14 railway officials referred to investigation over Giza train crash

CAIRO - 14 July 2018: Minister of Transportation Hesham Araft decided Saturday to refer 14 officials of Egyptian Railways Authority to Administrative Prosecution Authority for investigations over the derailment of the Upper Egypt-bound train, which left 58 commuters injured on Friday.

The suspects list includes head of Egyptian Railways Authority, operations general manager, maintenance general manager, Giza operations’ manager, head of stations department, managre of blocks department, head of Marazeeq Station, monitor of Marazeeq Station and other technicians responsible for operating the station.

The minister revealed that an

error in the operational signal system

could be the reason behind the incident, adding that all responsible for the incident will be held accountable after the end of investigations.

The air-conditioned train number 986 was coming from Cairo towards Qena, when the three railcars flipped over in Marazeeq Station on Aswa Western Agricultural Road in Giza on Friday.

Egypt’s railway needs an electronic system to reduce human errors, the minister said, adding that the government has allocated LE 17 billion ($951.5 million) to upgrade the signal system, which is the main cause of most of train accidents in Egypt.

"The investigations and the technical committees will determine the causes. A similar incident took place in Beheira when someone entered the control room and did something wrong that led to it (the accident),” he said.

Forty-two injured people were discharged from hospitals after receiving treatment, while 16 others still remain under observation, Minister of Health Hala Zayed said while paying a visit to the patients at the hospitals.

The majority of the injured people suffer from fractures and bruises due to commuters’ stampede caused by the train derailment.

In February, two trains collided in Beheira governorate killing at least 15 people and wounding 40 others. In November 2017, two trains collided in Alexandria, leaving more than 40 fatalities and 170 injuries. Investigations with 10 officials from the Egyptian Railway Authority about the accident revealed that the driver of one of the trains, Emad Helmy, was the cause of the accident.