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Emergency services at the scene of the accident
Photo: MARTIN DIVISEK / EPA
In a train accident not far from the German border, at least three people were killed in the Czech Republic.
Among them are the train drivers - both Czech nationals - as the police announced.
A German express train coming from Munich heading for Prague collided head-on with an oncoming Czech passenger train.
The train driver of the first train overlooked a stop signal, a spokesman for the railway inspection confirmed to SPIEGEL.
One now examines how this could come about.
According to a company spokesman, there were around 20 passengers on the German "alex" train operated by the private provider Länderbahn.
According to the plan, the train started at 4.44 a.m. at the main station in Munich and stopped at around 7.40 a.m. in Furth im Wald (Cham district) not far from the border.
There, staff from the Czech railway company Ceské Drahy (CD) took over the train.
In terms of railway law, the train was the responsibility of the CD, said the Länderbahn spokesman.
Ten people with serious to life-threatening injuries were brought to Czech hospitals, said a spokeswoman for the rescue service of the news agency dpa.
More than 30 people suffered minor injuries such as abrasions and bruises.
However, the exact numbers are unclear.
The Reuters news agency reported eight seriously injured and 50 slightly injured.
"The situation is serious"
The driver's cabs of the locomotive and the railcar were completely destroyed and deeply dented, as can be seen in the pictures. After the driver ignored the stop signal, the German train collided with the oncoming multiple unit on the single-track route, said Czech Transport Minister Karel Havlíček, who had come to the scene of the accident. The Czech train, the so-called Regioshark, was on its way from the industrial city of Pilsen (Plzen) to Domažlice on the German border.
"The situation is serious," Havlíček said on television.
He praised the response of the rescue workers, who quickly arrived with dozens of helpers and four rescue helicopters.
Medical help also came from Germany.
Many of the passengers were in shock and had to receive psychological support.
They were temporarily housed in a meeting house before their onward journey could be organized.
Safety technology is considered out of date in many places
The Czech Railway Inspectorate has now started an investigation that should take months.
The collision occurred in the village of Milavče between the Blížejov and Domažlice stations.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
"It is so important that more lives are saved," he wrote on Twitter.
The accident must be investigated.
Accidents happen again and again on Czech railways.
The security technology is considered out of date in many places.
Only a year ago two trains collided head-on in the Ore Mountains near the German border.
Two people died, including a German.
As a result, the government in Prague announced a modernization program for the signaling technology.
The modern European train control system ETCS has so far only been installed on around 200 kilometers of the route network.
It should at least be available on all main corridor routes by 2025.
According to initial estimates, the property damage runs into the millions.
The route will probably have to be closed for a longer period of time.
For years there has been talk of expanding the rail link between Munich and Prague.
Currently, the travel time between the two cities, which are only 300 kilometers apart as the crow flies, is almost six hours.
bbr / kha / dpa / AFP / Reuters
