Accident
Train accident: Why wasn’t the train driver at the front of the locomotive?
Part of the derailed freight train can be seen on a railway track. photo
© Friso Gentsch/dpa
Investigations are ongoing after a train derailed and the death of the train driver. There are still many questions unanswered.
After the train accident in Geseke, North Rhine-Westphalia, the police are investigating the question of why the man who was later killed The locomotive driver was not at the front of the locomotive during the journey. A randomly recorded video shows the man sitting between two wagons shortly before the scene of the accident.
A police spokesman in Soest said he may not have been able to get away from there. It is not uncommon for train drivers to move on a slow-moving train in certain situations and control it remotely. According to the cell phone video, the train was traveling relatively quickly. There may have been a technical defect.
The question of why the train was traveling faster than 30 kilometers per hour is the subject of the investigation, said the police spokesman. The locomotive will now be examined and the tachograph will be evaluated. It is not yet possible to say whether it was human error or a technical error. “We are investigating in all directions.”
The 30-year-old train driver died in the accident on Sunday; no one else was on board the derailed freight train, which was loaded with cement. The rescue work is complex.