The Public Prosecution ordered the detention of the Qalyub train driver and the detention of the station’s employees pending investigations into the train collision, as the Public Prosecution was notified yesterday evening, Tuesday, corresponding to the seventh of March, of the collision of passenger train No. 557/3027 at Qalyub station, which was coming from Shubra station. To the “Menouf” station; As a result, four people were killed, twenty-three passengers were injured, and the tractor and the first carriage of the train were damaged. The Public Prosecutor ordered the formation of an expanded team to investigate the incident, which immediately moved to the accident site to inspect it. He assumed that the accident occurred when the train collided with a concrete barrier at the station located at the end of the rails. The railway on which the train was traveling, as it had to be stopped until another train stopped at the rails next to it departed to divert its path to it and continue its path, but it passed “Semaphore” on the platform to its left before the collision point with the barrier, they were closed and illuminated in red, which means the need to stop, However, the train overtook them at an excessive speed and collided with the barrier. Four of the passengers, who were between the tractor and the first carriage of the train, died, and twenty-three others inside the carriage. The Public Prosecution office also kept the records of the ATC brake and automatic control device at the accident site for examination.
The Public Prosecution moved to debate the bodies of the four deceased, and questioned eight of the injured, whose testimonies were repeated that the train was moving at an excessive speed, especially when a train appeared next to it after it passed the Shubra train station, as it was prepared for some of them to race.
The Public Prosecution asked the official to review the implementation of the regulations for the safety of railway operation, and he decided that by examining the operating panel of the trains at Qalyub station, he noticed that the train driver ignored the light signals of the aforementioned “two semaphores” related to slowing down the speed of the train and stopping it before the point of the accident, and disconnecting the brake and automatic control device in the train. “ATC” and exceeded the speed limit, which prevented him from stopping the train and led to it colliding with the concrete barrier, and that he had to stop at Qalyub station and wait until the departure of the train, which was stopped on the parallel rails, to divert to him and take a normal path to the city of Menouf, and he referred the responsibility for the accident The accident to the train driver and the fault that was issued by him.
The Public Prosecution also asked the collector of train tickets, and he decided that he had noticed before entering the station, the scene of the accident, that the train was faster than usual, which led to the train driver passing the semaphore station and colliding with the concrete barrier. The person responsible for the accident
The Public Prosecution also asked each of the Qalyub train station tower observer, the shunt observer and the acting station superintendent, the tower movement technician, and another technical observer; And they unanimously agreed that the train driver should drive the train at a speed exceeding the speed prescribed by law while approaching the station, the scene of the accident, which resulted in its occurrence. He passed the “Semaphore” despite the fact that it was lit in red, which required it to stop, and the accident occurred accordingly.
The Public Prosecution interrogated the train assistant, and he decided that the ATC device had been disconnected by the driver due to a malfunction in it until he arrived at the Qalyub train station, as it is the first stop at which they are scheduled to stop during their journey, and he requested support to fix it, stressing that the train driver was traveling at a speed faster than the legally prescribed one. It approached eighty kilometers per hour, which led to the aforementioned “semaphore” train overtaking and colliding with the concrete barrier. He also confirmed that he had alerted the driver more than once to exceed the legal speed limit, but he did not comply with his warning.
The Public Prosecution interrogated the train driver, and he decided that while he was stopping at the Shubra El-Kheima station, he disconnected the train’s “ATC” device due to a malfunction in order for him to be able to walk with it, so that someone could call for maintenance at Qalyub station, the scene of the accident. He tried to use them to stop him without success, and so he crashed into the concrete barrier, recognizing that the accident could have been avoided if he had gone at a slower speed.
Accordingly, the Public Prosecution ordered the train driver to be imprisoned for four days pending investigations, and his assistant and the rest of the railway staff were detained pending police investigations.
The Public Prosecution commissioned a committee of legal specialists to move to the scene of the accident to examine the train and indicate the extent of its validity and the validity of its operating and safety devices, and to inspect the location of the incident, explaining the reasons and how the train reached the concrete barrier and collided with it, and then the accident occurred, and to determine who was responsible for it and the extent to which all employees and officials followed the railway. The railroad shall comply with the instructions and regulations regulating whether or not to operate it, and indicate the aspects of the violations attributed to them and support them, if any.
Investigations are being completed by asking all officials of the Egyptian National Railways Authority, and examining the mobile phones of the train driver and other employees that are held by the General Administration of Information Technology to find out what digital evidence they may contain useful in revealing the truth, in addition to examining the records of the conversations held between them on the day of the accident.
