The train hitting stones near Česká Lípa is a railway incident that occurred on 5 October 2026 on the line between Česká Lípa and Nový Bor near the Sever housing estate in the Liberec Region.[1]
Course of events
Operations on the Česká Lípa – Střelnice – Nový Bor section were interrupted shortly before 6 p.m. after a train hit stones that had been piled on the tracks.[1] Správa železnic spokesman Martin Kavka confirmed that operations on the section had been halted and that the case was being investigated by the Police of the Czech Republic.[1] Police spokeswoman Dagmar Sochorová stated that the matter was being investigated as a case of general endangerment and that none of the roughly twenty passengers were harmed.[2] According to her, the extent of the damage was still being assessed.[2]
Previous incident
Sources differ on the date of the immediately preceding incident at the same location: Liberecká Drbna gives 25 September 2026, while iDNES.cz gives 23 September 2026.[1][2] According to police spokeswoman Ivana Baláková, the driver of a passenger train operated by Die Länderbahn, which had departed from Nový Bor, noticed on the inclined left-hand curve below the Sever housing estate a row of stones roughly ten to twenty centimetres in size piled on the track.[1][2] Baláková described how the driver immediately applied the emergency brake, which significantly slowed the train so that it stopped after a hundred metres, though it still ran over part of the stones.[1][2] This caused damage of at least 100,000 crowns to the wheels of the driving car.[1][2] According to Liberecká Drbna, all 23 passengers and the two railway company employees remained uninjured.[1]
Investigation and recurrence of incidents
Police classified the case as the crime of general endangerment.[1] According to Baláková, stones had already appeared at the same spot in 2025, on two occasions with a very similar scenario, and investigators had not yet managed to solve those cases.[2] Police appealed to the public, asking anyone who had noticed suspicious movement of people near the tracks below the Sever housing estate to contact the emergency line 158.[1][2]
Related articles: Správa železnic
Chronology
- — A train on the line between Česká Lípa and Nový Bor hit stones placed on the tracks, and police are investigating the case as endangering public safety as part of a recurring series of similar incidents. Liberecká Drbna iDNES.cz
Sources
- Liberecká Drbna — 5 October 2026
- iDNES.cz — 6 October 2026