A Whale Tail Saved This Falling Train: 2020 Spijkenisse Metro Derailment

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Can a whale save a train? It sounds strange, even impossible, but in 2020 in a quiet town in the Netherlands, a metro train went off the tracks and should have crashed to the ground below.

[00:00:15]Instead, it was saved by a giant whale's tail. No passengers died. The driver survived. But the real question is, how did this accident happen and why was the outcome so different from what we expect?

[00:00:31]Let's begin this incredible story of 2020 Spijkenisse, Netherlands metro derailment. Spijkenisse is a city of around 72,000 people as of 2021.

[00:00:44]It is located in the southwest of the Netherlands. The city lies within the province of South Holland, about 10 mi or 16 km southwest of Rotterdam. It is also about 43 mi or 69 km north of the Belgian city of Antwerp.

[00:01:03]The city is connected by the Rotterdam metro with lines C and D serving the area.

[00:01:09]These lines include three stations: Spijkenisse Centrum, Heemraadslaan, and De Akkers.

[00:01:16]In 2002, a large sculpture called Walvissenstaarten, meaning whale tails, was built in the pool at the end of the bridge.

[00:01:25]It stands about 9.1 m or 30 ft tall and is made up of two large whale tail shapes.

[00:01:34]The design was created by Dutch architect Maarten Struijs.

[00:01:38]The structure is built with a steel frame covered by a 6-mm thick layer of polyester plastic.

[00:01:46]In the same year, Struijs also designed the extension of the metro bridge where the sculpture was placed.

[00:01:53]On the night of the accident, metro train number 5351.

[00:01:58]A Bombardier MG2/1 was being moved at the Akkes station. It was not carrying passengers and was pulling another identical train behind it. On the 2nd of November, 2020, just after midnight, a train driver was moving an empty set of two connected MG2/1 units along the dead-end bridge at the Akkes station.

[00:02:22]He was preparing to change direction and switch to another track. At 28 minutes past midnight, as the train approached the end of the bridge, the driver applied the brakes.

[00:02:34]But it was too late. The train did not stop. Even with the brakes fully applied, it continued forward and crashed through the buffer stop.

[00:02:43]The impact pushed the train upward at the end of the track.

[00:02:47]The front car then cleared a gap of about 7.5 m, or 25 ft, and landed on one of the whale tail sculptures below.

[00:02:56]It slid slightly forward before coming to a stop as the front wheels caught onto the curved surface of the tail.

[00:03:03]Remarkably, the sculpture held the weight of the train.

[00:03:07]The rear end of the front car remained just barely supported by the bridge, still connected to the second car behind it.

[00:03:15]The train did not fall.

[00:03:17]Instead, it was left hanging in a very unstable position, around 9.7 m, or 32 ft, above the ground below.

[00:03:26]The driver, realizing he had survived, carefully moved back through the train and returned to the bridge.

[00:03:33]He escaped shaken, but without any injuries. Local residents, likely awakened by a loud and unusual noise, were the first to arrive at the scene.

[00:03:43]At first, very little seemed out of place.

[00:03:46]There was some debris on the sidewalk beyond the end of the bridge, but the train itself remained high above, out of reach and out of sight for many people passing below.

[00:03:57]Within an hour, photos of the strange scene began to spread quickly. Many people could not believe what they were seeing. Some thought it might be part of a movie set. Others believed it was an art display built on top of another artwork. A few even suspected the images were edited or fake.

[00:04:17]The police soon arrived and closed off the sidewalk beneath the sculpture.

[00:04:21]Their main concern was that the train could still fall. Meanwhile, the driver was taken to a hospital for a checkup and later brought to a police station for questioning.

[00:04:33]Firefighters worked carefully to secure the train in its unstable position.

[00:04:38]This allowed investigators from the Dutch Safety Board to examine both the train and the bridge in detail. The investigation found no technical problems with the train. The signaling system was also working normally, and there was no evidence that the driver was under the influence of any substance.

[00:04:56]The way the brakes were applied showed a steady increase, which made it unlikely that the driver had fallen asleep.

[00:05:03]This was supported by the fact that he clearly remembered the entire journey from the station to the point of impact.

[00:05:11]However, investigators noted that it was a cold night and the tracks were wet. At the time, the train was performing a shunting movement, which meant the signaling system was not controlling its speed.

[00:05:24]This led to one main conclusion. The driver may have been trying to complete the task quickly and misjudged the conditions. He likely believed the train could stop in time, but the wet rails reduced the grip, making braking less effective. The driver's lawyer strongly denied any wrongdoing. No criminal charges were proven.

[00:05:46]But the findings made it clear that train was moving too fast for the conditions and the brakes were applied too late to prevent the accident.

[00:05:54]Despite strict laws in the Netherlands limiting public gatherings during the pandemic, the accident site continued to attract crowds. Many local residents came to see the unusual scene for themselves and to take photos of what looked like a train resting on top of an art installation.

[00:06:12]Some people even suggested that the result was so unique that the train should be left in place permanently instead of being removed.

[00:06:21]Authorities repeatedly asked people to stay at home and follow the story through television or online coverage as the crowds near the barriers kept growing larger than necessary.

[00:06:32]Maarten Struijs, the designer of the sculpture, said he and the engineers were surprised that the whale tails had held up under the weight of the train.

[00:06:41]The structure had never been designed to carry such a heavy load and it was not meant to act as a safety feature for the railway.

[00:06:49]He did say there was something poetic about a whale's tail preventing the train from falling into the water below.

[00:06:56]There was, however, one important detail. The sculpture had been built stronger than usual because the area often experiences strong winds.

[00:07:05]The shape of the fins is similar to airplane wings, which can create lift as wind passes over them. Because of this, the structure had to be designed to resist being pulled loose by powerful winds.

[00:07:18]To test this, engineers even built a scale model of the sculpture and the end of the bridge.

[00:07:25]This model was placed inside a wind tunnel to measure how strong the forces of the wind could be.

[00:07:31]An article published in Popular Mechanics helped clear up the confusion about the strength of the sculpture.

[00:07:37]It explained that the whale tail was not actually carrying the full weight of the train car.

[00:07:43]The connection system between the train cars, known as the coupler, meant that most of the weight was still supported by the remaining cars on the bridge.

[00:07:52]This also helped prevent the front car from dropping into the gap between the bridge and the sculpture. Without the sculpture, or if the train had been heavier, for example carrying passengers, the front car would likely have fallen to the ground. But in this case, the connection to the rest of the train provided just enough support.

[00:08:12]It allowed the train to behave like a beam, extending outward instead of falling straight down, while the sculpture held the remaining weight.

[00:08:22]The unusual scene after the accident quickly spread across the internet.

[00:08:27]Within days, many people began sharing images and creating memes about what had happened.

[00:08:33]Some compared it to a theme park ride, while others pointed out the strange irony that a technical failure had been stopped by a piece of art. If that sculpture was not there, the story could have ended very differently.

[00:08:47]What do you think? Was this a miracle, or just chance?

[00:08:52]Share your thoughts below.