The ICE journey from Hamburg to Munich on Saturday was a stress test for hundreds of passengers - including the train evacuation. The train came to an unscheduled stop practically as it exited the seven-kilometer-long Finne Tunnel on the border between Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt.
Due to a technical problem, a connection to the overhead line was no longer possible, the train staff informed the passengers on the ICE. All toilet flushing on the train also stopped. The last option was to evacuate to a new train on the parallel track. With 600 passengers and luggage announced by the train driver, this is a major undertaking. The railway officially corrected the number slightly downwards, citing 450 passengers. However, evacuating hundreds of people and their luggage doesn't happen quickly. The air quality in the compartments quickly deteriorated. Not surprising given that the outside temperature is around 20 degrees and there is no air conditioning. To compensate, there was free water, but that was little consolation for the passengers.