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Unions blame government for train crash

PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge 24.05.2012 09:38
Representatives of Poland's trade unions for railway workers have blamed the government for Wednesday's train crash in Warsaw and reiterated the threat of a strike.

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The scene of Wednesday's railway crash in Warsaw: photo - PAP/Paweł Supernak

Two people suffered minor injuries when commuter trains collided on the east bank of the River Vistula at 5.45 am.

Leszek Mietek, Chairman of the Confederation of Railway Trade Unions, claimed on Wednesday that the head-on collision demonstrates that the government has not honoured its pledge to improve matters on the railways since 16 people died in a train crash in southern Poland on 3 March.

“Unfortunately, the example of today's collision, together with the recent disruption to train traffic at Baby [central Poland] due to faulty signalling and several other less publicised events show that declarations by eveb the most high-ranking decision-makers do not not change the fact that the matter of railway safety needs real and immediate action,” he claimed in a statement sent the Polish Press Agency.

Mietek noted that he had convened a General Assembly of Delegates of the Confederation of Railway Trade Unions on Thursday, and that a discussion would be held on whether to strike.

“In our opinion, only this can force measures to restore safety to the Polish tracks,” he argued.

An investigation has been opened by the Warsawdistrict prosecutors' office in Praga North, near the site of the accident by the Warsaw Zoo station.

The trains were operated by two companies, Szybka Kolej Miejska (SKM) and Koleje Mazowieckie (KM), but no explanation has been put forward yet as to why one of the trains was on the wrong track.

However, Pesa SA, a firm that produced the KM train involved in the crash, indicated that the outcome could have been much worse.

In a statement, the board of Pesa noted that the Elf model that was involved yesterday's accident is “the only vehicle on Polish railways... that can absorb the force of both vehicles during a collision.” (nh)

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