Rail Safety Megathread. Updated July 23, 2024

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4. Italy Vows to Improve Rail Safety After Deadly Crash

This didn't happen in North America, but it is on topic.

Italy Vows to Improve Rail Safety After Deadly Crash

Traffic on part of the line where the accident occurred is controlled by a system of telephone calls between station managers

By Manuela Mesco

July 13, 2016 12:25 p.m. ET

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Although most of Italy’s rail network has modern safety systems in place, traffic on that part of the line in Puglia is controlled through a system of telephone calls between station managers. Trains can only proceed on their routes after a station manager has given verbal authorization to their counterpart at the next station.

Police officers and a Ferrotramviaria representative said that one of the two trains shouldn’t have been there at the time of the crash, suggesting that the telephone communication system had failed.

Between 2005 and 2015 Italy spent €4.5 billion on advanced traffic-control technology, said the Italian railway-safety agency. More funds will be invested to enhance safety technology on the national network, Mr. Delrio said. But remote sections still rely on an antiquated system of traffic control.

Ferrotramviaria’s Director General Massimo Nitti said 37 km of railway has already been modernized. On the section where the accident happened, a second track had been scheduled to be built, he said.

Write to Manuela Mesco at [e-mail]