ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - The Union of Croatian Engine-Drivers will stop all trains on Wednesday between 10 am and noon protesting against a railway accident, involving a freight train, near Plasko at the Zagreb-Split railway on
Saturday. There were no victims in the accident but railway traffic has been discontinued and will be restored this evening, if reconstruction works are completed according to plan. Around 3 pm on Saturday, 33 of 36 carriages left the rails between Plaski and Blato, damaging 150 metres of rails. Railway workers have given the Croatian Railway (HZ) 12 days to establish who is responsible for the accident and announced new protest rallies after November 2 if their request is not complied with. The union has decided to stage a strike tomorrow because the first official reactions from the HZ indicate that there will be attempts to shift responsibility for the accident to the engi
ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - The Union of Croatian Engine-Drivers will
stop all trains on Wednesday between 10 am and noon protesting
against a railway accident, involving a freight train, near Plasko
at the Zagreb-Split railway on Saturday.
There were no victims in the accident but railway traffic has been
discontinued and will be restored this evening, if reconstruction
works are completed according to plan. Around 3 pm on Saturday, 33
of 36 carriages left the rails between Plaski and Blato, damaging
150 metres of rails.
Railway workers have given the Croatian Railway (HZ) 12 days to
establish who is responsible for the accident and announced new
protest rallies after November 2 if their request is not complied
with.
The union has decided to stage a strike tomorrow because the first
official reactions from the HZ indicate that there will be attempts
to shift responsibility for the accident to the engine-drivers,
said union representatives, who have warned the HZ management of
the poor maintenance of trains on several occasions.
The train left the rails at a speed of 112 km/ph at the section where
the allowed speed is 70 km/ph. Faulty breaks are the main cause of
the derailment, a union vice-president, Ivan Tolic, said.
The engine-drivers tried to put the train under control even as it
was moving at a speed of 50 km/ph but the train gained speed due to an
incline. Despite braking, the train continued gaining speed under
the weight of its cargo until it left the rails.
An inspection showed that the breaks on the carriages had melted due
to temperature and friction whereas break pedals on all 36
carriages were rusty.
Four railway accidents happened on Croatian railways in the past
several months and four investigating commissions have still not
established what caused them, the union said, expressing its
extreme dissatisfaction with the management's conduct.
(hina) jn rml