A sculpture made of fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin has made a splash by saving the day in the Netherlands. When a subway car overshot the buffer stop at the above-ground De Akkers station in Spijkenisse near Rotterdam, passengers were spared a 10-meter drop by an artist’s depiction of a whale tail. The 30-tonne train instead came to rest on the sculpture, which protrudes from the water below.

The Maarten Struijs’ work bears a prophetic title: “Saved by the Tail of a Whale”. The artist lauded the durability and resilience of the materials used to craft the homage to the aquatic mammal’s rear appendage. “The work of art has been standing for almost 20 years, so you actually expect the plastic to become a little weaker,” Struijs said. “But that’s obviously not the case.”