Dozens injured, some seriously in train collision near Dusseldorf (PHOTOS)

Dozens of people have been injured after a passenger train collided with a freight train near a station in the German town of Meerbusch.

The accident happened Tuesday evening at around 7:30pm on a Meerbusch-Osterath and Neuss railroad segment, when a passenger train, owned by private British operator National Express, collided with a freight train owned by Deutsche Bahn. The passenger express was on its way to Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Photos released by the Meerbusch fire department showed the passenger train derailed but still upright. A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn told German news outlets the cargo train was stationary when the passenger train slammed into it.

The driver of the passenger train apparently noticed the cargo train, and hit the brakes, just before rushing out of the cabin to alert passengers to leave the front part of the train to avoid injuries. Seconds later the trains collided.

The rear wagons of the freight train were empty. If these had been fully loaded, the crash would have been significantly worse. Locals living close to the train track reported hearing a powerful bang so loud that the windows at their homes shook.

It took hours for rescuers to free some 155 passengers stuck in the wreck. Meerbusch firefighters began pulling out passengers from the derailed train at 9:30pm local time, after finally gaining access to one of the entrances of the wrecked cars at 9:15pm. The rescue effort was complicated by a fallen power line “which posed a risk of electric shock to persons outside the train.”