According to an investigation report, a mistake by the gatekeeper was the cause of the fatal accident at the level crossing in the Nied district of Frankfurt.
This emerges from the report of the Federal Agency for Railway Accident Investigation in Bonn.
"Primarily the cause of the event" was a mistake by the guard who opened the barriers immediately in front of an approaching train, it says.
She may have mistakenly assumed that the train had already passed.
In 2020, a 16-year-old pedestrian was hit by a train with the barrier open and killed, and two other people were seriously injured.
The public prosecutor's office is investigating the gatekeeper for negligent homicide and endangering railway operations.
"Formal" requirements were missing
According to the report, the woman should not have been used at the barrier.
She passed the necessary tests and was instructed on site.
But there was no certificate of on-the-job training, which is why "at least formally" the prerequisites for deploying the guard were missing.
Shortly before the accident, there were also technical problems: the barriers could not be opened for about 30 minutes. This had an "additional stress-increasing and distracting effect" on the guard, the report said, which also criticized the lack of a security check on the facility. The "Frankfurter Neue Presse" (Friday) reported on it beforehand.