Turkish govt accused after train disaster

Railways investigators today began a massive inquiry into Turkey’s worst rail disaster.

Thirty-six people dies on a new high-speed train which the government had showcased as one the its “greatest projects”.

Engineers quickly came forward to say they had warned the government on numerous occasions that the old tracks along the Istanbul-Ankara line could not handle the new high-speed carriages.

Newspapers today slammed the government for ignoring the warnings.

“Serial murder,” the daily Hurriyet called it. “They died for the sake of a show,” was the headline in Milliyet. “Murder” said Vatan newspaper.

At least four carriages overturned last night near the small, rural village of Mekece, with most of the damage in two carriages that crashed into each other.

Bodies lay near the tracks as people climbed on the overturned carriages looking for survivors.

Darkness hampered rescue operations, with soldiers searching the wreckage and treating the injured by flashlight.

“The train was a little fast going around the curves,” said injured passenger Namik Kemal Ozden, lying in his hospital bed with his face bandaged.

“There were vibrations. My cousin was sitting next to me. We hugged each other. The windows broke and we fell to one side. We could only understand what happened once we got out.”

It was not immediately known what caused the train to derail about halfway to its destination in the capital. But there was opposition when the line started operating on June 4, with critics saying the tracks were too old for the new trains.

Aydin Erel, professor of engineering at Istanbul’s Yildiz Technical University said he had warned the government as recently as July 14 that the tracks were not up to standard.

“Our infrastructure was not suitable for such speed,” Erel said. “Our warnings were ignored.”

The crash marked a setback to Turkey’s efforts to modernise its outdated rail services and for the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had launched the high-speed line with celebrations.

The new Istanbul to Ankara train, which cut travel time between the two cities from eight hours to five, was the first leg of government plans to renovate the antiquated rail system. The new train system was launched with a ceremony at which Erdogan wore a station master’s cap, blew a whistle and then hopped on the train.

Experts had called on the government to modernise the rail infrastructure before allowing the trains to travel.

The state-run rail authority rejected the criticism and insisted that the lines were appropriate.

Much of Turkey’s rail system dates back to late 19th century and early 20th and few lines have undergone renovation. Past governments have concentrated on building roads, neglecting rail lines.

There were conflicting reports of casualties, with the government crisis centre, Health Ministry and Transportation Ministry earlier saying that between 128 and 139 people were killed. The ministries lowered the toll late last night without any official explanation.

“A mistake was made in the death and injury toll because of the contradictory information that reached us,” said Ayhan Cevik, mayor of the nearby town of Bilecik. “According to the latest information we have, 36 people were killed in the accident and 60 were injured.”

Officials at first said they were investigating all possible causes for the accident. Parliament speaker Bulent Arinc later ruled out sabotage.

When it derailed, the train would have been travelling at a normal speed, because the tracks near Mekece were not geared to carry high-speed cars, state railway authority deputy head Ali Kemal Ergulec said.

But survivor Muhittin Anik said he went to the toilet of the train five minutes before the crash and noticed that the speed indicator at one side of the train showed the train to be travelling at 136 kph (85 mph).