Memorial · Eschede · Updated on 1 November 2026.
Gedenkstein Zugunglück Eschede 03. Juni 1998 is a memorial in Eschede, Lower Saxony. This place has an audio tour of about 2 minutes, in English or Dutch. 1 of the 4 well-known points of interest nearby is within 1 km. Within 0 m you'll find a bench.
Audio tour · Gedenkstein Zugunglück Eschede 03. Juni 1998
2:13
You're standing at the site of the Eschede train disaster, the worst high-speed rail accident the world has ever seen. Around you are cherry trees, a hundred and one of them. Each tree stands for one person who died in this disaster on 3 June 1998.
Read and hear the whole story in the Outdoor Pitstop app: check in at this place and it is yours (with Pro; new users are Pro for the first 4 weeks).
9 photos from Wikimedia Commons. In the app you add your own photo when you are there.
Cherry trees surround you here, one for each person who died in the Eschede train disaster on 3 June 1998. Between the trees stands a memorial wall with the names of all the victims, and you can walk along it and read the names. A staircase leads up to the street and a stone gateway. It is a quiet spot, so there is no need to hurry. On the other side, a few more steps lead upwards, but they go nowhere. It is worth taking a moment to look at them before you carry on.
On the morning of the disaster, ICE 884 was travelling at around 200 kilometres per hour. About 6 kilometres before Eschede, a wheel under the first carriage broke because of metal fatigue. The steel tyre around the wheel tore loose and pierced the floor. A passenger alerted the conductor, but he wanted to check for himself before stopping the train. At the points just before the bridge, the loose tyre caught on the track. At 10.59, the third carriage struck the pillars of the road bridge. The bridge collapsed on top of the train, and the front section kept going for kilometres. Local residents were the first at the scene, followed by more than 1,000 rescue workers. The wheel turned out to have a flawed design: the rubber ring in it had not been tested at high speed. Within a few weeks, all trains were fitted with one-piece wheels. The windows were also modified so that rescuers could break them more easily.
The memorial is a good place to sit down for a while. The nearest bench is 5 metres away, at the Gedenkstätte Zugunglück Eschede. There are 15 benches in total within 500 metres, so you don't have to walk far if you want to rest. Public toilets and drinking water are a different story. According to our map, there is no public toilet within 1 km, and there is no water tap within 1 km either. It is therefore wise to carry enough water yourself and to visit the toilet before you set off.
You can hear more about this place in the Outdoor Pitstop app, which has an audio story about the Memorial Gedenkstein Zugunglück Eschede 03. Juni 1998. It lasts 2 minutes, and you can listen to it on the spot. That way you hear the story right where you are standing. It makes a short pause before you carry on with your walk. After that, you can walk to the Gedenkstätte Zugunglück Eschede. Our map lists this place as an attraction, and it is 43 metres away, so you can reach it without a detour. This makes it easy to visit both places on one walk. Take your phone out and keep the volume low, so you don't disturb other visitors.
The nearest pitstop of each kind within 1 km, as the crow flies. No water point, public toilet, bike pump or honesty box within 1 km.
The Memorial Gedenkstein Zugunglück Eschede 03. Juni 1998 is a memorial in Eschede for the train disaster of 3 June 1998. It stands among 101 cherry trees, one for each victim.
101 people died in the Eschede train disaster, including railway workers who were working on the bridge. The memorial wall bears the names of all the victims.
The cause was a wheel on ICE 884 that broke due to metal fatigue. The design with a rubber ring had not been tested at high speed.
You can see 101 cherry trees and a memorial wall with the names of all the victims. There is also a staircase up to the street and a stone gate, and on the opposite side there are steps that lead nowhere.
Yes, the nearest bench is 5 metres away, at the Gedenkstätte Zugunglück Eschede. Within 500 metres there are 15 benches.
No, according to our map there is no public toilet and no drinking water point within 1 km.
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