“Two passengers approached me and described the problem. Then I made an emergency call,” said the driver of the RE 5. Bonn police were on the scene quickly. First, all passengers had to disembark and wait on platform 3. Shortly before 5pm, the police cleared the station and the underpass. They assisted those who could not go down the stairs alone, as the new elevators in Bad Godesberg are not yet in use.

The kiosk, bakery and travel information office also had to close. Word of what had happened only spread slowly among passengers. Some were upset as no one had told them exactly what was going on. “Could it last for hours then?” one rail customer asked a policewoman, who could not answer the question for him. “What are we supposed to do? Safety is the priority,” said the train conductor. In the meantime, the railway advised passengers to transfer onto the tramlines between Bonn and Bad Godesberg.

Witnesses had seen the man, who had forgotten the suitcase in the carriage behind the engine, and reported this to police. He had apparently got on in Cologne and off in Bonn. According to the conductor, the man first made contact 40 minutes after losing his luggage.

At around 5.05pm, the Federal police arrived with a clearance service. “The suitcase was examined by specialists,” said Henning Brandt, head of operations. It was not long before a colleague rolled it out of the station. At exactly 5.15pm, the train continued its journey to Oberwinter.

Original text: Richard Bongartz. Translated by Kate Carey.