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Criminal case opened over freight train crash in Amur region

The detectives found that the diesel-powered locomotive and the locomotive crew were replaced over the malfunctions of the locomotive on the way to the destination station
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

KHABAROVSK, January 5 (Itar-Tass) —— The criminal case was opened over the crash of a freight train that killed one man overnight to December 31 in the Amur Region, the Far Eastern transport investigation department of the Russian Investigation Committee told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

The locomotive, 14 wagons of the freight train and a platform car with the doghouse with three workers of the Mechel Trans Vostok open joint stock company on the approach lines at the 143rd kilometre of the Ulak-Elga railway line.

The detectives found that the diesel-powered locomotive and the locomotive crew were replaced over the malfunctions of the locomotive on the way to the destination station. The braking system failed in the train on the downhill. The platform car capsized and several wagons derailed as a result of the emergency braking. All workers in the doghouse attached to the platform car were injured, one of them died of wounds at the incident site. A 42-year-old resident of the Amur Region that worked in the Mechel Trans Vostok open joint stock company as an aide to the engine driver died in the incident, the investigation department reported.

The criminal case was opened under Article 263 Part 2 of the Criminal Code for violation of the railway safety rules and the steering of the train that entailed the death of a person through negligence.

The detectives are investigating several main versions of the incident. This is the violations, which were made in the making of the train at the departure station and at the place, where the locomotive was replaced, as well as the violations of the safety rules in the steering of the train.

The detectives will check the technical condition of the diesel-powered locomotives, whether the coal was loaded correctly and the train was formed in the right way, as well as find concrete culprits in the railway incident.

The investigation in the criminal case continues.