Two people died in a train accident in Slovenia on December 21. A passenger train hit several Slovenian railway workers near Postojna. Two men died, two others suffered serious injuries and five workers were unharmed. The results of an internal investigation carried out by the railway operator Slovenske železnice (SŽ) have now been presented. The tragic accident was solely due to human error, said SŽ infrastructure director Matjaž Kranjc at a press conference on Monday.
The main cause of the accident was that the person in charge of the route did not announce the departure of the train and did not inform the route supervisor of the working group about the departure of the train from Postojna station, explained Kranjc: “The passenger train was four minutes late and would have already arrived at the location before the work began. The group even talked about the arrival of the passenger train, but counted on them to be notified in time. The error of the work group's route supervisor was not following the schedule and not stopping work as a precautionary measure at the planned time.
Should have called
Although it was the guard who saw the train approaching, warned the workers and probably avoided further fatalities, “the fact is that he should have called headquarters in advance to find out why the passenger train had not yet left the station,” he says. JC crane. The investigation also found that the driver sounded the warning signal three times, but due to the winding route and noisy work on the tracks, it is unlikely that the workers heard him.
Working conditions were not ideally organized to guarantee the safety of workers, so SŽ would take measures to reduce risks, the director of infrastructure at Slovenian Railways promised. All previous security recommendations now become obligations. This includes minimizing speed when working route tracks and having a second-line attendant at the front if the route is unclear.
Police are still investigating
Slovenske železnice general director Dušan Mes also announced at the press conference that, in addition to internal investigations, an independent state investigator has also been hired to investigate the incident. According to his estimate, the result will be available by the end of March. The Judicial Police also continues to investigate. “Our internal investigation was conducted as quickly as possible to avoid possible repetition of errors or to address potential deficiencies in protocols,” Mes said.