Safety concerns raised after conductor fatally trapped in train door
The head of the Swiss rail union has called for all carriages like the one involved in a fatal accident last weekend to be withdrawn.
Andreas Menet was speaking after a 54-year old conductor was trapped in a train door as it was leaving Baden station in northern Switzerland last Saturday night and was dragged along by the train. He died of his injuries.
The cause of the accident is currently being investigated by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation BoardExternal link (STSB). A technical fault may have caused the anti-trap system of the door to fail.
Swiss Railways chief Andreas Meyer said on Thursday that all carriages of this type are being checked as part of regular checks which are carried out every seven to ten days. But he said normal services could no longer be ensured if the carriages were withdrawn.
There are currently 493 of these EW IV type carriages in circulation in Switzerland. They are single level and do not have retractable floors.
Meyer said there was no danger to passengers, as train staff verify that everyone is on board before each departure. Union boss Menet said that in 38 years of service he had never seen such an accident, and so it was vital to identify the cause.
Hundreds of the dead man’s colleagues paid tribute to him at Zurich main station on Friday, starting with a concert of train whistles followed by a minute’s silence.
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