Car collides with concrete wall in Biel-Benken
A driver escaped unharmed when the car he was driving collided with a wall in Biel-Benken (BL) on Saturday afternoon.
According to current investigations by Baselland police, the 20-year-old was driving along the Hauptstrasse towards Oberwil at around 2.15am when the accident happened.
The driver had first stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross the street. However, when he went to accelerate, he gathered speed so quickly that he lost control of the car. As a result, the car began to skid and collided with a concrete wall on the opposite side of the road.
The driver was uninjured but the car was severely damaged and had to be towed away.
Deutsche Bahn wants to increase storm safety measures
The Deutsche Bahn wants to make a series of safety improvements following the massive damage and numerous cancelled services caused by storm “Friederike” last week. The German railway service has launched a new action plan with aims to “significantly” reduce the danger of trees falling onto train tracks, a spokesperson said on Sunday.
Last Thursday, storm “Friederike” – one of the strongest in Germany since “Kyrill” 11 years ago – swept across large parts of Germany and caused severe damage. The Deutsche Bahn reported rail track damages in the millions.
Action plan “Vegetation”
“Extreme weather conditions which affect railway services have increased significantly” in the past few years, a spokesman for the Deutsche Bahn said on Sunday. As part of their new “vegetation” action plan, workers will carry out “preventative vegetation cut-back” along the train tracks.
The rail company wants to be more aware of the trees near the train routes and “stabilise” critical areas beyond the normal six-metre cut-back zone. For the next five years, the Bahn wants to invest an additional 125 million Euros to realise this project. According to the railway service, the current budget includes an annual sum of 100 million Euros to supervise and cut back vegetation near train tracks.
There will also be up to 150 new employees taken on for this work, according to the spokesperson. As of now, more than 1000 people are already working in vegetation management.
The realisation of the action plan is a “mammoth project”, the spokesperson explained. The company also relies on the help and cooperation of authorities, local offices, and forest owners.
Shrubs instead of trees
The chairman of the “Pro Bahn” passenger association has suggested planting more shrubs instead of trees near the train tracks. Trees should only be planted “at a further distance from the tracks”, honorary chairman, Karl-Peter Neumann, told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.
According to “Pro Bahn”, this decision would have two advantages: Falling trees would be cushioned by surrounding shrubs, and these shrubs would also provide new habitats for insects, Mr Neumann told the newspaper. The concept is to be discussed by Deutsche Bahn managers, environmental protection agencies, and passenger associations with help from the public sector, he said.
Defence of service interruption
Deutsche Bahn passenger transport manager, Berthold Huber, defended the storm-related countrywide interruption to train services. “The decision to favour the safety of our passengers and employees was correct,” Mr Huber said in an article in the “Bild am Sonntag”. Due to the storm, trains, airplanes and cars were not running in many parts of Germany.
On Thursday afternoon, the Deutsche Bahn issued a countrywide interruption to train services because of storm “Friederike”. “Pro Bahn” criticised this decision, calling it “exaggerated”. Likewise, the head of the GDL train driver union, Claus Weselsky, claimed the Deutsche Bahn had "gone a bit too far" with this measure. By Saturday afternoon, train services were “mostly running normally again”, the Deutsche Bahn spokesman said.
Lego bricks for peace of mind
Six weeks ago, the first Lego museum in the German-speaking world opened in Binningen.
An interim verdict of the “LEbrickGo” museum, which opened on 2 December, shows that there have already been many visitors.
Christian Velhagen is fascinated by Lego. For him, there was and still is nothing better than building constructions with Lego pieces with his family on a Sunday afternoon. Now he has taken the decisive step to let the world join him in his passion. Since the beginning of December, his treasures have been put on display for a wider audience at Oberwilerstrasse 20 in Binningen – where the old Monteverdi museum used to be.
Among these treasures are many rarities, such as for example the “Ultimate Collection Millennium Falcon” from the “Star Wars” saga – real Lego fans become teary-eyed if they see the article number 10179. Many of the exhibits – all of them owned by Mr Velhagen – have been long out of stock. Others are so rare that even diehard fans did not know they existed at all. On 570 square metres of space, around 600,000 Lego bricks form exhibits from various parts of the Lego universe. There are even wooden Lego bricks from the company’s very beginnings. And if you like, you can start to make something for yourself and recreate one of the sets from Mr Velhagen’s collection.
Where is the peace of mind?
Christian Velhagen turns into a philosopher when talking about his favourite hobby. “Lego connects people, especially families," he said. LEbrickGo should evoke joy, fun, emotions, and memories among adults.” This is a nice thought, particularly considering our contemporary, rather profit-oriented times. Mr Velhagen’s thought is shared by the many visitors of all ages who come to Binningen from near and far. Maybe we all should take some time to sit down and gain a peace of mind for a few hours whilst assembling the Taj Mahal (10256), the Batcave (70909), or the Delorean from “Back to the Future” (21103).
Lego wants to stir up the online games market with China
There is also news from the Lego parent company, in Billund, Denmark. The company has come under pressure and plans to gain market shares in China. As Lego reported on 15 January, it is establishing an alliance with the "Tencent" Chinese Internet group to create online games and a social network for children.
With a market capitalisation of 527 billion dollars, Tencent is the most valuable company in Asia. This is not the first Chinese endeavour of Lego: in 2016, it opened a factory in Jiaxing. The Danish toy giant introduced large-scale saving measures following its first sales decline in ten years – including cutting many jobs. Lego video games, film licensing, and apps resulted in fast growth, but they have also made the company structure complex and unclear.