Whale Tail Sculpture Conveniently Stops a Wayward Rotterdam Train From Going Completely off the Rails

A local commuter train in the suburban Rotterdam in The Netherlands was narrowly stopped from going completely off the rails at the De Akkers metro station and dropping 10 meters (32.8 feet) to the ground below by a conveniently placed “Whale Tail” art installation sculpture. The sculpture was created by artists Hans Muller, Peter Globevnik, and Eric van Uden, was put in place in 2002.

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

While the sculpture definitely saved the train, Dutch engineers worked diligently to save the sculpture from the train.

Authorities near the Dutch city of Rotterdam are trying to remove a metro train from the tracks after it was saved from crashing to the ground by a large sculpture of a whale’s tail.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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