The Dahlerau train disaster was a railway disaster that happened on 27 May 1971 . It happened in Dahlerau , which is a part of Radevormwald in Germany . The Dahlerau train disaster was a severe railway accident that took place on May 27 , 1971 in Dahlerau , a small town belonging to Radevormwald in then-West Germany , in which a freight train and a passenger train crashed into each other .