Flying tarpaulin.

[M. Hardy-Randall]

Yesterday 5/9/09 a storm crossed over the Zürich area. The associated very high speed winds lifted a large tarpaulin from the surrounding area and deposited it on the overhead catenary of the Zürich Hardbrücke - Zürich Oerlikon line just after 18.00 hrs. Power was shut down whilst SBB staff removed the tarpaulin from the wires and then carried an inspection of the catenary equipment. All traffic on this route was stopped for about 2.5 hours.
The route Zürich main station to Zürich Oerlikon remained in service, as a result the international traffic to and from Stutthart and München in Germany was not affected by the shut down.

Malcolm