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Train crash inquiry focuses on controllers

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 24, 2006

LATHEN, Germany - Investigators sought Saturday to determine why safety rules didn't prevent a high-speed magnetic train from powering up and speeding into a maintenance vehicle still on the elevated test track, killing 23 people.

Alexander Retemeyer, a prosecutor speaking for investigators, said they were focusing on what happened in the 20-mile track's control center, where the required two employees were on duty.

"What we are looking into is why the train was given the go-ahead even though the maintenance vehicle was on the track," Retemeyer said.

Friday's crash near Lathen in northwestern Germany was the first involving a train using magnetic levitation, or maglev, in which the train rides on a magnetic field without touching rails. The lack of friction allows speeds as high as 270 mph.

The controllers were supposed to go through several layers of checks to make sure the maintenance vehicle was off the track after its daily inspection, Retemeyer said. Only then were they to turn on the electricity enabling the train driver to start, he said.

Investigators examined the control room log book and discovered the maintenance truck was where it was supposed to be.

It headed out at 8 a.m. and was logged at a spot called Point 120 on the track at 9:53 a.m. when the train started its high-speed run. Fifty-eight seconds later, the train hit the truck at 105 mph. Officials previously said the train was going 125 mph.

Further interviews will determine whether anyone told the maintenance crew to return to the shed before the train came down the track, Retemeyer said. The two control center employees had not been interviewed because they were in shock and undergoing care, he said.

More information was expected from two workers on the service vehicle, a train driver and a technician who were among the 10 injured survivors. Local officials said none of the survivors had life-threatening injuries.

[Last modified September 24, 2006, 01:32:02]