2009 12:00 AM EDTThe terrible spectacle is all too familiar: Heavily armored police officers and Special Forces operatives blocking access to an otherwise deserted school building; crying students running to shell-shocked parents; ambulances and patrol cars waiting as helicopters observe the chaos from above fled on foot and headed toward central Winnenden Along the way he shot a pedestrian — an employee of a near-by psychiatric clinic — before hijacking a green Volkswagen Sharan along with its terrified owner But heavy traffic made the murderer worried and so they turned back again the car crashed into a roadside ditch on the Autobahn entry ramp near the town of Wendlingen am Neckar The driver managed to escape to a patrol car nearby but the shooter vanished in the opposite direction at a car sales yard in a local business area the gunman was shot in the leg by law-enforcement officers but managed to vanish between the parked cars in the vicinity shot himself; he was found dead at around 12:30 p.m Police have speculated that he may have heard about yesterday’s Alabama massacre A misogynistic motive is also being investigated since the vast majority of the victims are female Today’s massacre is the latest in a series of school shootings in Germany in the recent past 19-year-old Robert Steinhäuser killed 12 teachers two students and a policeman in a shooting spree that began in his one-time high school an 18-year-old burst into his former school in Emsdetten in Western Germany shooting and wounding at least 11 children before committing suicide Kretschmer very likely “suffered from a severe personality disorder,” says Lothar Adler from The Ecumenical Hainich Clinic in Muhlhausen Adler is the author of “Amok – A Study” which was based on his analysis of almost 200 school shootings and other killing sprees who was part of the post-Erfurt counseling team explains that very often killers have pronounced narcissistic traits problems in forming normal relationships and are easily offended They also tend to have low frustration thresholds and can harbor grudges for long periods of time “they frequently also lack serotonin a neuro-transmitter that buffers fears and other affects.” While the overall number of such incidents in Germany has actually gone down very slightly over the past three decades those that do occur attract much more public attention “These days the ritualization of the deed is often very pronounced — thus the mask and combat gear,” Adler says is very important as a way to define his dangerousness.” The bodies of the slain are still lying where they fell in the high school waiting for the attention of crime scene staff and medical examiners German politicians across the country are again voicing their determination to help prevent similar happenings in future See TIME’s Person of the Year, People Who Mattered, and more. 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Contact us at letters@time.com Deutsche Bahn (DB) has completed a new high-performance main line that will benefit rail transport throughout Germany The new Wendlingen-Ulm line officially goes into operation today it is part of the Stuttgart-Ulm rail project and a component of the Main Line for Europe initiative which is connecting cities and regions and a total of 34 million inhabitants in five countries With the opening of the new-build line and the timetable change on December 11 DB is speeding up long distance transport across Germany thus making an important contribution to shifting more traffic to climate-friendly rail Trains will now be able to cross the Swabian Alps at high speed This will not only shorten the travel time between Stuttgart and Munich but also make direct city connections between Munich and Frankfurt am Main or Cologne more appealing Richard Lutz: "The impact of the new Wendlingen-Ulm line extends far beyond the region It is the new pacesetter for Deutsche Bahn and a central pillar of our rail network The benefits for people and the economy are huge And they will be even bigger when Stuttgart 21 opens in three years My special thanks go to everyone who worked on this impressive project over many years." German Federal Government Commissioner for Rail Transport: "The Wendlingen-Ulm line is one of the projects of the century a milestone in the implementation of Germany-wide timetable integration and the international link from Paris via Karlsruhe The newly built line relieves pressure on the Fils Valley route which consequently will have more capacity available for local transport and I would therefore like to thank everyone involved in the project The positive effects for travelers and for the economy make it absolutely clear once more just how important it is to ramp up infrastructure upgrades right now It is only if we get faster at doing this that we will have a chance to meet our climate targets." Minister President of the State of Baden-Württemberg: "The new line is advantageous in several ways: It shortens travel times and enables more rail links Stuttgart and Ulm are moving closer together For us as an exporting country at the heart of Europe the line contributes significantly to climate-friendly mobility for all well-developed train connections can we get traffic off the roads and out of the air and onto rail The state of Baden-Württemberg was therefore happy to support the project with almost one billion euros Building 60 kilometers of track with eleven tunnels and 37 bridges in just ten years is a great achievement I would like to thank all those who were involved and who have done an outstanding job." Head of Cabinet of the European Commission's Commissioner for Transport: "The new line from Wendlingen to Ulm is a great addition to the rail network in southern Germany It is also an essential project for the Rhine-Danube Corridor in the context of our trans-European transport network policy the new line will also better connect regions and cities in western Europe with regions and cities in central and eastern Europe as well as making cross-border rail service on long distance routes more attractive This makes the newly built line a key stepping stone towards achieving the EU's climate targets in the transport sector." Mayor of the City of Ulm: "When the rail link to Ulm was completed via the Geislinger Steige ramp in 1850 the line was considered a masterpiece of engineering Deutsche Bahn is showing us how future mobility can and must be: climate-friendly Ulm and the region have always been strong advocates of this route Board Member for Long Distance Passenger Transport at Deutsche Bahn AG Minister of Transport for the State of Baden-Württemberg Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Chairman of the Management Board and CEO at Deutsche Bahn AG Minister President of the State of Baden-Württemberg Head of Cabinet of the European Commission's Commissioner for Transport Board Member for Regional Transport at Deutsche Bahn AG in front of the special ICE train’s power car More long distance and regional trains make rail transport more appealing The daily service on long distance routes between Stuttgart and Munich will be increased by some 20 to 90 journeys a day thanks to the new high-speed line The region will simultaneously benefit from many new and attractive offers one of which will be the fastest regional train in Germany This will be able to travel at speeds of up to 200 km/h here and the local association Verband Region Schwäbische Alb are opening up an entire region for rail with the brand-new station in Merklingen This area of the Swabian Alps can now be reached directly by train which offers both commuters and tourists an eco-friendly way to travel New tunnels and Germany's third-highest rail bridge DB has completed an extensive construction program on the new Wendlingen-Ulm line including several tunnels: the almost nine-kilometer-long Bossler Tunnel the Albvorland Tunnel between Wendlingen am Neckar and Kirchheim unter Teck the Albabstieg Tunnel with a length of almost six kilometers between Dornstadt and Ulm and the almost five-kilometer-long Steinbühl Tunnel on the Albaufstieg climb the 485-meter-long and 85-meter-high Filstal Bridge The bridge crosses not only the Fils Valley In order to connect the new-build line with Ulm main station DB has comprehensively remodeled the station's track area A new signaling facility is also being built Further improvements for travelers starting in 2025 Germany's Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan identifies this project as being urgently required The construction costs of almost four billion euros were financed by the Federal Government by the state of Baden-Württemberg and by the European Union travelers on regional and long distance services will enjoy more improvements The travel time between Stuttgart and Ulm will then be halved to around half an hour the trade fair center and the Filder Plain will have a direct and fast rail link from and to Ulm in 2027 This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Deutsche Bahn will open the Wendlingen – Ulm high speed line in December with the controversial Stuttgart 21 project following in stages from 2025 onwards Already have an account? LOG IN Subscribe now Site powered by Webvision Cloud 02 January, 2020 By Completion of tunnel boring machine work on the new Stuttgart to Ulm rail link in Germany marks a major milestone for the new route which is set to open in 2022 Breakthrough of any tunnel boring machine (TBM) is a landmark moment but the recent one on the Albvorland Tunnel signalled the end of tunnelling work on a mega project in Germany The final twin bore tunnel is a key part of a new 60km rail link from Stuttgart to Ulm that will halve journey times when it opens in 2022 Ground conditions were always seen as one of the main challenges for the project rather than the scale of the work itself and resulted in a number of different techniques being used While drill and blast was seen as the only solution in some areas four tunnels – including the Albvorland one – have been driven by a variety of TBM types The tunnel on the new Stuttgart to Ulm line form part of the S21 project which is completely restructuring rail terminals in Stuttgart with three new stations – one in the city centre another at the airport and exhibition centre and the third at the Rosenstein district 30.4km of the 60km line is in cuttings or tunnels with five tunnels measuring 500m or more Suse drove both bores of the Filder Tunnel While Wanda – named after the acronym of Wendlingen on the Neckar through the Alb foothills – is the final TBM to breakthrough on the scheme tunnelling started on tunnelling for the Filder Tunnel five years ago Filder is the longest tunnel on the project at 9.5km and the first bore was driven using just one 10.8m diameter Herrenknecht multi-mode TBM by Arge Atcost which is a joint venture of Porr Bau Tunnelbau Östu-Stettin Hoch-und Tiefbau and Swietelsky Baugesellschaft The TBM named Suse – after the acronym of the German for Stuttgart–Ulm reached fast – was launched in autumn 2014 The large-scale project between Stuttgart city centre and the Filder Plain was divided into four TBM tunnelling sections: eastern and western tubes a multitude of individual detailed solutions and trusting partnership between the project players laid the foundations for success Suse worked in closed mode with screw conveyor muck removal in the lower Filder Tunnel in open mode with belt conveyor discharge designed and implemented by Herrenknecht engineers the tunnelling crews mastered the different geological formations along the tunnel alignment with maximum safety Suse achieved her final breakthrough in September last year Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz says: As a hinge between valley basin the Filder Tunnel is an essential part of the project Construction and engineering skill have done extraordinary things here." The second TBM to get started on the scheme was a machine named Käthchen which was used by Arge ATA Tunnel Aubaufsteig Östu-Stettin Hoch- und Tiefbau and Swietelsky Baugesellschaft to drive the twin bore 8.8km long Bossler Tunnel The earth pressure balance TBM began tunnelling in April 2015 and progressed at such a rate that a decision was taken to use the TBM to drive sections of tunnel that were previously planned to be excavated by conventional techniques Breakthrough on the eastern bore was achieved on April 2017 and the second western tube was completed in June 2018 The twin bores for the Albvorland Tunnel were close together For the recently completed Albvorland Tunnel contractor Implenia ordered two identical 10.8m diameter earth pressure balance TBMs from Herrenknecht in order to simplify the work as much as possible the project team met challenges before even breaking ground due to the tight alignment between the twin bores of the tunnel The schedule for jobsite assembly stipulated that both machines should be assembled in the narrow launch shaft at the same time The first TBM – named Sibylle after the local legend of Sibylle von der Teck – was launched in January 2018 and achieved breakthrough on the 7.6km tunnel last summer with rates of up to 200m a week achieved Wanda’s southern bore was 8km in length and achieved rates of up to 186m per week work is now underway to complete the new rail link in time for its opening in 2022 Want to read more? Subscribe to GE’s enewsletters and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn Early collaboration between a contractor and designer on the basement for a City of London block led to the reuse of existing substructure elements Site investigations along the Swiss-French border could help pave the way for a groundbreaking new tunnel that will house a next-generation particle accelerator The Register of Ground Engineering Professionals is striving to enhance its impact and value for members in an evolving sector Arup associate director Stewart Jarvis was the recipient of the Midland Geotechnical Society’s 2024 Les Nichol Award Sign in or Register a new account to join the discussion