Whale Tail Sculpture Metro Train Accident
The “Saved by the Whale’s Tail” sculpture, built in 2002 at De Akkers station in Spijkenisse, a city just outside Rotterdam, saved a metro train after it went off the tracks. Rather than crash 30-feet to the ground below, the tail managed to save the day, albeit with some minor damage. Thankfully, only the train operator was the only person aboard at the time, but there is still no clear reason as to why it didn’t stop in time.



Architect Maarten Struijs was the one who created the sculpture and amazed that the plastic has withstood the elements for 20-years, not to mention still capable of holding up an entire metro train. On Tuesday, workers used two cranes to lift the train off the tail, cut it loose from another carriage, and then remove its wheels before it was slowly lowered to the ground.
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“It’s like the scene of a Hollywood movie. Thank God the tail was there,” said Ruud Natrop, a spokesman for safety in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond area.

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Rotterdam train saved by a whale tail. 🚆🐋 This train in the Netherlands has been saved from falling off the end of a raised track by a sculpture of a whale. The Metro train, in a suburb of Rotterdam, ran through stop buffers in the early hours of Monday, but was spared a 10m drop thanks to the 2002 "Whale Tail" art installation, according to Dutch news reports. Local media says the driver was able to climb out of the train and was taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution. No passengers were onboard at the time of the incident. Tap the link in our bio to read more about the train's dramatic balancing act. (Robin Utrecht/ANP/AFP/Getty) #Rotterdam #Netherlands #Crash #Whale #Train #Metro #bbcnews

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