One year after a train hit a slurry transport at a railway crossing in Southern Jutland, killing a 60-year-old woman, Havarikommissionen has still not published its final report on what went wrong.
The collision happened at 4:46 p.m. on Friday, August 15, 2025, at Bjerndrup between Tinglev and Sønderborg. DR reports that the train was carrying around 100 passengers when it struck a truck with a slurry tanker crossing the tracks.
A 60-year-old woman was killed. The train driver and the truck driver were seriously injured, while 24 passengers suffered lighter injuries. According to Syd- og Sønderjyllands Politi, a total of 106 people were involved in the accident.
The crossing at Bjerndrup has light and sound signals but no barriers. Havarikommissionen has been working since then to establish the cause, and published a written status update on Friday morning. Per DR, Klaus Jensen, head of the commission’s railway unit, says investigations taking more than a year are not unusual.
TV SYD reports that the commission has acknowledged it will not meet its goal of finishing within one year. The status update describes the investigation as almost completed and close to the consultation stage. When a report is delayed, the commission must issue a status on each anniversary of the accident.
What the commission has examined
As stated by Jensen to DR, investigators have collected large amounts of data and interviewed many people. There was information that the crossing installation had activated at the wrong times, and the commission has examined whether faults occurred more frequently there. It has also looked at whether the installations on the Sønderborg line generally worked as intended.
Jensen expects the report to be finished at the end of 2026. He stresses that it will not assign blame or responsibility, which is a matter for the police. TV SYD notes the commission’s mandate is limited to improving safety.
The driver of the slurry transport was charged in the spring. Politiken reported on March 9, 2026 that a 63-year-old man faces charges including negligent manslaughter, negligent bodily injury and failing to exercise due care at the crossing. It has not yet been decided whether he will be prosecuted.
According to dknyt, citing Banedanmark in August 2025, Bjerndrup is one of 38 crossings managed by Banedanmark without barriers. Barriers were then planned for the location in 2027.
DR notes two further accidents affecting public transport in the same period. On July 5, 2025, a 24-year-old man died when a train hit his van near Bjerndrup. On April 23, 2026, two local trains collided on the Gribskov line in North Zealand, injuring 22 people.
Jakob Ravn from Sønderborg was a passenger in the second carriage and escaped unhurt. He told DR that he has moved on, but wants confirmation of what happened. He added that he believes nobody benefits from the long wait.
