Berlin: German national railroad operator is estimated on Friday that flood last week caused damage worth 1.3 billion euros ($ 1.5 billion) on its network, offering a glimpse of the level of destruction.
The authorities still work to determine the overall cost of floods that carry out the worst damage in West Germany and East Belgium.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said this week that the damage was “very big” and would take a long time to be repaired.
At least 177 people died in Germany in flooding and 31 further deaths were reported in Belgium, taking the victim overall 208.
German railroad operators Deutsche Bahn said that more than 50 bridges, intersections 180, almost 40 signal boxes, more than 1,000 electric poles and signals, as well as the energy system and lighting and elevators of the station were damaged.
“There was never our infrastructure destroyed so far in one go, ‘ ‘Volker Hentschel said, board members in the DB Infrastructure Division Netz company.
He said the initial estimate was that the flood caused damage to the railroad network and the station around 1.3 billion euros.
The government, who has Deutsche Bahn, has vowed to begin rapidly in a rebuilding effort.
Hentschel said he would take “months, if it wasn’t for years ” to restore everything, even though the company was sure to repair 80% of the damaged infrastructure at the end of this year.