged. Through the resulting gap near the bottom of the door, the 26-year-old fell onto the track bed at a speed of 120 km/h shortly before Ettlingen. Investigators say the 36-year-old had kicked the employee multiple times beforehand.
The critically injured employee was eventually found roughly two kilometres before the station in Bruchhausen, a district of Ettlingen south of Karlsruhe, following a large-scale search. Police said on Saturday evening that his condition was critical but stable.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the public prosecutor's office and police confirmed the findings of initial investigations, stating that the accused used massive violence against the Deutsche Bahn employee. The 36-year-old has prior convictions for violent offences and is currently serving a suspended prison sentence.
Despite this, the Karlsruhe District Court rejected a request for an arrest warrant against the passenger. According to the prosecutor responsible for the case, the court's reasoning was that the man could not have anticipated that the train door would open, which is why the arrest warrant was denied.
The 36-year-old accused remains free. The Karlsruhe public prosecutor's office said it intends to review the court's decision, with a spokesperson stating that legal steps against the ruling have not been ruled out.
The Railway Union EVG reacted with sharp criticism. "There may be legal reasons for the release of the previously convicted perpetrator who beat a colleague on a moving train," explained Vice Chair Cosima Ingenschay. "But what kind of message does this send to all the railway workers who are anxiously awaiting news of their colleague at this very moment? Who still have to start their shift today and tell their families that everything will be alright?"
Violent attacks are now occurring daily. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) "can no longer remain silent; he must make the fight against these violent excesses a top priority," demanded the EVG.
The train drivers' union GDL has demanded legal consequences. "We don't need a safety summit or a roundtable discussion, but rather 'judicial decisions,'" GDL chairman Mario Reiß told WDR on Saturday. "We need changes to the law and we need the right to take action."
"Everyone in Germany needs to know that an attack on a person will be punished and will have consequences severe enough to deter people from attacking someone," he added. "The level of escalation that occurred once again on that train is enormous." He continued that colleagues "have to go to work every day with more fear."
Deutsche Bahn employees are repeatedly targeted in attacks. In February, the death of a train conductor following an attack by a fare dodger in Rhineland-Palatinate caused shock across the country.
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