Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu holds a press conference on Monday, starting at 4:00 p.m. It is practically the first public appearance of the Minister of Transport after the fatal accident at the Galati train station, apart from the few posts on Facebook made on the subject.
Sorin Grindeanu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of TransportPhoto: AGERPRES
We remind you that on Saturday evening a locomotive violently hit the first car of the passenger train to which it was about to connect, in Galati Station.
The train driver – a 53-year-old woman – died, while three other people were injured.
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The film of the accident in Galati station, presented by the Police
- “On March 25, 2023, at 7:19 p.m., a double-decker passenger car, which was parked on line no. 4 from the Galati CF Station while waiting for the formation of the train set for the Galati – Mărăşeşti route, was hit head-on by the locomotive that was going to pull the set, driven by the service engineer, a 49-year-old man from the municipality of Tecuci.
- The result was the deformation of the wagon in the impact area and its displacement by about 80 meters.
- At the time of the event, the train was in the passenger car, consisting of the train conductor, a 53-year-old woman, the train conductor, a 47-year-old man, as well as a passenger, a man, aged 53 from Piscu commune, Galati county”.
According to the police, the clock needle of the locomotive’s speedometer got stuck at a speed of 75 kilometers per hour:
- “The on-site investigation was carried out by the policemen from the Galati Transport Regional Police Department, and from the preliminary checks it was determined that the clock needle of the locomotive’s speedometer remained stuck at the 75 km/h position.
- From the statement of the mechanic, it appears that the locomotive accelerated suddenly and that he tried to activate the braking system, but it did not brake any more.”
It is the second serious rail accident in less than two weeks. On March 13, in Roșiori, a passenger train hit a freight train loaded with cars, and CFR Călători made contradictory statements, initially denying that there had been an impact.
After the company he runs initially spoke only about a sudden braking of the mechanic caused by the derailment of the set transporting Ford cars, the general director of CFR Călători, Traian Preoteasa, admitted that there was a collision between the passenger train and the freight train impact.
The priestess said that the driver of the passenger train did what is called “a controlled overtaking”, entering the red color of the railway signal: “If he was asleep, it was better, because the safety system was braking him”.
Traian Preoteasa has been at the helm of CFR Călători since September 2021, having been appointed by the interim Minister of Transport at the time, Dan Vîlceanu.
The first conclusions of the internal investigation regarding the railway accident in Teleorman are that the driver of the passenger train that hit the freight train did not brake, and the speed of the train dropped from 50 km/h, to 0, over a distance of only 117 meters, written Club Feroviar, citing documents from the CFR Călători investigation.