At the time of the collapse, the railway tunnel was off the grid due to construction work, meaning there was no danger of a train being buried underneath the debris.
However, the tunnel was undergoing restoration work shortly before the collapse occurred. A team was at the construction site to conduct preparations on Saturday morning when the incident happened.
Around 11am, a worker noticed that an unusually high amount of debris was coming down while drilling. He thus alerted the team and everybody was safely evacuated in time.
A four-metre-long section of the tunnel roof collapsed soon after.
CFL has since released a statement to ensure that all safety protocols were respected at the construction site and that the necessary geological analyses and stability checks had been completed beforehand.
A new study is now being launched to determine the cause of the collapse.
In conversation with our colleagues from RTL, CFL spokeswoman Allessandra Nonnweiler described the incident as a landslip rather than a collapse. She cited the fact that the tunnel was off the grid and that nobody was injured as reasons for the delayed announcement.
CFL spokespeople were unwilling to estimate how long it may take before the tunnel between Kautenbach and Wilwerwiltz can reopen.
