Two passenger trains collided in Bratislava on Friday, October 26, leaving 23 people injured, including the driver of one train who remains in the critical condition. The total damage might reach up to €5 million, the TASR newswire reported.
“Today at 15:24 on the route between Bratislava Vinohrady and Bratislava Main Station, passenger train no. 2018 ran into train no. 4618 from behind ... Subsequently, the locomotive hauling train no. 2018 derailed,” said spokesperson for the passenger carrier ZSSK Tomáš Šarluška, as quoted by TASR.
The train in front was a push-pull train, with the locomotive - into which the other train crashed - located at the rear and operated by remote control from an unpowered passenger-carrying control car at the other end. Had the push-pull train been turned the other way around with the locomotive at the front, the number of injuries would probably have been much higher.
A preliminary investigation has ascertained that train no. 2018 did not respect the signals when it entered a track section occupied by another train which was heading in the same direction or at a standstill, and did not proceed at a speed safe enough to avoid hitting passenger train no. 4618, spokesperson for Bratislava regional police Petra Hrášková told TASR.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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