operations without passengers. In March 2017, ten exercises were planned for the training of rescue workers. A big exercise took place in Reitersberg tunnel in March 2017. Emergency exercises on bridges and tunnels continued until November. The first official journey was operated by an ICE Wittenberge on 16 June 2017 in the presence of railway chief Richard Lutz. On 30 August, another presentation trip took place between Erfurt and Bamberg, carrying the Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Alexander Dobrindt and DB board member, Berthold Huber in a modernised ICE 3. From 22 August 2017 trial operations ran under ETCS train control. In November 2017, Hauptbahnhofs (main stations) in Leipzig, Halle and Erfurt and the Erfurt–Leipzig/ Halle high-speed railway, which was already in operation, were completely blockaded so that measures in relation to the commissioning of the new line could be carried out. The official opening celebrations were scheduled for 8 and 9 December 2017 in Berlin and Munich. An ICE premiere trip, from Munich to Berlin, was scheduled to start at noon on 8 December 2017 in Munich. Since the timetable change in December 2017, up to 10,000 additional seats have been be offered daily on weekdays between Berlin and Munich, especially through the use of longer trains. A total of 17 million people will benefit from shorter travel times and new direct connections. Accidents On 24 July 2008, the arch of the Truckenthal Viaduct collapsed while under construction due to a technical defect in an auxiliary support. Nobody was hurt. The construction work was subsequently discontinued, a column including an arch section was demolished on 28 January 2009 and then removed. During the building of the Ilm Viaduct on 1 September 2008, a construction worker was killed and three were injured (in some cases badly) as scaffolding with a reinforced cage collapsed during an incremental launch. Outlook The planned date of commissioning has been postponed several times. Thus, in July 1997, the commissioning of the new line was still expected in 2004. In December 2006, the Federal Government and Deutsche Bahn AG announced that the new line would be completed in 2016. In May 2006, the opening year was given as 2020 in a response to a parliamentary question from the Green Party, although the Federal Minister of Transport Wolfgang Tiefensee indicated at the opening of the Nürnberg-Ingolstadt high-speed line, that the line would be opened in