Emergency services were met with a scene of destruction. On Sunday evening, the grey-yellow cars of a regional train had derailed and crashed into each other near Riedlingen in southwestern Germany. It soon became clear that the train driver, a trainee, and one passenger were killed in the accident. More than 40 out of around 100 passengers were injured, some of them seriously. Heavy rain in the area had apparently caused a sewer shaft to overflow, triggering a landslide directly onto the railway line and derailing the train. As man-made climate change increases the frequency of heavy rain, storms and other extreme weather events, railways are increasingly affected. First responders enter the train compartments in search of missing peopleFirst responders enter the train compartments in search of missing people Heavy rain has caused the train to derail on Sunday, July 27Image: Thomas Warnack/dpa/picture alliance Trains still cleaner and safer than cars Overall, however, traveling by train is not only more sustainable than flying, it is also far safer than driving cars. Moreover, in recent years, the EU region has seen a decline in fatalities from train accidents. To prevent landslides and flooding of road underpasses during heavy rainfall, the German railway company Deutsche Bahn has been working on a heavy rainfall plan: When water damages a section of railway, it is usually detected before the next train approaches. Flooding has been a serious problem in the past, for example, with the 2021 flood disaster in the Ahr Valley in western Germany and neighboring regions, which killed 185 people. The railway lines through the Ahr Valley and the neighboring Eifel mountain range still remain partially closed to traffic. On the Ahr river, the floods destroyed a total of 15 railway bridges. Several bridges in the Eifel region need to be rebuilt. New bridges are being designed to better withstand extreme weather. The new structures will largely do without central pillars, to reduce exposure to water pressure and debris during floods. A large part of the investment of around €500 million ($578m) is being spent on the electrification of two lines, which were previously served by diesel engines. Once the electricity for the electric trains comes from renewable energy sources, they will emit significantly less greenhouse gases than diesel locomotives.