I know this stretch of track...it is a single line, consistent slight right-hand curve around the edge of the Bodensee with a major road adjacent.

I would say road noise would have drowned out the "singing" noise rails make as a train approaches. The driver would probably have only noticed them around 300m away. I'm assuming the driver sounded the horn, and the suprise of a train bearing down may have stunned the victims.

Thank you

It's a single track. Police agreed with disponents that the line stay open and the trains would pass at a very low speed. All trains should have been instructed to "run on sight", but somehow the accident train never received this order.

The cause was probably botchy communication between disponents (it's rather unusual that a line stays open when there's a suicide).

They tried to blame it on the engineer because he had been late changing his radio to the Austrian channel. But this doesn't make any sense, since a "run on sight" is an instrucation that needs to be protocolled. The train is usually held back before a red signal and the order is dictated to the engineer who needs to read it back and sign it. This obviously didn't happen in this case.

This is a great tool, but in reality, the brake curve isn't even. If you apply the brakes, the coaches start braking one by one and it takes some time until full brake force is reached.

That's why you need a little skill to stop a train smoothly, especially if you want it to stand still at an exact spot.

I know that Jezzer Clarkson sometimes touches on some people's nerves but this bit from Top Gear is very interesting.
Note how long it takes one locomotive to stop after hitting the Renault Espace. And that is just one locomotive with no additional cars.

This is scary!