Two trains collide in northwestern Turkey: one killed - Summary

Sun, 03 Jan 2010

Istanbul - Two trains collided in north-western Turkey on Sunday, killing a train driver and injuring 14 people, according to officials. The crash took place in the rural Bilecik region, near the city of Eskisehir, some 400 kilometers south-west of Istanbul.

A train failed to heed a red stop signal and slammed head-on into a stationary train.

Officials have given conflicting reasons for the crash.

Bilecik governor Musa Colak, who provided the casualty figure, said an electrical fault caused a switch to malfunction. But officials from the national train company said there was no problem with the signaling system in the area of the crash.

Although Turkey has been upgrading its train system, there have been several deadly accidents in recent years.

A derailment in January 2008 resulted in the death of nine passengers.

Thirty-seven people were killed in July, 2004 when a new high- speed train went off the tracks in north-western Turkey.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301903,two-trains-collide-in-northwestern-turkey-one-killed--summary.html.