Commuter train crash kills one in Germany

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 29, 2003

Commuter train crash kills one in Germany

Two commuter trains collided head on outside a train station in eastern Germany on Sunday, killing an elderly woman and injuring 29 other passengers, police and the German railway said.

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Two commuter trains collided head on outside a train station in eastern Germany on Sunday, killing an elderly woman and injuring 29 other passengers, police and the German railway said.

One of the trains' engine was completely smashed in the collision on a section of single track 100 yards outside the station in Holzdorf. According to the schedule, one of the trains should have waited for the other before crossing the section.

The accident happened along a section of track in a blind curve under a freeway overpass.

The track did not have a mechanical signal, but was under control of a tower in a nearby station that informed the engineers of train traffic, said Gerold Brehm of the Germany railway, Deutsche Bahn. Police and Deutsche Bahn are investigating.

Fifteen of the hurt passengers were severely injured, said Steffi Chmelik, a police spokeswoman in Holzdorf, 124 miles east of Frankfurt. Five were in critical condition at a hospital.

Both conductors survived. One was severely injured and the other sustained light injuries.

The trains, which consisted of a single car with an engine, were traveling at less 30 miles per hour when the accident occurred, railway spokeswoman Renate Wiecher said.

In June, six people were killed when two trains crashed head-on along a stretch of single-lane track in southwestern Germany. Investigators blamed that accident on human error.

Source: Agencies

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