The ICE high speed train "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen" was on the route from Munich to Hamburg. After stopping in Hanover at 10.30 a.m. the train continued its journey northwards. At 10.59 a.m. the train derailed. The cause of the disaster was a broken wheel. When passing a switch at over 200 km/h, the damaged wheel jumped off the rail. The locomotive was separated from the remaining train and the emergency brakes were activated; this braking had little effect as the braking distance was too long due to the velocity. The first four carriages made it through the road bridge that crossed the tracks at Eschede, but the fifth carriage drove against the pier. The bridge collapsed and buried two carriages, the rear carriages crashed into the wreckage and were totally torn apart.
While many passengers and the driver survived in the front part of the train, there was almost no chance of survival in the rear carriages. 101 people died in the disaster.